Course Descriptions

Core Curriculum Requirements
Please visit www.providence.edu/academic-affairs/core-curriculum/Pages/approved-core-curriculum-courses.aspx for a listing of courses that have been approved for specific Core Curriculum requirements (Class of 2016 and beyond). The list is updated on a regular basis. In addition, students in the Class of 2013, 2014, and 2015 can search the Course Catalog or Semester Course Offerings in CyberFriar to locate courses with a specific Core Curriculum attribute. Need assistance? Please contact Alyssa Marton at aneubeck@providence.edu or 401.865.1765.

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American Studies
	AMS 101 - Introduction to American Studies 1 semester, 3 Credits Introduces students to the basic issues, methodology, and tools in examining a broad range of topics relevant to the study of American history and culture. Thematic topics vary from semester to semester. Satisfies an AMS elective requirement. Click here for the Semester Course Offerings
	AMS 107 - African American Art: A Look at Hip Hop 1 semester, 3 Credits Students explore Hip-Hop’s impact on American popular culture. Focuses on the music and culture’s contentious relationship to blackness, African American identity-in terms of gender, sexuality and class among other social categories-and notions of American multiculturalism. Strives to offer a survey of Hip-Hop’s impact on a wide range of social and artistic practices. Same as ARH 107 & BLS 107. Click here for the Semester Course Offerings
	AMS 108 - History of Photography 1 semester, 3 Credits A history of the development of photography as an art, from its invention in 1839 to the present. Same as ARH 108. Click here for the Semester Course Offerings
	AMS 120 - History of Film: The Silent Period and the Transition to Sound 1 semester, 3 Credits Traces the history of cinema from its beginnings at the turn of the 20th century to the establishment of the sound cinema. Emphasis is given to film as an art form as well as a social and political phenomenon in the United States and throughout the world. Same as TDF 120. Click here for the Semester Course Offerings
	AMS 121 - History of Film: The Classic Era 1940-1960 and Beyond 1960-1990 1 semester, 3 Credits Traces key films and movements in the history of the cinema, from the classic Hollywood era in the 1940s to the flowering of international and independent cinema of the present. Emphasis is on cinema as an art form, medium of entertainment, and its development alongside politics, society, and the other arts. Same as TDF 121. Click here for the Semester Course Offerings
	AMS 206 - American Musical Theatre 1 semester, 3 Credits Exposes students to all aspects of the Broadway or American musical theatre. Emphasis on appreciation and analysis in terms of music, book, lyrics, and design. Eight or nine musicals of various types are studied through analysis of scripts, sound recordings, DVDs, and live performances when possible. Same as TDF 206. Click here for the Semester Course Offerings
	AMS 207 - American Art 1 semester, 3 Credits An introduction to American painting, sculpture, and architecture from Colonial times to the present. Same as ARH 207. Prerequisite: ARH 106 suggested. Click here for the Semester Course Offerings
	AMS 220 - The Catholic Imagination of Four American Filmmakers 1 semester, 3 Credits An intensive study of the films of John Ford, Frank Capra, Alfred Hitchcock, and Martin Scorsese emphasizing the Catholic imagination from which each of these directors was influenced. The social, psychological, and theological themes found in each filmmaker are considered as ways in which they used their personal concerns to tell popular stories. Same as TDF 220. Click here for the Semester Course Offerings
	AMS 226 - Music in the United States 1 semester, 3 Credits A study of the history of American music from the Colonial period to the present, with special attention given to the interaction between music and society. Analytical listening and comparison will form an important part of the course. Same as MSC 226. Click here for the Semester Course Offerings
	AMS 227 - History of Jazz 1 semester, 3 Credits A study of the history of jazz from African music to contemporary trends and more popular forms. Emphasis will be placed on styles and performers. Analytical listening will be required. Same as BLS 227 and MSC 227. Click here for the Semester Course Offerings
	AMS 301 - Development of North American Architecture 1 semester, 3 Credits A study of North American architecture and the cultural context in which it was produced, from the 17th century to the present. Same as ARH 301. Prerequisite: ARH 106 or permission of instructor. Click here for the Semester Course Offerings
	AMS 304 - American and European Art Since 1945 1 semester, 3 Credits Introduces major trends in Western and especially, American art post-World War II. A variety of media will be addressed, including not only the traditional visual arts, but a full range of new genres, as well. Social and cultural context for works of art and the shifts in style will be emphasized. Same as ARH 304. Prerequisite: ARH 106 or 209. Click here for the Semester Course Offerings
	AMS 313 - The Power of Whiteness 1 semester, 3 Credits Historical development of “whitenesses” within the context of colonialism, slavery, imperialism and globalization, and their aftermaths as a way of understanding the cultural environments and processes of ethno-racial and gender-sexual identity formation today. Hegemonic whiteness is deconstructed and challenged. Whiteness is examined as an unnamed, unmarked category, “whites are just normal,” that carries powers and privileges. Same as BLS 313, SOC 313 and WMS 313. Click here for the Semester Course Offerings
	AMS 318 - Globalization and Social Justice 1 semester, 3 Credits With the fall of socialist states, capitalist markets, economic relations, and consumerism have become global. Examine the political, cultural, and economic origins, consequences, and responses (with specific concern for the prospects for social justice, democracy, and equality) in the rich and poor countries of the world; impacts on workers; ecological, resource, and environmental implications; and anti-corporate globalization resistance movements. Same as GST 318, SOC 318, and WMS 318. Click here for the Semester Course Offerings
	AMS 320 - Early American Literature 1 semester, 3 Credits Examines early American texts, particularly the literature of colonial New England. Inquires how early New World encounters, as recorded and interpreted in the era’s autobiographical and other writings, shaped the lives and identities of Native Americans, conquerors, settlers, slaves, and post-Revolutionary Americans. Topics include the impact of emerging print culture on the development of American democracy. Same as ENG 320. Click here for the Semester Course Offerings
	AMS 321 - Social Change 1 semester, 3 Credits Examines classical and contemporary explanations of the nature (what?), causes (why?), agents (by whom?), processes (how?), and responses to change. Focus is on societal and global levels. Emphasis on American social trends during the 20th century and the 1960s and its legacy. Same as SOC 321. Prerequisite: SOC 101. Not open to freshmen. Click here for the Semester Course Offerings
	AMS 325 - African-American Women 1 semester, 3 Credits Focuses on sociological analyses of the constructions and reconstructions of African-American women, examining the interrelationships of gender, race, caste, class, racism, and sexism in the United States, past and present. Topics include the family, male-female relations, poverty, discrimination, and social movements with particular emphasis on origins, consequences, social and individual changes and resistance to change, sociological, and feminist theories. Same as BLS 325, SOC 325, and WMS 325. Click here for the Semester Course Offerings
	AMS 331 - American Philosophy 1 semester, 3 Credits A critical study and analysis of the writings of outstanding American philosophers. Same as PHL 321. Click here for the Semester Course Offerings
	AMS 345 - The Consumer Society 1 semester, 3 Credits Consumption and consumerism are driving forces sustaining the expansionist logic of advanced capitalism and globalization. Consumption of commodities has become the basis for the formation of ever-changing individual and group identities. Examines the historical development of consumerism, theoretical approaches to understanding the political, social, economic, individual, and very importantly, the environmental consequences of consumerism. Same as GST 345, SOC 345 and WMS 345. Click here for the Semester Course Offerings
	AMS 364 - Modern American Fiction 1 semester, 3 Credits Covers American fiction since World War I. Authors include Anderson, Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Cather, Dos Passos, Faulkner, Welty, O’Connor, Salinger, Heller, Percy, Pynchon, Morrison, and Bellow. Topics include the search for identity through tradition, the disillusionment of the ’30s, the Southern Renaissance, and the problematics of mass society. Same as ENG 364. Click here for the Semester Course Offerings
	AMS 365 - Twentieth-Century African-American Literature 1 semester, 3 Credits A reading-intensive introduction to 20th-century African-American fiction, autobiography, drama, and poetry, with particular attention to social and cultural contexts. Writers include Nella Larsen, Ralph Ellison, Amiri Baraka, Toni Morrison, John Edgar Wideman, and Anna Deavere Smith. Focus on race, class, and gender, and on the authors’ approaches to the role of literary art in society. Same as BLS 365 & ENG 365. Click here for the Semester Course Offerings
	AMS 376 - Toni Morrison 1 semester, 3 Credits Examines a selection of novels by the 1993 Nobel laureate Toni Morrison. Analyzes her dialogue with African American and American history, with an emphasis on individual and communal trauma, memory, and healing. Selected, accessible Morrison scholarship will be studied as well, with a focus on race, class, and gender, and on Morrison’s strategies as a creative writer. Same as BLS 376, ENG 376, & WMS 376. Click here for the Semester Course Offerings
	AMS 411 - The Sociology of Disaster 1 semester, 3 Credits Introduces the sociological dimension of disasters and major events, which disrupt the prevailing order of society by causing injury, death, and/or property loss to large numbers of people. Possible case studies include earthquakes, heat waves, hurricanes, oil spills, chemical releases, or terrorist attacks. A service project is normally required. Same as SOC 411. Click here for the Semester Course Offerings
	AMS 427 - Classical America 1 semester, 3 Credits Traces the influence of Greece, Rome, and the ancient Near East (Egypt, Mesopotamia) on the United States of America from colonial times to the present. Develops an appreciation for the profound influence of antiquity in such areas as history, government, art, architecture, and literature. No knowledge of Greek or Latin is required. Same as HIS 427 and CLA 427. Click here for the Semester Course Offerings
	AMS 450 - Internship 1 semester, 3 Credits An opportunity for students to broaden their understanding of American history and culture by working as interns at institutions such as the Rhode Island or Newport Historical Society, Peabody Essex Museum, Providence City Hall, Slater Mill Historic Site, or the Providence Maritime Foundation. Internship opportunities within the broad area of communications also are available for students wishing to test out career interests and to develop professional skills. Click here for the Semester Course Offerings
	AMS 470 - Seminar: Special Topics in American Studies 1 semester, 3 Credits The topics discussed in the seminar vary from semester to semester. Click here for the Semester Course Offerings
	AMS 480 - Seminar: The History and Culture of the Cold War 1 semester, 3 Credits Studies the roots and course of the Cold War, and its impact on domestic culture—Hollywood’s response to McCarthyism, the impact of anticommunism on domestic ideology and sexuality, and the implications of America’s international anti-Communist crusade on its political institutions. Same as HIS 485. Click here for the Semester Course Offerings
	AMS 481 - Seminar: The West in the American Imagination 1 semester, 3 Credits Focuses on the American West and its place in American culture and imagination, including the significance of the frontier in American history; cultural contacts and contracts; the impact of race, gender, and ethnicity on one’s experience of the West; and the economic and environmental history of the region. Study some of the cultural icons that contribute to “imagining the West.” Same as HIS 486. Click here for the Semester Course Offerings
	AMS 482 - Seminar: Smith Hill: A Study in Community and Place 1 semester, 3 Credits Serves as an interdisciplinary introduction to community history with emphasis on the concepts of identity, community, and place. It explores these concepts in the broader context of American culture and through the particular history of Smith Hill, a neighborhood adjacent to Providence College. Click here for the Semester Course Offerings
	AMS 483 - Seminar: The Simple Life in American Culture 1 semester, 3 Credits Explores the cultural history of simple living in America over the last 300 years and the tension between this idea and the dominant cultural emphasis on moral, institutional, political, and economic ideas that argue for high consumption of energy and resources. The focus is on simple living as an element of mainstream culture. Click here for the Semester Course Offerings
	AMS 484 - Seminar: Childhood in America 1 semester, 3 Credits Explores how American culture has defined and used the concept of “childhood” over the past 200 years, with a particular focus on the ways in which media transformations (literacy, radio, television, video, computers) have affected our ideas about childhood and informed many of the public and private institutions we take for granted. Click here for the Semester Course Offerings
	AMS 486 - Seminar: Making of Modern America 1 semester, 3 Credits Examines the emergence of “modern” America during the last quarter of the 19th century. Topics will include the impact of industrialization, urbanization, and immigration on all facets of American life and how these influenced art, architecture, music, and literature. Click here for the Semester Course Offerings
	AMS 490 - Independent Study 1 semester, 1-3 Credits Open primarily to senior American Studies majors. The student is provided the opportunity to explore advanced topics in the field outside of the regular program offerings. The number of credits is determined by consultation with the faculty member responsible for the project and the Program Director. Prerequisite: Permission of the Program Director. Click here for the Semester Course Offerings

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Course Descriptions

AMS 101 - Introduction to American Studies

AMS 107 - African American Art: A Look at Hip Hop

AMS 108 - History of Photography

AMS 120 - History of Film: The Silent Period and the Transition to Sound

AMS 121 - History of Film: The Classic Era 1940-1960 and Beyond 1960-1990

AMS 206 - American Musical Theatre

AMS 207 - American Art

AMS 220 - The Catholic Imagination of Four American Filmmakers

AMS 226 - Music in the United States

AMS 227 - History of Jazz

AMS 301 - Development of North American Architecture

AMS 304 - American and European Art Since 1945

AMS 313 - The Power of Whiteness

AMS 318 - Globalization and Social Justice

AMS 320 - Early American Literature

AMS 321 - Social Change

AMS 325 - African-American Women

AMS 331 - American Philosophy

AMS 345 - The Consumer Society

AMS 364 - Modern American Fiction

AMS 365 - Twentieth-Century African-American Literature

AMS 376 - Toni Morrison

AMS 411 - The Sociology of Disaster

AMS 427 - Classical America

AMS 450 - Internship

AMS 470 - Seminar: Special Topics in American Studies

AMS 480 - Seminar: The History and Culture of the Cold War

AMS 481 - Seminar: The West in the American Imagination

AMS 482 - Seminar: Smith Hill: A Study in Community and Place

AMS 483 - Seminar: The Simple Life in American Culture

AMS 484 - Seminar: Childhood in America

AMS 486 - Seminar: Making of Modern America

AMS 490 - Independent Study