American Studies Major

Study the cultures and histories of the United States from a variety of disciplinary perspectives, and address questions of justice, rights and equality.

American Studies is a multidisciplinary major and minor that encourages you to think critically and creatively about the complexity and diversity of the United States from local, national and transnational perspectives.

Your studies will be both broad and deep. Multidisciplinary core courses like Introduction to American Cultures and American Studies Seminar provide the background and methodologies to help you explore issues relevant to the U.S.
Then, with courses in fields such as literature, history, sociology, anthropology, politics, religion and the arts, you鈥檒l discover a breadth of subjects you can incorporate in your senior thesis.

The interdisciplinary, intercollegiate program is supported by all of the undergraduate Claremont Colleges. An American Studies major gives you many career choices, including academia, education, journalism and law.

In class with professors Susan McWilliams and John Seery
鈥淎merican Road Trip鈥 class with professors Susan McWilliams and John Seery
In class with Professor John Seery
In class with Professor John Seery

What You鈥檒l Study

    • Themes, concerns, and methodologies of American studies
    • A two-semester survey of American history
    • An ethnic studies course
    • Courses focused on either a specific discipline or theme
    • Senior seminar and thesis
20
American studies courses can be drawn from across at least 20 different disciplines.

Researching at 6V电影网

Nick Yi 鈥22

Gamic Race as Technology: Racial Logics in Fallout 3 and Skyrim

Nick Yi 鈥22 explored computer video games as sites of racial meaning-making, investigating the ways logics of race, technology, and management intersected and interacted in popular software.

Nick Yi 鈥22

American Studies is an incredibly rich, interdisciplinary field that has given me the critical vocabulary to think, read and write about my academic interests. Through the major, I've been able to grow as a researcher and develop a self-directed course of study, a process bolstered by the major's wonderful, supportive faculty and engaging course offerings.

Faculty & Teaching

The American Studies intercollegiate faculty鈥檚 aim is to introduce you to the distinctiveness and intricacies of the American experience. The introductory American Studies course is team-taught by two to three professors from different fields, including English, history, art history, music, anthropology and sociology.  
 

Prof. Joti Rockwell

American Studies is an especially rewarding way for students to pursue an academic path that is both personally meaningful and socially relevant. With the freedom of not being bounded by any single disciplinary approach, students in the program bring together their individualized courses of study at 6V电影网 to address deep questions about America鈥攑ast, present, and future.