Focus Area and Portfolio
Focus Area
All American Studies majors will develop a focus area. A focus area is a thematic or conceptual focus that the student develops in conversation with their American Studies advisor.
To help with their selection, the program provides the following list of examples, although students should tailor their focus area through extensive consultation with their advisor. Listed in alphabetical order, these examples are intended to stimulate students’ thinking about how they would like to focus their studies and should not be seen as an exhaustive list of possible concentrations.
- American Citizenship and Belonging
- American Countercultures
- American Imperialism
- The American West
- Asian American Culture
- Black Radical Imaginations
- The Built Environment
- Comparative Race and Ethnicity
- Criminality and (In)Justice
- Cultural Geography
- Cultures of Capitalism
- Environmental Imaginations
- Indigeneity
- Local/Regional Cultures
- Material Culture
- Migration Narratives
- Mass Incarceration
- Music and Culture
- Neoliberalism and Culture
- Popular Culture
- Poverty and Inequality
- Public Humanities
- Queer Identities and Politics
- Revolution and Dissent
- Religion and Culture
- Space and Place
- Urban Planning/Design
- US Political Cultures
- Visual Culture
Portfolio
Portfolios are designed to encourage a greater sense of intentionality and self-reflection in the choice of focus area and path through the major. Students work with their program advisors to complete a portfolio. Students will develop their portfolios through exercises conducted in the advanced core courses of the major (AM293, AM393, and AM493). In their portfolio, students will identify emerging areas of interest, draw connections among courses, draw connections between courses and the focus area, refine the description of the focus area, and pose unresolved questions.