Course Description

Course Outline

Course Requirements

Required Texts

COURSE DESCRIPTION

 

In this culminating seminar of the “800-sequence” that makes up the graduate core in American Studies, participants will integrate selected theories and methods from 802 and 803, and launch the next stage of their graduate work. For MA students, this may mean completing—in whole or in part—the thesis, or preparing the précis for the MA exam.  For Ph.D. students, this may mean drafting a comprehensive exam paper, or designing and developing a dissertation topic that will help to determine the fields for the preliminary paper that will serve as the basis for the comprehensive exam. In an attempt to address the programmatic needs of all the students in this seminar, a good portion of this course will be conducted as a workshop. You will be required to define your culminating project for this seminar early on—and to commit to a productive working semester that moves you to another stage of your career and growth as a scholar.

We will begin with a common reading on interdisciplinarity that will help us to talk about various relationships between theory and method, and to locate ourselves within particular relationships with American Studies, other disciplines, and interdisciplinary approaches. 

After that, we shall begin the part of the seminar that I am calling: THE COTTEN SEILER SEMINAR. Professor Seiler is an alumnus of the KU American Studies MA (1998) and Ph.D. (2002) programs, and an assistant professor of American Studies at Dickenson College, where he has been teaching since 2002. We will be reading his graduate work in both the MA and Ph.D. Programs: his MA thesis, his comprehensive exam, his prospectus, and his dissertation, as well as two articles from peer reviewed scholarly journals based on his graduate work. Through engaging the work of one scholar, we will explore the mechanics of integrating theory and method in successful American Studies graduate work. Professor Seiler will pay us a visit midway through the semester, and we will be able to ask him questions about his graduate work, career path, and forthcoming book (also based on his graduate work).  

The final third of this seminar will be conducted as a writing/research workshop. You will be placed in peer groups in which you will read and comment on each other’s work, paying close attention to questions of theory, method, interdisciplinarity, American Studies, and disciplines. What is your archive? What are your fields? What are your guiding questions? These are but some of the prompts we will remind ourselves and each other of throughout the semester.

So, as Professor Seiler might say, fasten your seatbelts...

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

1. Active participation in the seminar/workshop. In addition to the usual requirements of reading, preparation, and contributions to discussion expected in a graduate seminar, “active participation” in this seminar includes providing written and oral comments on the work of the peers in your writing group at various stages throughout the seminar. (20% of grade)
2. Weekly one-page writing assignments. Each week during the first two-thirds of the semester, a brief writing assignment or exercise will be posted on Blackboard. These are due in class. Because these are designed to help participants to develop their culminating project for this semester, and to guide our discussions, no late assignments will be accepted. Participants may miss two of the assignments with no penalty, but after that, there will be 2 points taken off for each missed assignment. These assignments will cease once the writing/research workshop portion of the seminar begins. (40%) 
3. Two drafts of a culminating project that constitutes a serious step toward your degree (one draft for workshop, due one week before you are scheduled; with a re-write due May 13, by 5:00 pm). (15% first draft, 25% second draft)

REQUIRED TEXTS

Joan Bolker, Writing Your Dissertation in Fifteen Minutes a Day (New York: Holt, 1998)

Julie Thompson Klein, Humanities, Culture, and Interdisciplinarity: the Changing American Academy (SUNY Press, 2005)

Plus Cotten Seiler’s MA thesis, preliminary paper, prospectus, dissertation, and articles, available under "Course Documents" on Blackboard.

Cotten Seiler, Something in the Water: Independent Rock Music in Louisville, Kentucky  (MA Thesis, American Studies, University of Kansas, 1998)

_____, Anxiety and Automobility: Cold War Individualism and the Interstate Highway System (Ph.D. Dissertation, American Studies, University of Kansas.)

_____, Preliminary Paper (aka Comprehensive Exam Paper), American Studies, University of Kansas.

_____, Prospectus, American Studies, University of Kansas.

Disability Statement

The staff of Services for Students with Disabilities (SSD), 135 Strong, 785-864-2620 (v/tty), coordinates accommodations and services for KU courses. If you have a disability for which you may request accommodation in KU classes and have not contacted them, please do as soon as possible. Please also see me privately in regard to this course.

COURSE OUTLINE

Jan. 22 Introduction

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Jan. 29 Interdisciplinarity

Reading: Julie Thompson Klein, “Introduction” and “Part I” of Humanities, Culture, and Interdisciplinarity: the Changing American Academy(SUNY Press, 2005), 1-80.

Weekly One-Page Assignment: Write as much as you can in one single-spaced or two double-spaced pages about where you are in your research, and what part of it you plan to workshop in this seminar. What do you know at this moment about what you will do in your degree program? You may wish to begin mapping yourself into the paradigms for interdisciplinarity and American Studies addressed by Klein’s book.

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CLASS CANCELED -- SUPER TUESDAY

Class is canceled tonight to make it possible for people to Caucus if th wish.

Please email me your one-page papers: SherrieTu@aeyol.com

Feb. 5  Interdisciplinarity, continued

Reading: Julie Thompson Klein, “Part II” and “Part III” of Humanities, Culture, and Interdisciplinarity: the Changing American Academy (SUNY Press, 2005), 83-220.
 
Weekly One-Page Assignment:  What do you think is the place of disciplines and interdisciplinarity in your graduate work? Try to be as specific as possible, engaging particular models that Klein discusses in her book.

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Feb. 12 Cotten Seiler Seminar

Reading: Cotten Seiler, Something in the Water: Independent Rock Music in Louisville , Kentucky  (MA Thesis, American Studies, KU, 1998)

Special Guest Lecture by Tami Albin, Interim Head of Instructional Services, KU Libraries: “From School Work to Scholarship: Travels of an Idea.”

Weekly One-Page Assignment:  Provide an inventory of what Cotten Seiler must have had to do in order to produce this MA thesis. Pay attention to research (INCLUDE: 1) what counted as his “archive,” 2) how did he define the “archive,” 3) what did he have to do to get his evidence, 4) what did he take his evidence to be evidence of, 5) how many and what kinds of sources did he use to ground his theory, 6) how many and what kinds of sources did he use to craft his methodological framework, 7) how did he integrate theory and method, 8) how does he define his relationship to interdisciplinarity, American Studies, and disciplines?) Attend to all eight questions, but don’t try to write an essay: a loosely connected list is fine as long as it fills the page. We will discuss these in class.

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Feb. 19, Cotten Seiler Seminar, continued

Reading: Cotten Seiler, Preliminary Paper (also known as Comprehensive Exam Paper) and Prospectus

Weekly One-Page Assignment: Proposal for writing project for this seminar. What will you present for feedback in the workshop? What part of your degree program will you hope to complete by the end of the semester? What will that look like in terms of writing/research? In addition to writing a narrative, draw a time-line that shows where this step appears in the larger scope of your degree work. Include on the time-line the things you have already done, and the things you have yet to do (including acquiring research skills, putting a committee together, reading the literature on …, doing a database search on…, etc.)

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Feb. 26 Cotten Seiler Seminar, continued

Reading: Cotten Seiler, Anxiety and Automobility: Cold War Individualism and the Interstate Highway System (Ph.D. Dissertation, American Studies, KU, 2002)

Weekly One-Page Assignment: If we use Cotten Seiler’s cumulative graduate work to talk about what is the difference between an MA Thesis and a Dissertation, what are some of the distinctions that you see? How does reading both of these documents (as well as the preliminary paper and prospectus) help you to define the part of your work that you will complete this semester?

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Mar. 4 Cotten Seiler Seminar, continued

Reading: Cotten Seiler, “Statist Means to Individual Ends: Subjectivity, Automobility, and the Cold-War,” American Studies (Fall 2003), vol. 44, no. 3, 5-36; and “’So We as a Race Might Have Something to Travel By.”  American Quarterly, 2006, 1091-1117;Additional reading TBA.

SPECIAL GUEST: Cotten Seiler

Weekly One-Page Assignment: One page of questions you would like to ask Cotten Seiler that would be helpful for you at this moment in your work. Feel free think ask questions about his work, about graduate work, about professionalism, about turning his dissertation into a book, about how he prepared for various stages of his graduate work, or anything else that would be helpful to you.

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Mar. 11

Special Guest: Zanice Bond de Perez, American Studies Graduate Writing Fellow, Writing Center will lead a session on effective writing workshops and peer review in preparation for our workshops.

Reading: Joan Bolker, Writing Your Dissertation in Fifteen Minutes a Day (New York: Holt, 1998)

Weekly One-Page Assignment: I'd like to ask everyone to do this week's assignment--Zanice will use them in her session with us. Please be prepared to share your one-page paper with others in the class.

Topic: Describe in as much detail that you can: (1) any apprehensions you might have about sharing your work with others; and/or (2) any apprehensions you might have about commenting on other people's writing; and/or (3) any anxieties you might have about the writing process. If you are free of apprehensions and anxieties, please write out any questions you have about writing.

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SPRING BREAK *** NO CLASS MAR. 18

 

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Mar. 25

MA GROUP: Meets in Burge Union to workshop drafts by Hang and Damon. Please email to me your one-page paper for today since you will not be in class.

MUSEUM STUDIES AND PH.D. GROUP: Meet in our regular seminar room.

Reading: Museum Studies Group will read an article from a peer-reviewed scholarly journal that you would like to publish in; Ph.D. Group will read a comprehensive examination paper. AMS MA Group will read an MA thesis or precis. Try to select one that will serve as a model for the kind of work you want to do.  

Weekly One-Page Assignment: What are the aspects of this "model" that you would like to accomplish in your own work? What are the aspects you might do differently? Please also feel free to write about any questions you have about the model that you have selected and read for today.  

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Apr. 8 WORKSHOP  

Meet with your group. If you do not know where your group is meeting, use the Communication menu to send an email to your group for clarification.

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Apr. 15 WORKSHOP

Meet with your group. If you do not know where your group is meeting, use the Communication menu to send an email to your group for clarification.

Ph.D. Group: Will & Nicki, at Liz's house, 5:30 pm.

Museum Studies Group: Samantha and Cricket, Hawk's Nest, 7:00 pm

MA Group: Yan, Courtside Room, Burge Union, 7:00 pm.

Sherrie meets with Ph.D. group

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Apr. 22 WORKSHOP

Meet with your group. If you do not know where your group is meeting, use the Communication menu to send an email to your group for clarification.

Ph.D. Group, Pete & Liz, Liz's house, 5:30 pm.

Museum Studies Group, Abby and Murl, Hawk's Nest, 7:00 pm.

MA Group: Jake, Courtside Room, Burge Union, 7:00 pm.

Sherrie meets with Museum Studies group.

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Apr. 22 WORKSHOP

Meet with your group. If you do not know where your group is meeting, use the Communication menu to send an email to your group for clarification.

Ph.D. Group, Pete & Liz, Liz's house, 5:30 pm.

Museum Studies Group, Abby and Murl, Hawk's Nest, 7:00 pm.

MA Group: Jake, Courtside Room, Burge Union, 7:00 pm.

Sherrie meets with Museum Studies group.

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Apr. 29 WORKSHOP

Meet with your group. If you do not know where your group is meeting, use the Communication menu to send an email to your group for clarification.

Ph.D. group: Will & Nicki, Liz's house, 5:30 pm.

Museum Studies Group: HAVE A GREAT TIME AT THE ANNUAL MUSEUM STUDIES MEETING IN DENVER!

MA Group: Joel and Michelle, Courtside Room, Burge Union, 7:00 pm.

Sherrie meets with MA group

May 5 Final class meeting.

We will have a meeting of the full group to discuss our work this semester, report on the group workshops, and prepare for the final papers

 

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