SAKS04 North American Cultural Geographies

Faculty of Arts
Spring 2020
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
Mon 16:00–17:40 G32
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 12 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
  • (Subject to change and updates. Some class meetings will include student presentations, which could affect the order of weekly topics. Check the Google Drive weekly course folders one week in advance of a given class for the final selection of assignments for that class.)
  • -------------------------------------
  • WEEK 1 (17 February): Course introduction; political nations and states vs. cultural regions
  • -------------------------------------
  • WEEK 2 (24 February): ENVISIONING THE LANDSCAPE; EARLY SETTLEMENT AND CULTURAL "HEARTHS" (17th - 18th centuries)
  • Read:
  • > Sanford, "The Quest for Paradise," selections posted
  • > Joseph Mede's letter on American settlement, 1634
  • > Fischer, Albion's Seed, Introduction
  • > Woodard, American Nations, Introduction
  • BEGIN reading Woodard, "common chapters," as assigned
  • BEGIN PREPARING class presentations on individually assigned topics
  • -------------------------------------
  • WEEK 3 (2 March): INDEPENDENCE, EXPANSION, THE FRONTIER (18th - 19th centuries)
  • Read:
  • > Axtell, "Colonial America Without the Indians"
  • > Smith, Virgin Land, selections posted
  • > Bryant, "The Prairies"
  • > Turner, "The Significance of the Frontier in American History," selections posted
  • > Mondi, "Connected & Unified? A More Critical Look at Turner's America"
  • -------------------------------------
  • WEEK 4 (9 March): INDUSTRIAL GROWTH AND THE CHANGING LANDSCAPE (19th century)
  • Read:
  • > Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia, Query 19
  • > Coxe, A View of America, selections posted
  • > Hawthorne, Sleepy Hollow journal entry
  • > Thoreau, Walden, selections posted
  • > Whitman, "Democratic Vistas" and other selections posted
  • -------------------------------------
  • WEEK 5 (16 March): INDUSTRIALIZATION, IMMIGRATION, ETHNIC CHANGE (19th - 20th centuries)
  • Read:
  • > Gerber, American Immigration, selections posted
  • > Roediger, The Wages of Whiteness, selections posted
  • > Horsman, Race & Manifest Destiny, selections posted
  • -------------------------------------
  • WEEK 6 (23 March): SOUTHERN EXCEPTIONALISM AND THE MAKING OF AFRICAN AMERICA (19th - 20th centuries)
  • Read:
  • > Cobb, Away Down South, selections posted
  • > Berlin, The Making of African America, chapter 1
  • -------------------------------------
  • WEEK 7 (30 March):
  • Read: MULTICULTURAL AMERICA (20th century)
  • > Lind, The Next American Nation, selections posted
  • > King, "America's Post-Multiculturalist Settlement"
  • > Berlin, The Making of African America, Epilogue
  • -------------------------------------
  • WEEK 8 (6 April): SUBURBANIZATION, "SPRAWL," AND THE SUNBELT (20th century)
  • Read:
  • > Beauregard, Identity and Urbanity, selections posted
  • > Cullen, The Dream of Home Ownership, excerpt indicated
  • > Fishman, "Urbanity vs. Suburbanity: France vs. the US"
  • -------------------------------------
  • WEEK 9 (13 April): READING WEEK | No class meeting
  • > Read: Fischer and Woodard, common chapters, as assigned
  • -------------------------------------
  • WEEK 10 (20 April): SUBURBANIZATION, "SPRAWL," AND THE SUNBELT (20th century), continued
  • Read:
  • > "What is Sprawl, and Why?"
  • Gutfreund, 20th-Century Sprawl, selections posted
  • > "Sprawl in Atlanta" (3 articles)
  • > Russell, "On the Embattled 'Burbs"
  • -------------------------------------
  • WEEK 11 (27 April): DEINDUSTRIALIZATION, 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 (11 May): DEINDUSTRIALIZATION, NEW MIGRATIONS, AND THE POLITICS OF RED, BLUE AND WHITE (20th - 21st centuries), continued
  • Read:
  • > Hasan, "Top Democrats are wrong about Trump supporters"
  • > Graham, "Red State, Blue City"
  • > Miller, "How Geography Explains the United States"
  • > Brooks, "The Unifying American Story"
  • > Wolin, "Site of Catastrophe," selections posted
  • -------------------------------------
  • WEEK 13 (18 May): FINAL PRESENTATIONS AND REVIEW -- materials generated in lieu of in-class instruction, Spring 2020
  • View:
  • > Student presentations / videos (on the different regions, etc.) as posted to ELF
  • > Instructors' video presentations as posted to ELF throughout the term
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
  • John Miller, Egotopia: Narcissism and the New American Landscape. University of Alabama Press, 1997.
  • Michael Lind, Made in Texas: George W. Bush and the Southern takeover of American politics. Basic Books, 2003.
  • Noel Ignatiev, How the Irish became White. Routledge, 1995.
  • Jonathan Halperin Earle, The Routledge atlas of African American history. Routledge, 2000.
  • The Settling of North America: the atlas of the great migrations into North America from the Ice Age to the present. Macmillan, ©1995.
  • Thomas Frank, What's the matter with Kansas?: How conservatives won the heart of America. Metropolitan Books, 2004.
  • Stephen A Flanders, Atlas of American migration. Facts on File, 1998.
  • Jim Cullen, The American dream: a short history of an idea that shaped a nation. Oxford University Press, 2003.
  • Timothy L Hall, Religion in America. New York: American Experience / Facts on File, 2007.
Teaching methods
Readings, lectures, discussions, presentations
Assessment methods
One in-class presentation / report, 15%; attendance and participation, 5%; final exam, 80%. (The "re-sit" will be a written assignment.)

NOTE: Arrangements for the exam, and the type (s) of exam to be given, will depend on final instructions from the university administration in light of the Spring 2020 pandemic emergency conditions. Watch for announcements by e-mail and on ELF.
Language of instruction
English
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
Study Materials
The course is taught annually.
Teacher's information
https://tinyurl.com/CulturalGeographies
Instructor-provided assignments and course materials will be available in online folders at that web address.
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2017, Spring 2018, Spring 2019.
  • Enrolment Statistics (recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/spring2020/SAKS04