History 201-206 seminars are open to history majors only during pre-registration. If the course does not reach its enrollment maximum, it will be open to all students beginning with drop/add on a first-come first-serve basis.
HIST 204 Culture and Crisis
Taught as schedule allows (consult the Course Directory)
R | SEM
How have Americans created and used culture as a way of handling and interpreting periods of economic, social, and political crisis? Do these periods spark crises in cultural representation and practices, or do they further an impetus to preserve culture and invent tradition? How are the emotions evoked at such moments—whether trauma, insecurity, fear, or other feelings—given cultural form? And how are such periods remembered and commemorated? This course focuses on Americans' cultural responses to the experience of the Great Depression and World War II. We will examine a wide range of individual and collective cultural expressions, including the WPA programs, the 1939 World's Fair, war photographs and radio broadcasts, the zoot suit and swing culture, and the military's effort to preserve culture in European war areas. The course will conclude with a consideration of 9/11 and its aftermath. Students will write short response papers and do a research project.
Course Syllabus (PDF)
