SAKS04 North American Cultural Geographies

Faculty of Arts
Spring 2019
Extent and Intensity
0/2/0. 2 credit(s) (plus 3 credits for an exam). Recommended Type of Completion: zk (examination). Other types of completion: z (credit).
Teacher(s)
doc. Jeffrey Alan Smith, M.A., Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
doc. PhDr. Tomáš Pospíšil, Ph.D.
Center for North American Studies – Department of English and American Studies – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Tomáš Hanzálek
Supplier department: Center for North American Studies – Department of English and American Studies – Faculty of Arts
Timetable
Thu 16:00–17:40 K12 nerezervovat
Prerequisites (in Czech)
! AJ27073 NA Cultural Geographies
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
The capacity limit for the course is 18 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/18, only registered: 0/18, only registered with preference (fields directly associated with the programme): 0/18
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
there are 11 fields of study the course is directly associated with, display
Course objectives
Historical survey of the origins and evolution of the English-speaking cultural regions of North America, including: settlement patterns and sources of regional diversity; immigration and ethnic subcultures; industrialization, urbanization and suburbanization; the development and geographical distribution of contemporary political cultures and identities; and the geographical dimensions of contemporary political and cultural conflicts.
Learning outcomes
Students will be able to present and explain key concepts of cultural geography and apply them to specific cultural regions of North America. They will be able to analyze contemporary developments in cultural-geographical terms, and will be prepared for further studies dealing with historical, cultural and political topics involving the North American Anglosphere.
Syllabus
  • (Spring 2019 syllabus. NOTE: Reading and viewing assignments are tentative and subject to change up to one week before the date for which they’re assigned, so check here for updates.)
  • Unless otherwise indicated, assigned readings are available in the relevant folders at https://tinyurl.com/NACG2018. Also see the "Presentation schedule" at that location for dates and topics of student presentations.
  • -------------------------------------
  • WEEK 1 (21 February): Course introduction; states vs. regions
  • -------------------------------------
  • WEEK 2 (28 February): ENVISIONING THE LANDSCAPE; EARLY SETTLEMENT AND CULTURAL "HEARTHS" (17th - 18th centuries)
  • Read:
  • > Sanford, Quest for Paradise, posted excerpts
  • > Joseph Mede's thoughts on America, 1634
  • > Fischer, Albion's Seed, Introduction (in "Core texts" folder)
  • > Woodard, American Nations, Introduction (in "Core texts" folder)
  • -------------------------------------
  • WEEK 3 (7 March): INDEPENDENCE, EXPANSION, THE FRONTIER (18th - 19th centuries)
  • Read:
  • > Fischer and Woodard, "Common readings," i.e. chapters not scheduled for presentation (finish these by the end of the term)
  • -------------------------------------
  • WEEK 4 (14 March): INDUSTRIALIZATION, IMMIGRATION, ETHNIC CHANGE I (19th - 20th centuries)
  • Read:
  • > Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia, Query 19
  • > Tench Coxe, A View of the US, posted excerpts
  • > William Cullen Bryant, The Prairies
  • > Nathaniel Hawthorne, Sleepy Hollow journal entry, posted excerpt
  • > Henry David Thoreau, Walden, posted excerpts
  • -------------------------------------
  • WEEK 5 (21 March): INDUSTRIALIZATION, IMMIGRATION, ETHNIC CHANGE II (19th - 20th centuries)
  • Read:
  • > Gerber, American Immigration, posted excerpts
  • > Roediger, The Wages of Whiteness, posted excerpts
  • > Horsman, Race & Manifest Destiny, posted excerpts
  • -------------------------------------
  • WEEK 6 (28 March): SOUTHERN EXCEPTIONALISM AND THE MAKING OF AFRICAN AMERICA (19th - 20th centuries)
  • Read:
  • > Cobb, Away Down South, posted excerpts
  • > Berlin, The Making of African America, chapter 1
  • -------------------------------------
  • WEEK 7 (4 April): MULTICULTURAL AMERICA (19th - 20th centuries)
  • READ:
  • > Lind, The Next American Nation, posted excerpts
  • > King, "America's Post-Multiculturalist Settlement"
  • -------------------------------------
  • WEEK 8 (11 April): SUBURBANIZATION, THE SUNBELT, AND "SPRAWL" I (20th century)
  • READ:
  • > Beauregard, Identity and Urbanity, posted excerpts
  • > Cullen, The Dream of Home Ownership, posted excerpts
  • > Fishman, Urbanity vs. Suburbanity: France vs. the US
  • -------------------------------------
  • WEEK 9: READING WEEK (18 April): No class meeting
  • -------------------------------------
  • WEEK 10 (25 April): SUBURBANIZATION, THE SUNBELT, AND "SPRAWL" II (20th - 21st centuries)
  • READ:
  • > What is Sprawl, and Why?
  • > Gutfreund, 20th-Century Sprawl, posted excerpts
  • > Sprawl in Atlanta (3 posted articles)
  • > Russell, On the Embattled 'Burbs
  • -------------------------------------
  • WEEK 11 (2 May): DEINDUTRIALIZATION, NEW MIGRATIONS, AND THE POLITICS OF RED, BLUE AND WHITE (20th - 21st centuries)
  • READ:
  • > Gunn, How to Save Coal Country
  • > Poppers, The Great Plains: From Dust to Dust
  • > Rees, Buffalo Commons: Responses to a Radical Vision
  • -------------------------------------
  • WEEK 12 (9 May): SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
  • READ:
  • > Finish Fischer and Woodard
  • > Hasan, Top Democrats are Wrong About Trump Supporters
  • > Graham, Red Sate, Blue City
  • > Miller, How Geography Explains the United States
  • > Brooks, The Unifying American Story
  • > Wolin, Site of Catastrophe, posted excerpts
  • > The Great Gatsby & The Crying of Lot 49, posted excerpts
  • -------------------------------------
  • WEEK 13 (16 May): TBA
Literature
    required literature
  • Colin Woodard, American nations: a history of the eleven rival regional cultures of North America. New York: Viking, 2011.
  • FISCHER, David Hackett. Albion's seed : four British folkways in America. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989, xxi, 946. ISBN 0195037944. info
  • BERLIN, Ira. The making of African America : the four great migrations. New York: Viking, 2010, 304 s. ISBN 9780670021376. info
  • Michael Lind, The next American nation: the new nationalism and the fourth American revolution. Free Press, 1995.
  • James C. Cobb, Away Down South: A History of Southern Identity. Oxford University Press, 2005.
  • James Axtell, After Columbus: Essays in the ethnohistory of colonial North America. Oxford University Press, 1990.
  • William S Saunders, Sprawl and suburbia: a Harvard design magazine reader. Univ. of Minnesota Press, 2005.
  • Robert Fishman, Bourgeois utopias: the rise and fall of suburbia. Basic Books, 1987.
  • David R. Roediger, The wages of whiteness: race and the making of the American working class. Verso, 1991.
  • Desmond King, The Liberty of Strangers: Making the American Nation. Oxford University Press, 2005.
  • Owen D. Gutfreund, Twentieth century sprawl: highways and the reshaping of the American Landscape. Oxford University Press, 2004.
    recommended literature
  • Jim Cullen, The American dream: a short history of an idea that shaped a nation. Oxford University Press, 2003.
  • Stephen A Flanders, Atlas of American migration. Facts on File, 1998.
  • Michael Lind, Made in Texas: George W. Bush and the Southern takeover of American politics. Basic Books, 2003.
  • Timothy L Hall, Religion in America. New York: American Experience / Facts on File, 2007.
  • John Miller, Egotopia: Narcissism and the New American Landscape. University of Alabama Press, 1997.
  • Noel Ignatiev, How the Irish became White. Routledge, 1995.
  • Jonathan Halperin Earle, The Routledge atlas of African American history. Routledge, 2000.
  • Thomas Frank, What's the matter with Kansas?: How conservatives won the heart of America. Metropolitan Books, 2004.
  • The Settling of North America: the atlas of the great migrations into North America from the Ice Age to the present. Macmillan, ©1995.
Teaching methods
Readings, lectures, discussions, presentations
Assessment methods
One in-class report / presentation, 15%; attendance / participation, 5%; final exam, 80%. (Re-sit will be a writing assignment.)
Language of instruction
English
Further Comments
Study Materials
The course is taught annually.
Teacher's information
http://tinyurl.com/NACG2018
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2017, Spring 2018, Spring 2020.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Spring 2019, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/spring2019/SAKS04