This interdisciplinary cluster combines courses in political science and US history to introduce students to the long tradition of debates about the American political system across time. You will fulfill breadth requirements in Historical Studies, Philosophy & Values, and Social & Behavioral Sciences, while also satisfying your American Cultures and American History requirements.
Course Descriptions
- AFRICAM 27AC: Race, Racism and Resistance in the United States (3 Units). This course explores the role of race, racism and resistance in the United States from 1492 to the present. We do this by reading autobiographical works written by racial justice activists alongside works in the theory of racial formations. Together we ask: What is race? How do we define and recognize racism? How has race shaped the lives of Americans historically classified as minorities? And how have anti-racist intellectuals represented the personal and political struggles of racialized communities living in a white majority culture? To answer these questions we focus on the intersections of race, class and gender; immigration, labor and democracy; and the history of resistance to racial oppression from abolition to liberation and back.
- HISTORY 7A: Intoduction to the History of the United States from Settlement to Civil War (4 Units). This course is an introduction to the history of the United States from the beginning of the European colonization of North America to the end of the Civil War. It is also an introduction to the ways historians look at the past and think about evidence. There are two main themes: one is to understand the origin of the “groups” we call European-Americans, Native-Americans, and African-Americans; the second, is to understand how democratic political institutions emerged in the United States in this period in the context of an economy that depended on slave labor and violent land acquisition.
- POLSCI 41C: Pathways: Democracy Ancient & Modern (4 Units). Dêmokratia, democratia, democracy. What did this term mean to the ancient Greeks who coined it, to the Romans who borrowed it, to the early modern Europeans who discussed it—and what does it mean today? Who or what was the original dêmos, how did it rule, and how different is the interpretation of “rule by the people” that now predominates? Starting with the first attestations of da-mo in the 12 th century BC and ending with the recent attempts by Iceland and Chile to reform their constitutions by crowdsourcing and a citizen convention respectively, this course offers a chronological exploration of the idea and practice of democracy, intended to broaden our imaginative horizons with respect to what democracy has been, is, and could become.
Meeting Schedule
- AFRICAM 27AC: TR 12:30-2:00 PM; Discussion W 2:00-3:00 PM
- HISTORY 7A: TR 3:30-5:00 PM; Discussion W 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM
- POLSCI 41C: TR 12:30-2:00 PM; Discussion N/A
Major Prerequisites and L&S Breadth/General Requirements
| Course | Major Prerequisites | L&S Breadth/General Requirements | |
|---|---|---|---|
| AFRICAM 27AC | Comparative Ethnic Studies* | American Cultures Requirement | |
| HISTORY 7A | American Studies History Legal Studies Political Science |
Historical Studies L&S Breadth Social & Behavioral Science L&S Breadth American Cultures Requirement American History & Institutions Requirement |
|
|
POLSCI 41C |
N/A | Historical Studies L&S Breadth Philosophy & Values L&S Breadth |
* = one of several classes that can satisfy requirement
+ = recommended, not required
^ = lower division requirement, not required for declaration
