Teaching American Studies in a Changing World Environment

Year 2006, Issue: 24, 43 - 54, 01.10.2006

S. Jay Kleinberg

Abstract

American Studies is changing both as a discipline and in its place within the academy. While this paper principally reflects my experiences in teaching American Studies and American history in England, my observations may also have salience for practitioners in other countries and in other disciplines. American Studies specialists in universities which do not have American Studies departments face a particular set of challenges since many of their students lack the academic background in the range of subjects upon which they might otherwise draw. They will probably have little or no academic background in American history, literature, politics, or other specialties, and are possibly taking only one or two courses on the United States. They frequently bring misconceptions about the United States to their study of the American experience, believing that they know American culture because they have seen American television programs or movies. In these troubled times such students may also have an anti-American viewpoint and feel angry about current American political and military interventions in Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine, Israel, and other global hotspots Ferguson .

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