Fall 2009 Course Offerings
ANE 599 Hispanic America
Thursday, 4:10P-6:40P, D. Carey
By using a variety of cultural texts, films, memoirs, historical documents, indigenous codices, novels, art, testimony, you will not only continue to explore the multiple meanings of America and American culture; you also will begin to conceptualize America as a hemisphere not simply a nation. Studying the lives of Hispanics and indigenous people in the Americas will reveal the ways both Latino/as and Anglos and Latin America and the United States are inextricably intertwined. Geographic case studies will elucidate the complex and complicit nature of relations between the United States and its southern neighbors and encourage us to look beyond our borders when studying (and thinking about) the United States. At the same time, personal stories on both sides of the border demonstrate the diversity and commonality of people in the Americas and how the United States is perceived by Latino/as and Latin Americans. We will study how relations and experiences have changed over time to shed light on contemporary ethnic and national relations. Through different sources and mediums, we will address the question of who and what is American.
ANE 600 Creating New England I
Wednesday, 4:10P-6:40P, J. Conforti
This required core course examines the development of New England regional identity from the 17th to the mid-19th century. Drawing on interdisciplinary approaches and materials, the course focuses on how regional identity has been both historically grounded and culturally invented. Topics include: the invention of New England as a second England; the Yankee character; the New England town; the creation of regional traditions; and New England reform and cultural pluralism.
ANE 628 New England and the Sea
Monday, 7:00P-9:30P, J. Conforti
This course will examine the role of the sea in shaping New England society, culture, and thought. The course will focus on the “new maritime history;” literary and artistic responses to the sea; the economic importance of the sea for recreation and for the fishing industry; and efforts to preserve and interpret the region’s maritime heritage.
ANE 645 Women and Popular Culture
Monday, 4:10P-6:40P, A. Cameron
The relationship between women and the public realm has always been a source of intense controversy and debate. This course will explore these controversies as they unfolded over the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, beginning with efforts by white and African-American women to speak in public and concluding with debates over female consumption of romance fiction and daytime television. Topics include: prostitution and commercialized leisure, vaudeville and the female spectacle, working class girls and popular culture, youth culture and courtship, celebrity culture, television, women in sports and the gendered automobile age.
ANE 648 Domestic Archeticture and American Culture
Tuesday, 4:10P-6:40P, D. Cassidy
This course will examine the physical form as well as the idea and image of “home” from the 17th through the 20th centuries. House designs and styles and their historic changes and diversity across class and geographic boundaries will be examined. Students will also analyze the idea of home in visual culture (paintings, prints, photography, popular illustration, film) and written texts (prose, architectural pattern books, advice books, magazines).
ANE 675 Workshop in Research and Writing
Tuesday, 7:00P-9:30P, M. Edney
This course explores various modes of critical writing as they relate to contemporary practices and debates in American Studies. It is run as a collaborative workshop; students will read and comment on drafts of each other's papers as a central element of the process of revision. By semester's end, students will have produced an extensive research paper or a thesis chapter. This course is required for students writing a thesis or project, but is also open to all students who have completed at least 15 hours of course work. Prerequisite: 15 credits completed in the ANES Program, including ANE 600 and ANE 610. Students working on a thesis or project are strongly advised to have a proposal ready for submission to the ANES Curriculum Committee during the previous semester.
ANE 685 Reading and Research
Open to advanced students with exceptional records in the program, this course offers opportunities for reading and research under the direction of a faculty member. The approval of the ANES Curriculum Committee is required. This course may be taken only once.
ANE 687 Internship
Open to qualified students with exceptional records in the program; required for students in the Public Culture and History track. Internships are by application to the ANES Curriculum Committee. Participating organizations include: Portland Museum of Art, Old York Historical Society, Pejepscot Historical Society, and Maine Historical Society.
ANE 690 Project
Completion of a two-semester project that may be an independent project or that may combine independent study and work in a historical society, a museum, a cultural organization, or other public or private institution. In consultation with an advisor, the student defines and develops the project in relation to his or her particular interest in American and New England Studies.
ANE 695 Thesis
The product of original research, the thesis should embody an interdisciplinary combination of approaches and/or materials.
PPM Muskie School Course Descriptions
For students in the Public History and Culture Track, see the Muskie School of Public Service's course descriptions in non-profit management.
