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Major Requirements

Students must complete with a grade of C or better:

  • AMST 2001 - Introduction to American Studies (Credits: 3)
  • AMST 3001 - Theories and Methods of American Studies (Credits: 3)
  • AMST 4000-level or 5000-level course in American Studies** (Credits: 3)
  • 7 additional elective courses (Credits: 21), which must include:
    • 1 course from “Historical Approaches” category (Credits: 3). See list below.
    • 1 course from “Race/Ethnicity” category (Credits: 3). See list below.
    • 1 course from “Transnational/Regional” category (Credits: 3). See list below.

Additional Rules:

  • At least 2 of the 7 electives must be AMST courses. (Five AMST classes total.)
  • At least 3 of the 7 electives must be at the 3000-level or above. (Five 3000-level or above classes total.)
  • ** Independent Studies and the DMP seminar (such as 4993, 4998, 4999) cannot be used to fulfill the 4000-level or higher course requirement

Note: Any course coded as AMST, AAS, HIUS, or HILA will count as an elective towards the American Studies major. If you have taken a class that you think might fulfill one of the below categories, but don’t see it listed here, you can petition the DUP to have the course count by sending along the syllabus.

Course List

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Historical Approaches Category

All courses coded HIUS and HILA will count for this area

AMST 1050 – Slavery and Its Legacies

AMST 1060 – Slavery at UVA and in America

AMST 2422 – Point of View Journalism

AMST 2660 – Spirituality in America

AMST 2753 – Arts and Cultures of the Slave South

AMST 3221 – Hands-On Public History

AMST 3559 – Afro-Latinx-Caribbean Histories

AMST 3559 – Jim Crow America

AMST 3559 – Multimedia Harlem Renaissance

AMST 3559 – Moving On: Migration in/to the U.S.

AMST 3559 – The Education of Blacks in America

AMST 4500 – Politics of Reproduction in the U.S.

ARTH 2471 – Art Since 1945

ARTH 2559 – Queer Histories of American Art

ENGL 4500 – W.E.B. Du Bois

HIST 2214 – The Cold War

HIST 3281 – Genocide

HIST 3452 – The Second World War

MDST 3310 – Sound and Cinema

MDST 3375 – History of Music and Broadcasting in the U.S.

MDST 3903 – Media and Protest: The 1960s

MUSI 2070 – Popular Musics

MUSI 2120 – History of Jazz Music

PLAP 2250 – American Political Tradition

PLAP 3350 – American Congress

PLPT 4305 – American Political Thought to 1865

RELA 2850 – Afro-Creole Religions in the Americas

RELC 2215 – Mormonism and American Culture

RELC 2401 – History of American Catholicism

RELC 2770 – The Black Church

RELC 3150 – Witchcraft in the Early Atlantic World

RELG 2150 – Religion in American Life and Thought to 1865

RELG 2160 – Religion in American Thought and Life from 1865 to the Present

RELG 3960 – Religion and the Black Freedom Struggle

WGS 3110 – Queer American History

WGS 3240 – Gender, Race and Sport: A History of African-American Sportswomen

WGS 3612 – Gender and Sexuality in the United States, 1865-Present

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Race and Ethnicity Category

All courses coded AAS will count for this area

AMST 1050 – Slavery and Its Legacies

AMST 1060 – Slavery at UVA and in America

AMST 2559 – Introduction to Native American Studies

AMST 2559 – Latinx Fictions and Film

AMST 2559 – Ethnic American Speculative Fiction

AMST 2753 – Arts and Cultures of the Slave South

AMST 3180 – Introduction to Asian American Studies

AMST 3200 – African American Political Thought

AMST 3221 – Hands-On Public History

AMST 3300 – Introduction to Latinx Studies

AMST 3321 – Race and Ethnicity in Latinx Literature

AMST 3323 – Hemispheric Latinx Literature and Culture

AMST 3407 – Racial Borders and American Cinema

AMST 3470 – Cultures of Hip-Hop

AMST 3555 – Latinx Religions

AMST 3559 – Multimedia Harlem Renaissance

AMST 3559 – Jim Crow America

AMST 3559 – Moving On: Migration in/to the U.S.

AMST 3559 – The Education of Blacks in America

AMST 3880 – Literature of the South

AMST 4500 – Encounters of the Modern Caribbean 

AMST 4500 – Race in American Places

AMST 4500 – Land and Health in Native America

AMST 4321 – Caribbean Latinx Lit and Culture 

AMST 4559 – Racial Geographies, Environmental Crisis

AMST 4559 – Race, Criminality, and Abolition

ANTH 2250 – Nationalism, Racism, Multiculturalism

ANTH 2270 – Race, Gender, and Medical Science

ARTH 2559 – Making Italian America

DRAM 3070 – African American Theater

ENGL 2560 – Contemporary Latinx Poetry

ENGL 3140 – African-American Literature II

ENGL 2572 – Black Writers in America

ENGL 3572 – African American Rhetorical Traditions

ENGL 4500 – W.E.B. Du Bois

ENGL 4500 – Black Queer Culture

ENGL 4500 – Sally Hemings University

ENGL 4570 – Reading the Black College Campus

HIEU 2102 – Modern Jewish History

HIEU 3692 – The Holocaust

HIST 3281 – Genocide

HIUS 2053 – American Slavery

HIUS 2559 – African-American Women’s History

HIUS 3191 – American Jewish History

HIUS 3641 – American Indian History

HIUS 3651 – Afro-American History to 1865

HIUS 3652 – Afro-American History Since 1865

HIUS 3490 – From Motown to Hip-Hop

HIUS 3654 – Black Fire

HIUS 3671 – African American Freedom Movements

HIUS 3853 – From Redlines to Subprime: Race and Real Estate in the U.S.

MDST 3105 – Latino/a Media Studies

MDST 3760 – #BlackTwitter and Black Digital Culture

MUSI 2120 – History of Jazz Music

MUSI 4065 – The “Black Voice”

PLAP 3700 – Racial Politics

RELA 2850 – Afro-Creole Religion in the Americas

RELC 2770 – The Black Church

RELG 3960 – Religion and the Black Freedom Struggle

SOC 2442 – Systems of Inequality

SOC 3410 – Race and Ethnic Relations

SOC 4750 – Racism

WGS 3240 – Gender, Race and Sport: A History of African-American Sportswomen

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Transnational/Regional Category

All courses coded HILA will count for this area

AMST 1060 – Slavery at UVA and in America

AMST 2559 – Latinx Fictions and Film

AMST 2559 – Ethnic American Speculative Fiction

AMST 2559 – Introduction to Native American Studies

AMST 2753 – Arts and Cultures of the Slave South

AMST 3180 – Introduction to Asian American Studies

AMST 3221 – Hands-On Public History

AMST 3300 – Introduction to Latinx Studies

AMST 3323 – Hemispheric Latinx Literature and Culture

AMST 3355 – Border Media

AMST 3465 – America and the Global South in Literature and Film

AMST 3555 – Latinx Religions

AMST 3559 Afro-Latinx-Caribbean Histories

AMST 3559 – Moving On: Migration in/to the US

AMST 3880 – Literature of the South

AMST 4401 – Literature of the Americas

AMST 4321 – Caribbean Latinx Lit and Culture

AMST 4500 – Encounters of the Modern Caribbean

AMST 4500 – Race in American Places

AMST 4500 – Land and Health in Native America

AMST 4559 – Racial Geographies, Environmental Crisis

AAS 2559 – The Global Color Line 

AAS 3500 – Musical Fictions

AAS 3500 – Environmental Justice in the Mid-Atlantic

AAS 4570 – Encounters of the Modern Caribbean

ANTH 2250 – Nationalism, Racism, Multiculturalism

ANTH 2559 – Comparing World Racisms

ANTH 2590 – Contemporary Indigenous Peoples in Latin America

ENGL 2508 – Displacement and Migration

ENGL 2560 – Contemporary Latinx Poetry

ENGL 3560 – Kafka and His Doubles

ENGL 3560 – Musical Fictions

ENGL 3610 – Global Cultural Studies

ENGL 4500 – Sally Hemings University

ENGL 4560 – Multiethnic American Fiction

HIEU 2102 – Modern Jewish History

HIEU 3692 – The Holocaust

HIST 2014 – Fascism: A Global History

HIST 3281 – Genocide

HIST 3452 – The Second World War

HIUS 3191 – American Jewish History

HIUS 3231 – The Rise and Fall of the Slave South

HIUS 3232 – The South in the Twentieth Century

HIUS 3261 – History of the American West

HIUS 3281 – Virginia History to 1900

HIUS 3282 – History of Virginia, 1900-2018

HIUS 3456 – America in the World since 1914

MDST 3105 – Latino/a Media Studies

MDST 3110 – Hollywood Goes to Asia

MDST 3310 – Sound and Cinema

MDST 3504 – Mexican Cinema

MDST 3510 – Border Media

MDST 3584 – Global Cinema

MDST 4559 – Internet-Distributed TV in a Global Context

MESA 2110 – Intro to Middle East/South Asia Film History

MESA 3111 – Film Festivals and Global Media Cultures

MUSI 4525 – Topics in Ethnomusicology

RELA 2850 – Afro-Creole Religion in the Americas

RELC 3150 – Witchcraft in the Early Atlantic World

SOC 3480 – Sociology of Globalization

SPAN 3420 – Survey of Latin American Literature I

SPAN 3430 – Survey of Latin American Literature II

SPAN 4520 – Contemporary Peruvian Culture

SPAN 4710 – Latin American Culture and Civilization

WGS 2240 – Transnational Feminism

WGS 3200 – Women, Gender, and Sports

WGS 3340 – Transnational Feminism

WGS 3559 – Transgender Studies in the Americas

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Additional American Studies Electives

Any course designated AMST, AAS, HIUS, HILA will count as an AMST elective

ANTH 2589 – The Materiality of Death and Dying

ARTH 2559 – Medieval Myths Then & Now 

ARTH 3581 – American Modernisms                                  

ENGL 2504 – Major Authors of American Literature

ENGL 2508 – American Environmental Fictions    

ENGL 2508 – My Superheroes are Black

ENGL 3150 – American Renaissance

ENGL 3430 – American Literature to 1865

ENGL 3545 – U.S. Literature and Social Justice                

ENGL 4560 – Contemporary Poetry

ENGL 4561 – Modern Love in the U.S.       

MDST 3115 – Breaking Bad: Once Upon a Time with the Pests                                        

MDST 3502 – The Horror Film

MDST 3559 – The Comedy Film

MDST 3559 – Superhero Media

MDST 3650 – Shooting the Western                    

MDST 4559 – Critical Game Studies

MUSI 2570 – Intro to Music and Sport                      

PLAN 1010 – Introduction to Urban and Environmental Planning                                              

PLAP 3370 – Workshop in Contemporary American Politics                                            

PLAP 3160 – Politics of Food

PLAP 4180 – Political Advertising and American Democracy

PLAP 4360 – Campaigns and Elections

PLAP 4500 – Conservative Politics

PLAP 4500 – Contemporary Liberal and Conservative Thought

PLAP 4500 – Tea Party Women, Trump, and and White Christian America

PLPT 4070 – Liberalism and Its Critics                                           

RELC 4044 – Religion and the American Courts                           

SOC 2320 – Gender and Society

SOC 4559 – Hate Groups

SOC 4559 – The 2020 Census                                                                   

WGS 2897 – Gender Violence and Social Justice

 

American Studies Course Catalog