HIST 377 - The Birth of American Popular Culture

Units: 3
Creation of popular culture in early 19th century America, including shifting ideas of religion, gender, sex, race and bodies. Examines popular culture and sensationalism as a print revolution, with comparisons to contemporary social media.

Equivalent Quarter Course: HIST 3413.
Possible Instructional Methods: Entirely On-ground.
Grading: A-F or CR/NC (student choice).
Student Learning Outcomes - Upon successful completion of this course students will be able to:

Examine terms and definitions employed in cultural history, compared to more conventional history.
Investigate diverse Americans’ participation in the creation of popular culture forms between 1800 and 1860.
Consider the ways in which popular culture both enhanced and marginalized diverse Americans’ ability to shape broad forces in US culture and politics.
Assess how culture and values shifted in response to the emergence of a market society and capitalism.
Investigate the commodification of bodies, especially under slavery, and enslaved people’s efforts to respond to that commodification.
Chart the rise of popular ideas about “race” as well as the cultural expressions complicating racialism.
Examine new forms of popular culture and sensationalism as a print revolution, with comparisons to contemporary social media.
Analyze shifting ideas of gender, sex, and bodies in popular culture.
Investigate the rise of popular politics as a feature of democratization, assessing the costs to individuals situated outside of the majority.
Analyze the assent of popular religion as a site of participation by diverse people.