Assessing America @ Columbia

A casual read through Columbia University’s catalogue will give a fairly clear idea of the esteem America is held in on that Ivy League campus, which is to say, not very much.

Start with Cultural Approaches to the American Past. The catalogue promises an “introduction to the theoretical approaches of American Studies, as well as the methods and materials used in the interdisciplinary study of American society.”

“Through close reading of a variety of texts (e. g., novels, films, essays), we will analyze the creation, maintenance, and transmission of cultural meaning within American society.” The instructor, Elizabeth D. Esch, who has written for The New Socialist, is the author of The Production of Difference: Race and the Management of Labor in U.S. History, with David R. Roediger. According to Oxford University Press, which published it, The Production of Difference is:

• “The first book to analyze slavery and conquest as integral to the history of modern management;” and
• “Examines how business management has played races off of one another throughout American history.”

Other courses at Columbia include:

• Feminist Sexual Political-History
• Historical Approaches to Feminist Questions
• Bodies and Machines 1750-1939
• Equity in Higher Education
• Museums, Memory & Pub Culture

 

Malcolm A. Kline is the Executive Director of Accuracy in Academia.
If you would like to comment on this article, e-mail contact@academia.org.