Department of American Studies
Minor in the American Experience
Students on Summer 2019, Fall 2019, or Spring 2020 requirements AMEXPMIN
Requirements
The minor requires at least 15 credit hours, including the requirements listed below.
- Introductory course. One (1) course:
- AMST-E 100 American Experience through the Lens
- SLST-T 135 Introduction to the American Experience for International Students
AMST-E 100 American Experience through the Lens
- Credits
- 3
- Prerequisites
- None
- Description
- Through a cultural and historical examination of a variety of cultural products, physical objects, and social institutions, this course attempts to answer the question: what and where is America? Focus is on wide-ranging experiences of American life and diverse perceptions of American experience rather than definitive answers. Course emphasizes students' own creative production of America in a variety of media.
- Summer 2025CASE AHcourseSpring 2025CASE AHcourseFall 2024CASE AHcourse
- Summer 2025CASE DUScourseSpring 2025CASE DUScourseFall 2024CASE DUScourse
SLST-T 135 Introduction to the American Experience for International Students
- Credits
- 3
- Prerequisites
- None
- Notes
- Open only to international undergraduates
- Description
- Introduction to major institutions in contemporary life in the United States seen through the lens of social and historical science.
- Summer 2025CASE DUScourseSpring 2025CASE DUScourseFall 2024CASE DUScourse
- Summer 2025CASE SHcourseSpring 2025CASE SHcourseFall 2024CASE SHcourse
- Intermediate course. One (1) course:
- AMST-A 200 Comparative American Identities
- AMST-A 201 U.S. Movements and Institutions
- AMST-A 202 U.S. Arts and Media
AMST-A 200 Comparative American Identities
- Credits
- 3
- Prerequisites
- None
- Description
- Examines the formation of legal, social, cultural, and economic identities within the United States and within U.S.-controlled territories. Who counts as "American?" To what ends have citizens and non-citizens assumed, claimed, or refused "American" identity? This course employs a comparative frame in considering elite and subordinated classes (and/or genders, races, ethnicities, sexualities); institutional and countercultural forms of self-definition; official history and alternative acts of collective memory.
- Summer 2025CASE AHcourseSpring 2025CASE AHcourseFall 2024CASE AHcourse
- Summer 2025CASE DUScourseSpring 2025CASE DUScourseFall 2024CASE DUScourse
AMST-A 201 U.S. Movements and Institutions
- Credits
- 3
- Prerequisites
- None
- Description
- Study and analysis of a social movement, an institutional structure, or an otherwise clearly delimited arena of social regulation and public activity. Constructing, deconstructing, reconstructing an object of social study. Topics vary.
- Repeatability
- May be repeated with a different topic for a maximum of 6 credit hours.
- Summer 2025CASE DUScourseSpring 2025CASE DUScourseFall 2024CASE DUScourse
- Summer 2025CASE SHcourseSpring 2025CASE SHcourseFall 2024CASE SHcourse
AMST-A 202 U.S. Arts and Media
- Credits
- 3
- Prerequisites
- None
- Description
- Interdisciplinary approaches to a cultural genre (e.g., science fiction, pop art, jazz), discourse (e.g., individualism, family values, globalization) or medium (e.g., comics, television, the Internet). Constructing, deconstructing, reconstructing an object of cultural study. Recent topics have included Images of the Body, Jazz and Cultural Hierarchy, and Youth Cultures.
- Repeatability
- May be repeated with a different topic for a maximum of 6 credit hours.
- Summer 2025CASE AHcourseSpring 2025CASE AHcourseFall 2024CASE AHcourse
- Advanced courses. Three (3) courses:
- AMST-E 300 Experiencing American Communities
- AMST-E 301 U.S. Society and Institutions
- AMST-E 302 U.S. Arts and Culture
AMST-E 300 Experiencing American Communities
- Credits
- 3
- Prerequisites
- None
- Description
- Students gain an appreciation of the dynamic nature of American culture and institutions; get an opportunity to examine in depth how the histories of specific communities influence their present-day institutions and social, cultural and political traditions; and analyze the factors that influence variation among them. Includes one or more field trips to U.S. communities and cities that offer experiential learning relevant to the focus of the course.
AMST-E 301 U.S. Society and Institutions
- Credits
- 3
- Prerequisites
- None
- Description
- Focused study and analysis of American society and its institutions. Topics vary from semester to semester. Refines students' skills in writing, interdisciplinary interpretation, analytical reasoning, discussion, and research related to the study of public policy, political, economic, and social realities.
- Repeatability
- May be repeated with a different topic for a maximum of 6 credit hours.
- Summer 2025CASE SHcourseSpring 2025CASE SHcourseFall 2024CASE SHcourse
AMST-E 302 U.S. Arts and Culture
- Credits
- 3
- Prerequisites
- None
- Description
- Study and analysis of a single topic within arts and humanities in the United States. Topics vary from semester to semester. Refines students' skills in writing, interdisciplinary interpretation, analytical reasoning, discussion, and research related to the study of fine arts, literature, film, and popular culture.
- Repeatability
- May be repeated with a different topic for a maximum of 6 credit hours.
- Summer 2025CASE AHcourseSpring 2025CASE AHcourseFall 2024CASE AHcourse
- Minor GPA, Hours, and Minimum Grade Requirements.
- At least 9 credit hours in the minor must be completed in courses taken through the Indiana University Bloomington campus or an IU-administered or IU co-sponsored Overseas Study program.
- At least 9 credit hours in the minor must be completed at the 300–499 level.
- Except for the GPA requirement, a grade of C- or higher is required for a course to count toward a requirement in the minor.
- A GPA of at least 2.000 for all courses taken in the minor—including those where a grade lower than C- is earned—is required.
- Exceptions to minor requirements may be made with the approval of the department's Director of Undergraduate Studies, subject to final approval by the College of Arts and Sciences.