American Identities and Cultures

Open to students of any major, the American Identities and Cultures minor looks to connect the study of the humanities to the passionate concern that students today express for the future of their nation and their planet. It does this by emphasizing continuities between the past and present, between historical injustices and current conflicts, and between classroom analysis and real-life experience.

Learn about American history, culture and national identity. Study the construction of local, regional, ethnic, indigenous, borderland, and diasporic communities. Develop an understanding of American society in transoceanic, hemispheric, and global frameworks as well as national ones.

You will discover and discuss the crucial issues in American culture and society in the past and present – especially the role of ethnicity, race, gender, sexuality, and other constructs of identity in producing marginalized communities – and learn to analyze the relationship between culture and identity.

With a deeper understanding of issues related to racial, ethnic, gender, and economic inequality and injustice, you will be better able to negotiate and even help to solve conflicts both large and small – in your community, in your workplace, and in society. See the curriculum.