Delivery Area: Online
Coordinator: Sarah Hentges (207) 262-7762 sarah.hentges@maine.edu
American Studies is a critical, interdisciplinary, comparative, intersectional field that gives students a solid foundation of knowledge about American history and culture and provides students with a deeper understanding of identity, culture, and power in the United States.
AME is critical: in AME we ask questions about why U.S. culture, society, and institutions are the way they are, how they came to be that way, and how they may need to change.
AME is interdisciplinary: AME is both between and among the disciplines. We use the disciplinary tools, and interdisciplinary tools, that best suit our object(s) and purpose(s) of study. To best understand American popular culture we need to do textual analysis (English). We need to look at institutions-systems and structures (Sociology). And we need to understand the history of popular culture.
AME is comparative: “America” is a couple of continents, not a country, and “America” is spread throughout the world. We seek to understand “America” in all of its dimensions.
AME is intersectional: AME considers identity, culture, and power; race, class, gender, sexuality, ability, and citizenship; systems and structures; foundations and innovations; transformation and empowerment.
American Studies complements many fields and majors, providing a critical lens for interpretation and application of ideas in fields from Art or English to Justice Studies or Mental Health and Human Services. The minor provides a wide cultural lens for understanding social problems, institutional structures, and bodies of knowledge.
