Learning Goals

• Pursue interdisciplinary work that enables students to negotiate a variety of texts (literary, historical, performance, visual) from different fields of inquiry and develop critical and analytical skills in reading, writing, oral communication, and independent research.
• Examine from multiple perspectives the contested terrain of the longstanding question “what does it mean to be an American,” and to work both within and beyond national borders to comprehend American culture, society, institutions, and values.
• Provide a framework of factual knowledge—historical, literary, and cultural—on which to build interpretation and understanding
• Develop an ability to apply conceptual frameworks about cultural and historical analysis to their lived experience and practice
• Students learn how to locate and evaluate primary source materials and secondary texts.
• Students learn how to write effectively and clearly, demonstrating the ability to explain the complex meaning and significance of a text and formulate a cogent argument supported by evidence
• Students develop effective oral communication and conversation, while demonstrating the ability to listen carefully, respond to comments from others, and make engaging presentations.