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
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
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
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
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