This interdisciplinary major introduces students to a number of perspectives from which to study American social and cultural life. The work we do begins from the premises that “America” itself has been a contested term for centuries, and that the people who call themselves “American” have consistently been engaged in conversations over and around the meaning of that term. Our courses offer investigations of America’s past and present in a global context through critical analysis of the ways that race, class, gender and sexuality help constitute American institutions and people.

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