The Field Of American Studies - 1758 Words

In this essay, I will examine the field of American Studies and attempt to explain its ever changing definition. I will take the reader through the origins of American Studies and describe the events that led to changes in the discipline. The scholars in American Studies are constantly seeking to understand the practices by individuals and groups and their history of origin. Scholars struggle to understand how values and beliefs shape social and political realities within the U.S. and other countries. American Studies is an interdisciplinary study that explores cultures of the United States as well as their transnational exchanges and impact. In the words of Staurt Hall, he â€Å"finds in American culture and in America’s capacity to live with difference the best illustration of a continuous dialect between the local and the global, between the insular and the transnational. He defines culture as an embodiment of the best that has been thought and said in a society. It is the sum of the great ideas as represented in the classic works of painting, music, and philosophy that represent culture. (Hall, 9)† Hall also has observed U.S. dominance in communication and described America as the common factor of globalization. The field of American Studies began in what may be called a single beginning with multiple origins. The beginning of the American Studies Association in late 1951 and early 1952 and the beginning of the journal, American Quarterly at the University of Minnesota inShow MoreRelatedEssay on Development of African American Studies1148 Words   |  5 PagesDevelopment of African American Studies Scholars have dedicated their time and attention to furthering the discipline of African American Studies and can define the field with many different definitions. Through looking at the origins and development in the study we can see how it became a legitimate academic field. 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Prior to her arrival in American Samoa, Mead with the guidance of her mentor Franz Boas, decided to investigate the lives of adolescent girls in Samoa as a focal point of her research. Mead chose this subject matter due to her speculation that the period adolescence within the United States during the 1920s was filled with stress and a period of turbulence; therefore, Mead hypothesized that stress felt by American youth