Matthias Oppermann ist wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter am Lehrstuhl North American Literary and Cultural Studies der Universität Bielefeld. / Matthias Oppermann ist wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter am Lehrstuhl North American Literary and Cultural Studies der Universität Bielefeld.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgmentsix
Introduction12

Histories of Curricular Innovation

1. American Studies as Curricular Innovation: Interventions into Narratives of Field Formation35
1.1 "A Subject So Familiar and So Simple": American Literature and American Civilization in the College Curriculum38
1.2 Money, Jingoism, and Folklore? American Studies after World War II55
1.3 Bridging the Schisms of Culture and Method: "Peaux Rouges" and "Mandarins" in Minnesota75

2. Maturity and Midlife Crises: Radical Teachers, Cultural Turns86
2.1 Quantitative Growth and Organizational Structures in the 1960s and 1970s88
2.2 Cultural Experts and Literary Amateurs in the Early 1960s 94
2.3 Radical Teaching Contra Cultural Consensus?100
2.4 Collaborators, Computers, Problem-Solvers: Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and Davis (Re-)Considered107

Trajectories of Transformation

3. Multiculturalism as Radical Critique: American Studies Beyond the Nation131
3.1 Social Movements, European Theory, and the Search for Resistance134
3.2 Contextualizing Cultural Studies: The Political Work of Cultural Critique140
3.3 Dialogics Beyond Borders: American Culture Studies146
3.4 From Coverage to Contact Zones: Curricula of Comparative U.S. Cultures152

4. American Studies in the Age of Digital Cultures165
4.1 American Studies and New Media166
4.2 Culture and Database: George Allen's Curse, Chris Crocker's Cupcake171
4.3 New Media-New American Studies?179

Expansions of the Field-Imaginary

5. American Studies and the Learning Paradigm187
5.1 Understanding Student Learning193
5.2 Novice, Expert, and Beyond203
5.3 Does American Studies Have "Signature Pedagogies"?214

6. From Best Practices to Next Practices226
6.1 Going Meta: Towards a Scholarship of Teaching in American Studies227
6.2 Pedagogies and Epistemologies: Notes from the Visible Knowledge Project234
6.3 Digital Storytelling: Adaptive, Embodied, and Socially Situated245

Epilogue266

List of Tables273
Bibliography274
Index292 / Table of Contents

Acknowledgmentsix
Introduction12

Histories of Curricular Innovation

1. American Studies as Curricular Innovation: Interventions into Narratives of Field Formation35
1.1 "A Subject So Familiar and So Simple": American Literature and American Civilization in the College Curriculum38
1.2 Money, Jingoism, and Folklore? American Studies after World War II55
1.3 Bridging the Schisms of Culture and Method: "Peaux Rouges" and "Mandarins" in Minnesota75

2. Maturity and Midlife Crises: Radical Teachers, Cultural Turns86
2.1 Quantitative Growth and Organizational Structures in the 1960s and 1970s88
2.2 Cultural Experts and Literary Amateurs in the Early 1960s 94
2.3 Radical Teaching Contra Cultural Consensus?100
2.4 Collaborators, Computers, Problem-Solvers: Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and Davis (Re-)Considered107

Trajectories of Transformation

3. Multiculturalism as Radical Critique: American Studies Beyond the Nation131
3.1 Social Movements, European Theory, and the Search for Resistance134
3.2 Contextualizing Cultural Studies: The Political Work of Cultural Critique140
3.3 Dialogics Beyond Borders: American Culture Studies146
3.4 From Coverage to Contact Zones: Curricula of Comparative U.S. Cultures152

4. American Studies in the Age of Digital Cultures165
4.1 American Studies and New Media166
4.2 Culture and Database: George Allen's Curse, Chris Crocker's Cupcake171
4.3 New Media-New American Studies?179

Expansions of the Field-Imaginary

5. American Studies and the Learning Paradigm187
5.1 Understanding Student Learning193
5.2 Novice, Expert, and Beyond203
5.3 Does American Studies Have "Signature Pedagogies"?214
6. From Best Practices to Next Practices226
6.1 Going Meta: Towards a Scholarship of Teaching in American Studies227
6.2 Pedagogies and Epistemologies: Notes from the Visible Knowledge Project234
6.3 Digital Storytelling: Adaptive, Embodied, and Socially Situated245

Epilogue266

List of Tables273
Bibliography274
Index292