American Culture: Memory and Identity Politics

Teacher(s)

Bragard Véronique;

Language

English

Prerequisites

Level B2 of the Common Europea Framework of Reference for Languages
 

 

Main themes

The course studies :

1. the material reality;
2. political and social organisation (forms of government);
3. moral attitudes;
4. Cultural, intellectual, philosophical and religious life;
5. the hopes, failures and achievements of the communities in English-speaking countries.

Aims

At the end of this learning unit, the student is able to :
1	The course studies the major developments and structures in politics, social relationships and culture, and introduces the students to contemporary life in the United States.   By the end of the course, students are expected to have acquired in-depth knowledge of the identity and culture of the United States.

The contribution of this Teaching Unit to the development and command of the skills and learning outcomes of the programme(s) can be accessed at the end of this sheet, in the section entitled “Programmes/courses offering this Teaching Unit”.

Content

This course offers students a survey of American history in its broader conceptualization, taking into account cultural, artistic and memorial aspects. It asks the question why and how America remembers the past through monuments, texts or visual art forms that offer diverse modes of engagement with cultural production and politics. Starting from Nora's concept of "Site of memory" and American national/ethnic holidays, it attempts to understand the construction and Americanness of America. This class is organized around 11 modules: 1. American Beginnings: Plurality & Unity 2. Manifest Destiny and Westward expansion. The Frontier. 3. The South: slavery, civil war and the Civil Rights movement 4. Immigrants and New Comers 5. The Jewish-American experience 6. American involvement in WWI 7. Mexican/latinos and the US-Mexico border fence 8. The Roaring Twenties and the Great Depression, Prohibition Years and urban experience 9. After WWII and the Normandy Landings: the 1950s and the cold war  10. Apocalypse Now: 1950s, counter-culture and the Vietnam War 11. American interventionism, the Gulf War and 9/11.

Teaching methods

Teaching method: formal lectures, personal reading

Evaluation methods

Assessment: oral or written exam.

Other information

Study aids: course book, text syllabus, video extracts of films, documentaries and archives.

Bibliography

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Faculty or entity

LMOD