General Description (概要)
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By employing an interdisciplinary approach to the understanding of American society, culture and history, this course will serve as an introduction to American Studies.
アメリカ合衆国の社会・文化・歴史を学際的に学ぶことを通して，アメリカ研究への視野を開く。
AMS101 PRINCIPLES OF AMERICAN STUDIES: US SOCIETY THROUGH SCIENCE FICTION
Welcome to American Studies 101! This course is designed to introduce you to key concepts and methods in the study of American society, culture, and history. We will approach this material through the lens of science fiction film and television, asking how cultural works mediate the historical development of state power, categories of social difference, and our everyday understandings of political belonging and conflict.
Our study will center prominent works of American science fiction: The Twilight Zone (1960, 1961), Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), Blade Runner (1982), Night of the Living Dead (1968), and Get Out (2017). These primary source materials will anchor our critical engagement with keywords in American Studies scholarship: nation, America, immigration, globalization, ethnicity, Orientalism, Asian, whiteness, white, Black, empire, state, racialization, diversity, and labor. Altogether, this course will familiarize you with the ideas that matter most for studying the United States through social, cultural, and political economic perspectives, while developing a analytic toolkit for narrative and film that you can use in a range of academic settings.
Students in this course should expect to watch 1 film every 2 weeks and to read 5-15 pages of American Studies scholarship every 1 week. All course materials, assignments, and instruction will be in English, though students are free and encouraged to speak any language in partner and small group classroom activities. Students with or without prior study in American history and culture are welcome to take this class.
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Learning Goals(学習目標)
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- Summarize and interpret primary and secondary sources
- Analyze links between cultural objects and historical context
- Identify and explain key concepts and methods of American Studies
- Identify and explain key concepts and methods of science fiction film studies
- Apply such concepts and methods to the analysis of primary sources
- Communicate complex ideas in writing (e.g., reading checks, analyses)
- Communicate complex ideas verbally (e.g., partner, group, and all-class discussion)
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Contents(内容)
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Primary sources:
- º Rod Serling, The Twilight Zone, “The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street” (1960)
- º Rod Serling, The Twilight Zone, “Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?” (1961)
- º Rod Serling, The Twilight Zone, “The Invaders” (1961)
- * Philip Kaufman, Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) - Apple TV ($3.99)
- George Romero, Night of the Living Dead (1968) - YouTube (free)
- * Ridley Scott, Blade Runner (1982) - Amazon Prime (free with account), Apple TV ($3.99)
- * Jordan Peele, Get Out (2017) - Netflix (free with account), Amazon Prime (¥400)
º Television episodes will be screened in class; students who are absent on these days are responsible for watching the episodes outside of class.
* These films will be screened on campus for free; please see the course schedule for details.
Secondary sources:
- Darko Suvin, “Estrangement and Cognition” (1979)
- Alys Eve Weinbaum, “Nation” (2014)
- Kirsten Silva Gruesz, “America” (2014)
- Eithne Luibhéid, “Immigration” (2014)
- Lisa Lowe, “Globalization” (2014)
- Henry Yu, “Ethnicity” (2014)
- Vijay Prashad, “Orientalism” (2014)
- John Kuo Wei Tchen, “Asian” (2014)
- Lee Bebout, “Whiteness” (2020)
- Pamela Perry, “White” (2007)
- E. Patrick Johnson, “Black” (2014)
- Shelley Streeby, “Empire” (2014)
- Daniel Martinez HoSang and Oneka LaBennett, “Racialization” (2014)
- Jodi Melamed, “Diversity” (2014)
- Marc Bousquet, “Labor” (2014)
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Language of Instruction(教授言語の詳細)
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All course materials, assignments, and instruction will be in English, though students are free and encouraged to speak any language in partner and small group classroom activities. Students with or without prior study in American history and culture are welcome to take this class.
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Grading Policy(成績評価基準)
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Class participation 20%
This course is will only succeed if there is active student participation. Your participation score encompasses your enthusiastic engagement with certain classroom activities, such as partner work, group work, and all-class discussion. Participation does not simply mean speaking, but speaking thoughtfully, respectfully, and in dialogue with your readings and classmates. At a minimum, students should be present and prepared for each class meeting, complete your work on time, offer ideas, ask questions, and take charge of your learning.
The success of a seminar largely owes to how we structure and contribute to discussion:
- Step up (have you shared your thoughts?)
- Share the mic (have others had the chance to speak?)
- Ask “dumb” questions (if you’re confused about something, someone else likely is too!)
- Connect the dots (compare readings, contextualize a reading, introduce a related topic)
An “A” participator: reads/listens to all assigned texts and comes to class prepared with questions and comments; responds to instructor and classmates, generating multipolar discussion; listens carefully to others; cites texts to back up their opinions; connects their comments to past readings and course objectives; enthusiastically engages in group work and other activities; completes all tasks and assignments on time and attentively.
A “B” participator: reads/listens to all assigned texts; demonstrates general familiarity with readings; contributes to discussions, but would benefit from stepping up or sharing the mic; sometimes cites texts to back up their opinions; sometimes connects their comments to past readings; takes part in group work and other activities; completes some tasks late.
A “C” participator: reads/listens to most assigned texts; speaks on occasion; makes peripheral comments; does not reference our texts; demonstrates low-level preparation for and engagement with in-class exercises; routinely completes tasks late.
Reading checks 30%
Students will take routine quizzes concerning our material for the day. Some reading checks will be announced ahead of time, some will not; some will ask you to work in groups or pairs, and some alone. The purpose of reading checks is to ensure your steady, thoughtful engagement with the course material throughout the term, to give you an opportunity to gather your thoughts about the day’s material at the beginning of class, and to reduce the stress of high-stakes, exam-style assessment. Reading checks are assessed as a 0, 1, 2, or 3 out of 3 possible points. An outstanding reading check response may earn 1 extra credit point.
Analysis assignments 50%
Students will complete 5 analyses concerning our primary source material over the course of the term. These assignments will ask you to make sense of a television episode or film using our narrative and film analysis terms as well as our American Studies keywords, going beyond the surface level of the text to explain its broader context and meaning. The prompt for each analysis will be distributed just before students are to complete the assignment.
Extra credit 1-4%
Students have the opportunity to earn extra credit on their total grade for the course by attending screenings of three of our course films ? Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Blade Runner, and Get Out. These screenings will take place on campus for free the night before the class when they are due to be viewed. If you attend one screening, you will earn 1% extra credit; two screenings, 2% extra credit; all three screenings, 4% extra credit.
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Expected study hour outside class(授業時間外学習)
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Students in this course should expect to watch 1 film every 2 weeks and to read 5-15 pages of American Studies scholarship every 1 week.
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References(参考文献)
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Learning Support Resources for Students (学生のための学修支援リソース)
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If there are learning support resources that are especially recommended for this course, they will be listed below.
Here (ICU Internal page) is the list of learning support resources available at ICU.
このコースで特に利用を推奨する学修支援リソースがある場合、以下に記載されます。
ICUで利用可能なリソースの一覧は こちらです （学内ウェブサイト）。
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Notes(注意事項)
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Schedule(スケジュール)
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4/M,4/W,4/F
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URL
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