American Studies

The current uncertain times are marked by political upheavals, rapid technological change, and ecological loss and crisis. Yet, this perception of uncertainty is not unique to the present. How have people made sense of the unknown in the past? How have they tried to predict, control, or survive uncertain futures? This seminar explores how individuals, communities, and institutions have historically responded to uncertainty, in North America and beyond. Seminar topics therefore include religious beliefs and prophecies, narratives of destiny and utopia, science and statistics, social planning, bureaucracy and record-keeping, violence and exclusion, art, sports, as well as turns to history itself. Furthermore, the class discusses how historians themselves deal with uncertainty in their work: from gaps in the archives and collective memory, to epistemological questions, biases in historical research, and contested interpretations of the past. Through these themes, students are introduced to the foundational skills of studying history: how to ask critical questions, develop an argument, read primary and secondary sources, and how to write (about) history. A field trip to a local archive offers practical insights into what it means to work as a historian, and the uncertainties that come with it.

This seminar examines American cities over the past 150 years through major theoretical traditions and empirical themes. It explores housing markets, racial segregation, immigration, suburbanization, gentrification, policing, gender, finance, education, and urban politics. Throughout, it maintains a comparative lens, juxtaposing American patterns with European experiences. The course has two goals. First, to familiarize students with major theoretical frameworks in urban sociology, building a conceptual toolkit for analyzing cities. Second, to develop critical analytical skills through engagement with classic texts and contemporary research.

Over the course of the 19th century, North Americans in the United States and its territories experienced overwhelming social, political, technological, and economic change. At the same time, they faced significant health challenges from epidemic disease to unfamiliar environmental ills, to feuding physicians. This course addresses such changes in context and introduces students to the debates surrounding the American public's health.

This course introduces students to the main institutions of the American political system: Presidency, Congress, Judiciary. In the process, we learn about the way in which the members of these institutions are selected, the functions played by each of these institutions, and the way in which they interact under the checks and balances system of the United States. Special attention will be given to the historical development of these relationships. The course also covers the institutional structure of the US, such as the Constitution, the federal system, and the party system.

By the end of this course, students have a critical understanding and comprehensive knowledge of the government and politics in the US, as well as the processes through which policy making takes place. Through discussions of current and past events and a close following of the Congressional electoral campaign taking place during the term students are familiarized with examples of how these institutions and processes interact.

The course discusses contemporary U.S. American graphic memoirs, exploring how comics serve as a powerful medium for autobiographical storytelling. It examines how artists narrate personal and intimate experiences through the interplay of image and text. Students analyze how image and text work together to visualize trauma, self-representation, memory, and resilience—and learn what makes the comic medium such an affective space for narrating stories of illness, displacement, queerness, race, and coming of age. The exploration focuses on both the form and content of these works, analyzing how issues of gender, class, and race are portrayed within these narratives and how they engage with broader U.S. American cultural, social, and political contexts. Readings include a diverse range of voices and styles, from graphic memoirs like Art Spiegelman’s Maus and Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home, to more recent works by George Takei, Cece Bell, Nora Krug, and Kindra Neely. As part of the course, students have the opportunity to create their own short graphic memoirs, using accessible tools such as Making Comics by Lynda Barry, Canva, or StoryboardThat. This activity is planned to invite students to experiment with visual storytelling and reflect on their own experiences—no artistic background or drawing skills required.

This course provides an overview of some of the major developments in American culture since 1840. It introduces the basic methods of cultural history and teaches them how to place cultural developments within broader economic, political, and social contexts. Some of the themes discussed in the module include: the way culture has shaped racial, gender, and class conflicts and identities; the role of popular music in American life; the growth of advertising and consumer culture; the role of culture in debates over immigration and multiculturalism; and how the conquest of the American West was registered in American culture.

This course provides an extended overview of American cultural history ranging from the period of British settlement in the 17th century to contemporary issues in US society. Students read influential texts (speeches, legal documents, essays, etc.) by authors such as John Cotton, Thomas Jefferson, Frederick Douglass, Ida B. Wells, Martin Luther King, Betty Friedan, and Ta-Nehisi Coates. Throughout the readings, the class explores public rhetoric as a key factor shaping the cultural trajectory of the United States. After a brief introduction to basic methodologies of cultural analysis, students investigate the rhetorical, structural, and discursive features of the primary texts through close readings. The course explores select representations from the fields of visual culture, art, and film, and a selection of key terms that are essential for understanding the evolution of American public discourse and intellectual history.

This course provides an introduction to the diverse and dynamic history of the United States. Through a range of historical approaches—including political, social, cultural, and foreign policy perspectives - students investigate the forces that have influenced the development of the United States. Themes such as popular culture, multiculturalism, the role of the state, sexuality, gender, race, religion, class, and varied identities are explored, alongside foreign policy, the presidency, and the evolution of America as a global power. The course provides a broad yet nuanced understanding of how power, politics, and different groups of people have intersected across different eras, equipping students with the analytical tools to engage critically with historical narratives and debates. The course is designed to encourage students to think critically about the forces that shaped American politics and culture and empower them to engage with debates about its past, present and future.

This course examines how the world's oldest liberal democracy has become such a vital and fraught force in the contemporary world. It focuses particularly on the peculiar 20th-century US histories of class, race, religion and global engagement. 

This course examines the unique political economy of the United States in drawing primarily—but not exclusively—on comparative political economy (CPE) scholarship to explore how the American economy functions, how it compares to its (mainly European) peers, and why it remains so. The course consists of three interconnected main parts. The first part discusses the basic logic behind the comparative analysis of capitalism and trace the ideational roots of contemporary approaches in comparative political economy, providing a foundational understanding of key debates in CPE. The second and third part of the seminar are dedicated to the dominant theoretical frameworks for the comparative analysis of capitalism in the last decades, with a particular focus on the United States. By integrating theoretical perspectives with in-depth comparative analysis, this course equips students with the tools to critically assess the evolution of the American model of capitalism, engage critically with contemporary economic challenges, and understand how national political economies mediate and respond to the global forces shaping today’s capitalism.