Defining ‘American’

Shannon Wendling was having doubts about being an American Studies major. The class readings for the introductory seminar “were so theoretical,” she recalls. “I was falling short. It was completely confounding and overwhelming.” Then, when she least expected it, Wendling (English, American Studies ’06) felt a dramatic shift. After she went with  classmates to visit the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, D.C., to see firsthand how Americans commemorate their national history, “Suddenly it all came together,” she says. “Everything we had been studying became real for me. The next time our class met, everybody was so invigorated and  energized.”

Wendling’s experience is not unique among American Studies majors. The abstract ideas they hear in class click into place, becoming tangible and relevant. Drawing together topics from such disciplines as English, history, anthropology, media studies, music, politics and art history, the major introduces students to the varied, often conflicting stories of Americans’ sense of nationhood and identity.

These narratives represent a remarkably wide range of expression, from the conventionally highbrow — poems, theoretical essays and Jackson Pollock paintings — to the more decidedly lowbrow — video games, the 1960s situation comedy “Bewitched” and the board game “Monopoly.” Margaret Grundy (English, American Studies ’06) puts it succinctly: “Everything is fair game.”

Chad Anderson (English, American Studies ’06) describes his trials and triumphs as an American Studies major. “I get frustrated because I want a concrete answer, but there isn’t always one,” he says. “Then you begin to see connections among all these random things that you wouldn’t think are connected.”

That apparent randomness of materials lies at the heart of the American Studies major. As Stephen Cushman, director of the American Studies major program, explains, “Traditional disciplinary majors represent a vertical model, requiring you to drill down in a particular concentration.” American Studies, however, provides a “horizontal model that cuts across disciplinary boundaries.”

An American Studies program has actually existed since the 1970s. It was first offered as an undergraduate concentration in English, with strong participation from the history department, according to Alan B. Howard, associate professor of English and longtime director of the minor and the master’s degree program, which began in 1994.

In August 2001, Arts & Sciences Dean Edward Ayers recruited Cushman, who is also the Robert C. Taylor Professor of English, to create a stand-alone major. This decision made sense, Cushman notes, given the “University’s extraordinary holdings, resources and personnel in Americana.”

A basic premise of American Studies is that nothing — no poem, political act, film, historical event, photograph or advertisement — takes place in a vacuum. At U.Va., the birth itself of the major is a telling case in point. Only a month after Cushman began his assignment, the United States suffered a crisis of monumental proportions. Following the September 11 attacks, issues of national identity, politics, and history — the very grist of American Studies — seemed more relevant than ever. As he recalls, “The events of 9-11 made this whole project seem particularly charged.”

Before Cushman and a faculty committee could devise an American Studies curriculum, they had to answer a basic question: What does “American” mean? What makes a topic or event distinctly “American” continually shifts as events occur and circumstances change. Today the program’s definition remains broad, encompassing subjects that, Cushman says, “illuminate something important about the culture, history and national identity of the United States of America and its hemispheric neighbors.”

To create a cohesive program that would serve the students well, Cushman set a maximum of students who could enter the program annually, and competition for those spots is stiff. “We needed to offer at least nine or 10 courses per year,” he says. “There was also a sound pedagogical reason for the 30-student limit. We wanted to create a small learning community that would work closely for two years.”

Among American Studies faculty and students, that sense of community is one of the program’s greatest strengths. Franny Nudelman, associate professor of English, says, “The program allows me to get to know the students very well and to become involved in their intellectual development. I really love it. It’s an institutional home for me.”

Nudelman co-teaches the major’s two-semester introductory seminar with Sylvia Chong, assistant professor of English and American Studies. Chong also feels at home in the American Studies milieu and finds much to praise in the students. “In an interdisciplinary program, less is given to them. I’m amazed by how much they are willing to do.”

Grundy believes that the major’s built-in flexibility has been essential to her intellectual growth. “It allows you to pursue your passions and interests.” But such flexibility can be misconstrued. “Because we have such freedom in choosing our courses,” she explains, “an outsider might think it’s not a very demanding major. That’s not true. The fact that we study a variety of thing has only made my experience more exciting, challenging and overall more worthwhile.”

In high school, Jason Ford (History, American Studies ’06) thought he might go into engineering. But during his first year in the College, something wasn’t adding up for him. “I kept thinking, ‘Why am I really enjoying my government, economics, English and history courses? And not really digging the science courses?’” Then he heard about American Studies. “I wondered, ‘Is this a cop-out major, a flighty, interdisciplinary thing?’” But after taking the introductory seminar, he felt otherwise. “It’s hardcore course work and a well-structured program.”

The faculty agree. “This major demands of students more active academic engagement,” Chong points out. “They’re required to have a solid grounding.”

As the program’s director, Cushman sees “close, focused advising of students” as the backbone of a strong interdisciplinary program. “You’re looking to reach a balance between flexibility and freedom on one hand and supervision and regulation on the other,” he says. “An interdisciplinary major is an exciting, vital and necessary addition to an existing curriculum — not a replacement for it.”

And at a time when polls show that Americans are more politically polarized than ever, the major doesn’t take sides.

“We attract students from the left, center and right of the political spectrum,” says Cushman. Grundy agrees. “I’d say that we’re a pretty politically diverse group. Everyone comes from a different background and has different interests,” she says. “I’m still feeling my way politically.”

For students like Grundy, whose political beliefs are still in flux, the American Studies major offers a valuable forum for examining  national identity from many angles. As Chong explains, “We’re not trying to polarize students. We’re saying, ‘Here are some critical tools that you can use to examine different issues.’”

Rather than espousing any particular ideology, the American Studies program requires of its majors a level of self-aware learning that may seem radical for them. As Pensri Ho, assistant professor of anthropology, explains, “I try to get students to be more conscious of what it means to be an American. I introduce multiple perspectives and encourage them to think critically without being chastised.

“No matter where they end up politically, they can see the value of having educated, informed opinions.”