Undergraduate Studies

Director of Undergraduate Studies

Alicia Schmidt Camacho

Undergraduate Registrar

Jean Cherniavsky
Phone: 432-1188

The American Studies program encourages the interdisciplinary study of the cultures and politics of the United States, the changing representations of national identity, and the construction of borderland and diasporic cultures over time. Each student in the major combines foundation lecture courses, core seminars, other American Studies courses, and classes from other relevant disciplines (literature, history, the arts, and the social sciences) to explore these broad topics from local, national, and global perspectives. Through the selection of an area of concentration, each student develops a focus for course work in the major. The program encourages scholarly work in nontraditional combinations of disciplines; at the same time, however, it assumes and requires a substantial foundation of knowledge in the history and literature of the United States. Students interested in the major are encouraged to consult with the director of undergraduate studies or the sophomore advisor as early as possible.
Requirements of the major. All students majoring in American Studies must take fourteen term courses approved by the program's faculty. Although a good deal of freedom in course selection is permitted, it is expected that all students will acquaint themselves with the materials, skills, and perspectives of cultural studies. Accordingly, the major requires completion - preferably by the end of the sophomore year, but no later than the end of the junior year - of at least two foundation courses in cultural history: (AMST 188a, 189a, 190a, and 191b), one broad survey course in American literature, and one course preparatory for work in the student's area of concentration, to be selected in consultation with the director of undergraduate studies. One of these four courses must address material produced before the Civil War. Because AMST 191b will not be offered in spring 2008, majors may substitute AMST 230b for one of the foundation courses in cultural history. An additional five concentration courses from diverse disciplines must be taken for a letter grade, one of which must incorporate a comparable topic from a non-U.S. perspective. Two electives chosen from the American Studies course offerings are also required.

Undergraduate Courses from Yale College Programs of Study 2008-2009. Official Yale College program and course information is found in Yale College Programs of Study, available on line at www.yale.edu/yalecollege/publications/ycps/.