Ivied American Studies

Perhaps a former vice-presidential candidate was right when he said that there are two Americas. From what we’ve found, there is the one we live in, and the one that is studied in academia.

That the two bear little relation to each other can be seen in what passes for American Studies in some Ivy League colleges and universities. For example, Yalies can explore:

• US Lesbian and Gay History
• American Captivity Narratives
• Los Angeles, City of Migrants
• Gender and Sexuality in Media and Popular Culture
• Politics and Culture of the US Color Line

Meanwhile, at Columbia, undergraduates can take:

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

Not to be outdone, undergraduates at Cornell can take:

• Space Cowboys: The 60s Hero
• Race, Gender and the Internet
• Popular Culture in the United States, 1900-1945
• Popular Culture in the United States, 1950 to the present
• The Salem Witchcraft Crisis of 1692
• Black History topics through film
• The Road Trip in American History and Culture
• The U. S.-Mexico Border: History, Culture, Representation
• Introduction to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies
• Cultures of the Cold War
• Culture and Politics of the 1960s
• Environmental History: The United States and Beyond
• Racial and Ethnic Politics in the U. S.
• America’s Multicultural Origins to 1754
• Inequality and American Democracy
• Discovering Hip-Hop: Research and the Cornell Hip-Hop Collection

Students at Brown can study:

• Crises in American Capitalism
• Slackers and Hipsters: Urban Fictions, 1850-Present
• Revolting Bodies: Aesthetics, Representation, and Popular Culture
• Cities of Sound: Place and History in American Pop Music
• Rethinking Women’s Bodies and Rights: Transnational Reproductive Politics

One wonders, with all the rethinking that goes on in academia, do they take the basic step of thinking first?

Princeton offers:

• In the Groove:Technology and Music
• Women’s Leadership in Modern America
• Race and Religion in America
• Religion and Culture: Muslims in America
• Crime and Punishment in American Culture
• Dramaturgy Workshop: Hoodwinked
• The Environment Can Be Funny