The Department of American Studies

Welcome to the Department of American Studies

American Studies is an interdisciplinary department that awards B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees. We take a global and hemispheric approach to the study of the Americas, examining local cultures, nations, and regions within their larger geopolitical contexts. Building on our traditional strengths in American Indian studies, critical race theory, feminism, class analysis, and community engagement, we encourage scholarly work on history, politics, visual cultures, literary and oral cultures, environmental and agricultural practices, religions, gender, sexualities, kinship systems, geography, and economics.

We are a vibrant and diverse community of faculty and students committed to rigorous, socially engaged scholarship. Reclaiming the repressed voices, histories, and cultures of marginalized peoples in the Americas has been a central mission of our department since the 1960s. Our department coordinates one of the strongest American Indian studies programs in the United States. In addition, our faculty's creation and implementation of new technologies for accessing and documenting history has situated our department at the forefront of American studies.

Our research strengths include:

  • American Indian, especially Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) history, art, and culture

  • Transnational approaches to American studies (from transatlantic slavery to globalization)

  • The Black Atlantic and the African diaspora in the Americas

  • Asia and the Asian diaspora in the Americas

  • Chicana/o, Latina/o, Caribbean, and Latin American studies

  • Ecological history and restoration in the Americas

  • Canadian studies, including First Nations cultures

  • Oral history and documentary studies

  • Feminist and queer studies

  • Critical race theory

  • Working-class history, immigrant cultures, urban studies

  • Public policy

  • Popular culture

 

The Department of American Studies welcomes the enriching presence of two new faculty:

Ramón Soto-Crespo, Associate Professor, specializing in Latino/a studies

Camilo Trumper, Assistant Professor, specializing in Latin American studies