American Studies

Core Faculty

Denise Khor, PhD, University of California, San Diego

Asian American History
Comparative Ethnic Studies
Film History and Visual Culture

Aaron Lecklider, PhD, Boston University

Gender and Sexuality
US Cultural History
Nineteenth and Twentieth Century American Literature
Art and Performance

Jeffrey Melnick, PhD, Harvard University

Global Circulation of US Culture
The Culture Industries
Black-Jewish Relations
Immigration and Migration Culture Studies

Bonnie Miller PhD, Johns Hopkins University

Nineteenth Century US Cultural History
Visual Culture
History of Race, Gender, and US Empire

Marisol Negrón (Latino Studies), PhD, Stanford University

Latino Literary and Cultural Studies
Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Caribbean Literature
Language and Linguistics
Popular Culture and Commodification

Rachel Rubin PhD, Yale University

American Popular Musics
Ethnic Literatures
American Literature and the Left

Judith Smith PhD, Brown University

Twentieth Century US Social and Cultural History
Historical Construction of Race and Ethnicity
Cultural History of Mass Media
Women’s History

Lynnell Thomas (American Studies Department), PhD, Emory University

African American Studies
American Literature and Culture
New Orleans Culture and History

Affiliated Faculty

Peter Kiang (Asian American Studies Program, College of Education and Human Development), EdD, Harvard University

Asian Americans and Education
Asian American Studies
Urban Immigrant Communities

Betsy Klimasmith (English Department), PhD, University of Washington

American Literature
Women Writers
Urban Literature and Culture

Shirley Suet-ling Tang (Asian American Studies), PhD, State University of New York at Buffalo

War, Race, and Migration
Southeast Asian American Community Studies
Comparative Ethnic Studies
Cultural Community/Youth Development

Susan Tomlinson (English Department), PhD, Brown University

African American Literature
American Literary History
Gender and Modernism

Paul Watanabe (Institute for Asian American Studies, Political Science Department, Director of American Studies Summer Institute), PhD, Harvard University

American Foreign Policy
Political Behavior
Ethnic Group Politics
Asian American Studies

Julie Winch (History Department), PhD, Bryn Mawr College

African American History
Antebellum Free People of Color
Maritime History
Early American Republic

The Program

The Master of Arts Program in American Studies serves

students interested in the study of historically contested meanings of culture, community, democracy, citizenship, politics, race, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality in the United States;
continuing and returning students seeking further grounding in American studies and its interdisciplinary methods, including students seeking admission to PhD programs in American studies and related fields;
professionals in education and government;
journalists, community leaders, and organizers searching for an historical and cultural understanding of their own society.

The program provides the intellectual tools and theoretical background in historical and cultural analysis to enable students to reflect critically on historical and cultural changes and controversies in the US. The interdisciplinary core courses ask students to pay close attention to the interplay between political and social discourse and literary, artistic, and cultural expression; and to how public life and culture have been shaped by many groups with differing access to social and political power and cultural legitimacy.

Research Institutes

The William Monroe Trotter Institute for the Study of Black Culture; the Mauricio Gastón Institute for Latino Community Development and Public Policy; the Institute for Asian American Studies; the Center for the Study of Humanities, Culture and Society; and the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy all sponsor ongoing research which may offer special opportunities for graduate student research experience.

American Studies Summer Institute

A cooperative venture of the John F Kennedy Library and the American Studies Program with support from the Lowell Institute, this intensive two-week summer course is offered over a two-week period. Topics vary from year to year, and the course can be taken more than once. It is designed to appeal to teachers and citizen activists outside the American studies graduate program as well as to matriculated students within the program. The course serves as an elective for those seeking the MA degree, and either graduate standing or the permission of the instructor is required.

Programs

American Studies, MA