AJ57014 Topics in American Culture: Cultural Politics and Political Cultures of the United States

Faculty of Arts
Autumn 2017
Extent and Intensity
0/2/0. 7 credit(s) (plus 3 credits for an exam). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
Teacher(s)
doc. Jeffrey Alan Smith, M.A., Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
doc. PhDr. Jana Chamonikolasová, Ph.D.
Department of English and American Studies – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Tomáš Hanzálek
Supplier department: Department of English and American Studies – Faculty of Arts
Timetable
each even Friday 10:50–12:25 G32
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.

The capacity limit for the course is 20 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/20, only registered: 0/20
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
This course examines various events and episodes in the interaction between culture and politics in America. Likely topics include the origins and emergence of distinctive regional cultures; the political orientations and conflicts associated with these; neoclassical influences on the American Founding; the “Lost Cause” and other mythologies of the American South; shifts and transfers of cultural authority among various cultural “capitals” (Boston, New York, Los Angeles, Las Vegas); ethnic cultures, their artistic expressions and their influences on the mainstream; the reception and differing uses of Shakespeare in America; attempts to define and mark distinctions between “highbrow,” “lowbrow” and “middlebrow” cultural styles; challenges to prevailing cultural authority in the works of various artists and artistic movements; and the conflicts and “moral panics” brought on by the rise of popular and mass media (the “penny press,” movies, advertising, television, rock music, the internet, etc.).
Learning outcomes
Students will be able to locate current events and controversies in America within a longer history of such controversies, and to analyze them in terms of regional differences and underlying cultural and political dynamics.
Syllabus
  • WEEK 1: Neoclassicism, the American “Renaissance,” and the quest for a national cultural identity
  • WEEK 2: Cultural regions, the South, and southern mythmaking
  • WEEK 3: Cultural hierarchies and terms of value
  • WEEK 4: Cultural mainstreams, minorities, and countercultures (I): The new aesthetics
  • WEEK 5: Cultural mainstreams, minorities, and countercultures (II): Moral panics and “culture wars”
Teaching methods (in Czech)
Lecture / discussion, readings, film and video viewings.
Assessment methods (in Czech)
Final exam, 100%, to be scheduled. Re-sit would be an essay assignment.
Language of instruction
English
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
Study Materials
The course is taught once in two years.
General note: This course is NOT designated for Erasmus students! List of courses offerd by the Department of English and American studies for Erasmsus students is available at http://www.phil.muni.cz/wkaa/ under "Information for Erasmus students".
Teacher's information
http://tinyurl.com/CulturalPoliticsUS
The course is also listed under the following terms Autumn 2019.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Autumn 2017, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/autumn2017/AJ57014