V (Cult): Out of Many, One (E Pluribus Unum): US Cultural History and “The American Experiment”

This survey lecture course provides an overview of US cultural history from early European colonization to the present day. Adopting a transnational perspective, it surveys crucial sites, periods, and themes central to diverse American experiences. The course investigates dynamics of cultural change by focusing on key moments, figures, and concepts that have shaped the nation’s self-perception. A particular emphasis is placed on the emergence of different ideas of “America” and their shifting meanings for various demographic groups. It examines frictions that result from a differentiation between particular experiences of specific demographic groups and the ideal of one unified “America” that merges differences under the umbrella of one exceptionalist nation. The course conceptualizes “The American Experiment” precisely through these dynamic tensions—as an ongoing, open-ended, contested process of negotiation. Finally, the lecture considers the medial and discursive conditions that shape our understanding of the United States in a globalized world.

The lecture course begins in the first week of the semester.

Tue (4) W48/004