Tools

AMS 150 Section 001: Arts And Values

Fall, 2010
3 Credit Hours
Primary Instructor: Lynne Adrian
Core Designation: Humanities

Office Hours

Office Hours: 12-2 MWF


Prerequisites

From the Student Records System

No prerequisites found.


Course Description

American Studies 150, "Introduction to American Studies: Arts and Values," explores cultural changes and artistic expression in America from the 1890s through the 1970s. The main objective of the course is to analyze how American culture and history combine to impact social values and mores. Through this examination, students are expected to come to a thorough understanding of the origins and evolution of 20th Century American identity.  A cross section of elite art (the abstract paintings of Stuart Davis, for example), popular art (movies and rock n’ roll), and folk art (the dust bowl songs of Woody Guthrie) in four units will be used as a way of exploring the cultural values that these works embody and reveal, affirm, or change.

 

AMS 150 is also nationally known.  In 1988, the American Studies Association recognized this innovative introductory course at its annual meeting in Miami (the entire AMS faculty was on the program).  In 1992, AMS 150 was further recognized at a national Endowment for the Humanities conference at Vassar College titled American Studies and the Undergraduate humanities Curriculum when The Department of American Studies at The University of Alabama was chosen to represent all “large state universities.”  (Professors Adrian and Salem’s presentation was titled “AMS 150, ‘Arts & Values:’ An Introductory Humanities Course at The University of Alabama.”)  Many introductory courses, at our university and in colleges and universities across the country, have used our method of teaching AMS 150 as a mode.

 

AMS 150 is team-taught by the entire Department of American Studies faculty--Professors Lynne Adrian, Michael Innis-Jimenez, Jolene Hubbs, Richard Megraw, Jeff Melton, Stacy Morgan, Edward Tang, and Eric Weisbard. James Salem, retired faculty, edited the Handbook.  Each faculty member will deliver lecture/presentations in his or her areas of expertise. The three semester exams and the final comprehensive examination will measure your learning from the required reading and from the information delivered in the class conversations, discussions, and lectures. You will also be required to do in-class writing assignments periodically, and you will have six out of class assignments to post on the American Studies 150 course web site.

To coordinate administrative matters, provide tutorial assistance, make class presentations, and conduct reviews, AMS 150 is staffed with Graduate Teaching Assistants (GTAs). During the first week of class you will be introduced to the TA responsible for attending to your academic needs and tracking your academic accomplishments. If you encounter problems during the course of the semester, please take them up with your TA first. Each TA will keep regular office hours to answer any questions you might have, and will hold review sessions prior to each exam. The main office of the Department of American Studies is located in 101 ten Hoor, as is Dr. Adrian’s office; other faculty offices are across the hall in 106, and 239 tenHoor (and you may feel free to consult any faculty member about their individual lectures); TAs are housed in 117. Office hours are posted on office doors.


Objectives

At the completion of AMS 150, students will be expected:

 

1.  To recognize and understand major American cultural concepts, movements, key figures,
     periods, and events from the 1880s through the 1960s.

2.  To acquire an appreciation of the diversity of American identities and experiences, particularly with respect to issues of race, class, gender, and region.

3.  To understand a range of cultural artifacts—novels, plays, autobiographies, memoirs,
     photography, film, painting, and music—that one can utilize in the study of the American
     experience and cultural values.

4.  To engage critically this range of cultural artifacts alone and in combination with one another in an interdisciplinary manner in order to identify and interpret significant cultural moments and concepts.

5. To understand the connections between such diverse cultural spheres as popular entertainment,
     consumer culture, the fine arts and broader American cultural values.

6.      To develop the ability to be actively involved in advancing his or her learning.

 


Outline of Topics

Fall 2010: AMS 150 Tentative Class Schedule

 

            Wed. Aug 18            Course Business

            Fri. Aug. 20            The American Studies Approach

 

Unit I:  Transforming Populations, Transforming Culture

            Mon. Aug 23            Overview

            Wed. Aug. 25            Ellis Island:  Welcome to America    LAST DAY TO ADD

            Fri. Aug. 27            The Great Mexican Migration

 

            Mon. Aug 30            The American Game 

            Wed. Sept. 1            Art of the Ragtime Era:  Idealists, Ash cans and Moderns

            Fri. Sept. 3            Music of the Ragtime Era

 

            Mon. Sept 6.   LABOR DAY

            Wed. Sept 8            Material Culture and Consumerism Posting #1 Due

            Fri. Sept 10             Consuming the Orient

 

            Mon. Sept.13            The Silver Screen:  Amusement for the Millions

            Wed. Sept. 15            Ragtime:  The Novel

            Fri. Sept. 17            EXAM I

 

Unit II:  The Popularization of Modernist Assumptions

            Mon. Sept. 20            Overview:  Transition to Modernism

            Wed. Sept.22            Literary Modernism and Popular Culture

            Fri. Sept 24            Harlem and Modernism 

 

            Mon. Sept. 27            Inherit the Wind

            Wed. Sept 29            Precisionism, Regionalism and Social Realism in American Art

                                     Posting #2 Due

            Fri. Oct. 1            Music of the Jazz Age

 

            Mon. Oct 4            Labor, Deportation and the Grapes of Wrath

            Wed. Oct. 6            Laughing in spite of it all: 1930s Humor

                                    Mid-Term Grades Due

            Fri.. Oct. 8            Making Do Posting #3 Due

 

            Mon. Oct. 11            EXAM II

 

Unit III:  Creating a Post-War Consensus

            Wed. Oct 13            The Flow Chart as Icon:  Overview of The Post World War II Era

Fri. Oct. 15            Women and Suburbia

 

            Mon. Oct. 18            American Automobility—Roads to Respectability or Rebellion

            Wed.  Oct 20            Victory Culture Through the Western Movie Posting #4 Due

            Fri. Oct. 22            TV Nation

 

            Mon. Oct 25            Social Change and the Politics of Respectability

                                    LAST DAY TO DROP WITH A “W”

            Wed. Oct 27            Stand-Up Subversion:  Lenny Bruce

 

Oct. 28-29            FALL BREAK

 

            Mon. Nov. 1            The Rise of rock ‘n’ Roll  Posting #5 Due

            Wed. Nov. 3            Coming of Age in Mississippi:  Book Discussion

            Fri. Nov 5            EXAM III

 

Unit IV:  Yes, but……

            Mon. Nov. 8            The Rise of Confrontation politics

            Wed. Nov. 10            El Movimiento:  The Chicano Civil Rights Movement

            Fri. Nov. 12             1969 and the Culture Crash

 

            Mon. Nov. 15            Stand-Up Subversion:  Richard Pryor and George Carlin

                                                Posting #6 Due

Wed. Nov. 17            Rock, Soul, and Country: Three Versions of Counterculture

            Fri. Nov. 19            The Unraveling of America in Hollywood’s Post-War Western

 

            Mon. Nov. 22 The Things They Carried:  Book Discussion

Tues. Nov. 23                        AMS MAKE-UP EXAM DAY

Wed..- Fri. Nov. 24-26  THANKSGIVING BREAK

 

            Mon. Nov. 29            Exploitation Films and 1970s America           

            Wed. Dec. 1            What’s next?:  The American Studies approach revisited

            Fri. Dec. 3            Teaching Evaluations and Review for the Final Exam

 

            Monday  Dec. 6            11:30-2:00            FINAL EXAMINATION

 

 

 


Exams and Assignments

GRADING FORMULA AND SYSTEM

 

20% Exam I (Ragtime Era)                                    200 points                                   

20% Exam II (Jazz Age/Depression)                        200 points                        

20% Exam III (WWII/Postwar Era)                         200 points

Exam VI (1960s)*                                                200 points

10% Comprehensive Exam*                                    100 points                        

10% Citizenship                                                 100 points

            In Class Writing                                       30 points

            On Line Postings                                    30 points

            Attendance                                              40 points

 

Total possible in AMS 150                                    1000 points

 

*Exams IV and the Comprehensive Exam are taken together the day of the scheduled final examination.

 

All students enrolled in AMS 150 will be expected to take three fifty-minute exams on the readings and in-class material (exams on The Ragtime Era, The 20s & 30s, and The War and Postwar Period). Though we do not return exams, you may arrange with your TA to review it with him or her.

 

In addition, all students must complete six (6) posting assignments on the AMS 150 web site, and six (6) short in-class writing assignments.  The postings, in-class writings, and attendance will be combined to form your Citizenship grade.  Attendance is taken almost every class meeting with a lecture where no in-class writing is done (two points are awarded for attendance). In-class writing will NOT be announced in advance.  This gives a total of 30 points on in-class writing, 30 points on postings, and 40 points on attendance.  Together they make up the Citizenship Grade, which is 10% of your final grade.

Postings are made on the eLearning website for AMS 150.  Your grades on exams and postings also can be accessed through the eLearning site.  Log into MyBama with your ID and password  In the middle column will be a large box labeled “eLearning.”  Click on AMS 150 and follow the links to the class in eLearning.


 


Grading Policy

System to Determine Final Course Grade:

 

98-100 A+             97-92 A                         91-90A-

89-88 B+             87-82 B                         81-80 B-

79-78 C+             77-72 C                         71-70 C-

69-68 D+             67-62 D                         61-60 D-

 

A curve may be established to help students at the end of the semester on the total 1000 possible points.

 


Policy on Missed Exams & Coursework

Any exams missed during the semester can be made up only at the AMS Departmental Make-Up Day on Tuesday, November 23th, at 3:30 p.m. in 103 ten Hoor. Since you obviously will know the material best immediately after you have studied it, we strongly encourage you to take the exams at the time they are regularly given.

 



Attendance Policy

Students enrolled in AMS 150 are expected to attend class, take notes, and intellectually address the subject matter.  Regular attendance for this course is MANDITORY.  Consistent class attendance enhances student learning and performance on exams, postings, and other assignments.  It is understood that students may need to miss class occasionally for personal, family, or health matters, or in emergency situations, so students are allowed up to five (5) excused absences for the semester.  However, the final course grade will be lowered one grade (i.e., a “B-“becomes a “C+”) for each unexcused absence beyond five.  (The number of excused absences may be exceeded due to extraordinary circumstances, but these must have proper documentation and be approved by Dr. Adrian.)  What should be kept in mind is that these set limits are not devised to punish individual students; rather, they protect the majority who make a continual good faith effort throughout the semester.  It is possible to fail AMS 150 through unexcused absences!

 

We have long observed that grades tend to correlate with attendance and attentiveness--in other words, students who attend regularly listen-up do better than those who do not. In the course of the semester you will receive information regarding the current class standing of your attendance after each exam.  If you have any questions about the number of absences recorded, please see your TA right away.  NOTE: Questions about current class standing on attendance must be raised by the next class period--no changes will be made after that time.


Required Texts

UA Supply Store Textbook Information

  • OBRIEN / THINGS THEY CARRIED
    (Choose One)
  • LAWRENCE / INHERIT THE WIND
    (Choose One)
  • SALEM / AMS 150 HANDBOOK
    (Choose One)
  • DOCTOROW / RAGTIME
    (Choose One)
  • MOODY / COMING OF AGE IN MISSISSIPPI (RACK SIZE)
    (Choose One)
  • NONE / AMS 150 CUSTOM PACKAGE (5 BOOKS)
    (Choose One)

E.L. Doctorow, Ragtime

Jerome Lawrence & Robert E. Lee, Inherit the Wind

Anne Moody, Coming of Age in Mississippi

Tim O’Brien, The Things They Carried

James M. Salem, ed., American Studies 150 Handbook 


Other Course Materials

Screenings

The Grapes of Wrath (1940) 


Disability Statement

If you are registered with the Office of Disability Services, please make an appointment with me as soon as possible to discuss any course accommodations that may be necessary. If you have a disability, but have not contacted the Office of Disability Services, please call 348-4285 or visit 133-B Martha Parham Hall East to register for services. Students who may need course adaptations because of a disability are welcome to make an appointment to see me during office hours. Students with disabilities must be registered with the Office of Disability Services, 133-B Martha Parham Hall East, before receiving academic adjustments.

Policy on Academic Misconduct

All students in attendance at the University of Alabama are expected to be honorable and to observe standards of conduct appropriate to a community of scholars. The University expects from its students a higher standard of conduct than the minimum required to avoid discipline. Academic misconduct includes all acts of dishonesty in any academically related matter and any knowing or intentional help or attempt to help, or conspiracy to help, another student.

The Academic Misconduct Disciplinary Policy will be followed in the event of academic misconduct.


Severe Weather Protocol

In the case of a tornado warning (tornado has been sighted or detected by radar; sirens activated), all university activities are automatically suspended, including all classes and laboratories. If you are in a building, please move immediately to the lowest level and toward the center of the building away from windows (interior classrooms, offices, or corridors) and remain there until the tornado warning has expired. Classes in session when the tornado warning is issued can resume immediately after the warning has expired at the discretion of the instructor. Classes that have not yet begun will resume 30 minutes after the tornado warning has expired provided at least half of the class period remains.

UA is a residential campus with many students living on or near campus. In general classes will remain in session until the National Weather Service issues safety warnings for the city of Tuscaloosa. Clearly, some students and faculty commute from adjacent counties. These counties may experience weather related problems not encountered in Tuscaloosa. Individuals should follow the advice of the National Weather Service for that area taking the necessary precautions to ensure personal safety. Whenever the National Weather Service and the Emergency Management Agency issue a warning, people in the path of the storm (tornado or severe thunderstorm) should take immediate life saving actions.

When West Alabama is under a severe weather advisory, conditions can change rapidly. It is imperative to get to where you can receive information from the National Weather Service and to follow the instructions provided. Personal safety should dictate the actions that faculty, staff and students take. The Office of Public Relations will disseminate the latest information regarding conditions on campus in the following ways:

  • Weather advisory posted on the UA homepage
  • Weather advisory sent out through Connect-ED--faculty, staff and students (sign up at myBama)
  • Weather advisory broadcast over WVUA at 90.7 FM
  • Weather advisory broadcast over Alabama Public Radio (WUAL) at 91.5 FM
  • Weather advisory broadcast over WVUA 7. WVUA 7 Storm Watch provides a free service you can subscribe to that allows you to receive weather warnings for Tuscaloosa via e-mail, pager or cell phone. Check http://www.wvua7.com/stormwatch.html for details.