Introduction: What, in the World, Is American Studies?

Year 2006, Issue: 24, 1 - 13, 01.10.2006

Kevin R. Mcnamara

Abstract

This issue of Journal of American Studies of Turkey has roots in its editor’s two Fulbright teaching fellowships, with the Department of American Culture and Literature at Ege University from 2005-2006, and as a newly minted Ph.D. a dozen years earlier with the Department of English and American Studies at Palacký University, in the Czech Republic. Naïvely, he prepared for his first overseas experience thinking of what, not whom, he would teach. The innocent Americanist abroad had no inkling of how classroom dynamics change with students’ affective distance from the object of their study. Only as he began to sense how that distance affected discussion far more than did any gaps in students’ cultural knowledge of the U.S., did he really begin to wonder what, in the world, or at least in the Czech Republic, American Studies actually was. Who studied it? Why? What did they suppose the United States to be? What did they want it to be, and for what purposes? The teacher thus began his study, discovering an America constellated of known elements into sometimes recognizable, sometimes monstrous, and even, occasionally, quite attractive wholes.

Keywords

Kevin, McNamara, What, in the World

References

• Balkır, İrem. “The Discourse on ‘Post-Nationalism’: A Reflection on the Contradictions of the 1990’s.” Journal of American Studies of Turkey 1 (1995): 25-31. 12 March 2007. .
• Bérubé, Michael. “American Studies without Exceptions.” PMLA 118 (2003): 103-113.
• Bourne, Randolph. “Transnational America.” Atlantic Monthly July 1916: 86-97
• Clifford, James. “Diasporas.” Cultural Anthropology 9 (1994): 302-38. Cole, Juan. Informed Comment. 17 March 2007. .
• Desmond, Jane C., and Virginia R. Domínguez. “Resituating American Studies in a Critical Internationalism.” American Quarterly 48 (1996): 475-90.
• Dewey, John. “Americanism and Localism.” The Dial June 1920: 684-88.
• Feinstein, Sandy. “American Literature and Other Curricular Issues in Syria.” Journal of American Studies of Turkey 15 (2002): 61-72. 12 March 2007. .
• Geertz, Clifford. “Thick Description: Toward and Interpretive Theory of Culture.” The Interpretation of Culture: Selected Essays. New York: Basic, 1973.
• Hill, Mary Louise. “Another Kind of ‘road map’?: A Response to Helena Maragou’s ‘American Studies and Gender Issues in an International Classroom.’” Journal of American Studies of Turkey 15 (2002): 17-21. 12 March 2007. .
• Hones, Sheila, and Julia Leyda. “Geographies of American Studies.” American Quarterly 57 (2005): 1019-32.
• Kaplan, Amy. “Violent Belongings and the Question of Empire Today: Presidential Address to the American Studies Association, Hartford, Connecticut, October 17, 2003.” American Quarterly 56 (2004): 1-18.
• ____, and Donald E. Pease, eds. Cultures of United States Imperialism. New Americanists. Durham, NC: Duke UP, 1993.
• Kazin, Michael. “The Vogue of Transnationalism.” Raritan 26.3 (Winter 2007): 155-67.
• Kırtunç, Ayşe. “Interview with Neclâ Aytür.” Journal of American Studies of Turkey 3 (1996): 59-68. 12 March 2007. .
• Lenz, Günter. “Toward a Dialogics of International American Culture Studies,” Amerikastudien 44 (1999): 5-23.
• Limón, José E. “Translating Empire: The Border Homeland of Rio Grande City, Texas.” American Quarterly 56 (2004): 25-32.
• Marx, Leo. “On Recovering the ‘Ur’ Theory of American Studies.” American Literary History 17 (2005): 118-34.
• Maragou, Helena. “American Studies and Gender Issues in an International Classroom.” Journal of American Studies of Turkey 15 (2002): 9-15. 12 March 2007. .
• McGreevy, Patrick. “Beautiful Beirut.” 24 August 2006. In Cole. 17 March 2007. .
• ____. “Criminalizing Civilians.” 28 July 2006. In Cole. 17 March 2007. .
• ____. “The Descent into Hell is Optional.” 24 July 2006. In Cole. 17 March 2007. .
• ____. “Evacuation of the American University in Beirut.” 19 July 2006. In Cole. 17 March 2007. .
• ____. “Evacuation of Westerners from Lebanon: Why are We the Story?” 22 July 2006. In Cole. 17 March 2007. .
• ____. “Facing West from Arab Country.” 8 August 2006. In Cole. 17 March 2007. .
• ____. “Hospitality or the Abyss.” 20 July 2006. In Cole. 17 March 2007. .
• ____. “Islands in Arabia.” 29 July 2006. In Cole. 17 March 2007. .
• ____. “‘Justice’ Comes to Qana.” 4 August 2006. In Cole. 17 March 2007. .
• ____. “Lebanon: The Transnation.” 22 August 2006. In Cole. 17 March 2007. .
• ____. “‘No More Infrastructure to Destroy.’” 20 July 2006. In Cole. 17 March 2007. .
• ____. “South Beirut’s Divine Victory.” 25 August 2006. In Cole. 17 March 2007. .
• ____. “VL Day? 15 August 2006. Juan In Cole. 17 March 2007. .
• ____. “The War’s Deathbed.” 14 August 2006. In Cole. 17 March 2007. .
• McNamara, Kevin R. “Silas Lapham in Olomouc.” College Literature 23.2 (1996): 157-69.
• Obeidat, Marwan. “The Cultural Context of American Literature: A Barrier or a Bridge to Understanding?” Journal of American Studies of Turkey 4 (1996): 37-44. 12 March 2007. .
• Pease, Donald E., ed. National Identities and Post-Americanist Narratives. New Americanists. Durham, NC: Duke UP, 1994.
• ____. and Robyn Wiegman, eds. The Futures of American Studies. New Americanists. Durham, NC: Duke UP, 2002.
• Raw, Laurence. “‘The Fulbright Difference’: The Future of Visiting Academics in Turkey and Elsewhere.” Journal of American Studies of Turkey 15 (2002): 23-31. 12 March 2007. .
• ____. “Introduction: Teaching American Studies Past, Present and Future.” Journal of American Studies of Turkey 15 (2002): 1-8. 12 March 2007. .
• Rosen, Kenneth. “Autumn In Bulgaria: September 15, 1998 - February 15, 1999.” Journal of American Studies of Turkey 15 (2002): 33-40. 12 March 2007. .
• Rowe, John Carlos. The New American Studies. Minneapolis: U of Minnesota P, 2002.
• ____. ed. Post-Nationalist American Studies. Berkeley: U of California P, 2000.
• Radway, Janice. “What’s in a Name?: Presidential Address to the American Studies Association, 20 November, 1998.” American Quarterly 51 (1999): 1–32.
• Stevens, Cristina M. T. “Teaching American Studies in Brazilian Universities: Johannes Factotum or Janus?” Journal of American Studies of Turkey 10 (1999): 69-79. 12 March 2007. .
• Sumida, Stephen H. “Where in the World Is American Studies?: Presidential Address to the American Studies Association, Houston, Texas, November 15, 2002.” American Quarterly 55 (2003): 333-52.
• Tomlinson, John. Globalization and Culture. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1999.
• Wolfe, Alan. “Anti-American Studies.” The New Republic 10 Feb. 2003: 25-32.
• Yankova, Diana. “American Culture Studies: Themes and Methodology.” Journal of American Studies of Turkey 15 (2002): 55-60. 12 March 2007. .
• Yeğenoğlu, Meyda. “Cultural Studies in the United States and Multiculturalism.” Journal of American Studies of Turkey 3 (1996): 53-58. 12 March 2007. .