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AMERICAN STUDIES EXTENDED UNIVERSITY
COURSE DESCRIPTIONS - FALL 2008
EXTENDED UNIVERSITY
West Side Courses – call 925-8669 for locations
320.030 Env, Science and Pop Culture F 10:00 – 3:00
Metzger *1st 8 weeks
We participate in it everyday—from the advertisements we ignore
to the video games we play; the music we download, and the television
we watch on our iPods: pop culture is not mere entertainment; nor
is it simply a fictional representation of reality. Rather TV, movies,
cyberspace, comic books, and celebrity gossip produce the very environments
we live in. These contemporary worlds are increasingly made through
the intersections of nature, science, and technology. This American
Studies course is designed to analyze and question popular engagements
with these interconnections. We will interrogate the various meanings
and embodiments of “nature” and the objective and progressive
foundations of science, exploring the popular genres and technologies
through which we come to understand our identities in relation to
our environments. How does science fiction engage with the promises
and dangers of science and technology? How do advertisements produce
desires to consume particular types of nature? How do comic books
and superheroes developed in the age of genetics engage with the
increasingly blurred boundary between humans and non-humans? We
will explore these cultural questions through a broader analysis
of the manner in which ideas of “nature” produce gendered,
raced, and classed bodies in various pop culture texts: The X-files,
Battlestar Galactica, The Island, Inhumans, Smokey Bear, The Lorax,
SUVs, and MMORPGs.
340.010 Urban Legends F 10:00 – 3:00 Fields *1st
8 weeks
Arts & Sciences group: Humanities
From mice in Coke bottles to alligators in sewers, urban legends
continue to disseminate through multiple avenues in American culture.
In this course, we will examine the origins, transmissions, and
embedded meanings within contemporary urban legends, with a specific
focus on how these legends both perpetuate and reflect attitudes
toward race, gender, class, and politics.
340.030 UFOs in America F 10:00 – 3:00 Dewan *2nd
8 weeks
This course traces the emergence and continued subsistence of the
UFO phenomenon in American culture, from its origins in the Cold
War era to its prosperousness in the Internet Age. In dealing with
topics such as contemporary folk traditions, Cold War paranoia,
conspiracy culture, and new religious movements, this course will
teach students to critically examine how contemporary belief systems
are formulated and integrated into popular culture, as well as how
these beliefs inhabit “battlegrounds” of meaning between
modern rationalist and quasi-religious ideologies.
360.030 Get Your Kicks on Rte 66 F 10:00 – 3:00
Sinclair *2nd 8 weeks
This course will examine how this historic road has defined New
Mexico. While the official Route 66 was decertified in 1989, it
continues to impact both tourists and long-term residents. As an
expression of popular culture, Route 66 or the “Mother Road”
illustrates a broad range of cross-cultural perspectives. Particular
attention will be paid to the complex relationship between Pueblo
and Navajo peoples and Route 66. How have images of Indians and
Indian-made tourist art been used to market the Southwest? Other
forms of visual culture will be analyzed as well, including neon
signs, architecture, photographs, postcards and travel brochures.
Of course, one cannot travel down this road without addressing past
and current issues concerning historic preservation and restoration.
A field trip to Central Avenue will provide an opportunity for a
close-up look at diners, motels, and curio shops, long identified
as Route 66 landmarks. Finally, we will read a sampling of “road”
literature by writers such as Jack Kerouac and John Steinbeck. Class
discussions will help us understand the allure of travel so often
expressed in American values and belief systems.
Online Course
310.021 Women Artists of the American West MW 7:00-8:00
Ressler
Arts & Sciences group: Fine Arts
(On-line course - Required online chat: Monday and Wednesday evenings,
7-8pm)
This course is taught entirely on the Internet. It presents the
vital contributions that women have made to the visual art and history
of the American West and focuses on women artists who are living
or have lived west of the Mississippi River during the 19th- and
20th-centuries. Students will study a broad range of subjects that
include Native American Potters, Women on the Pacific Rim, Lesbian
Photography, and Quilt making in New Mexico. Additional historical
readings introduce the four course themes: Community, Identity,
Spirituality, and Locality. Designed to develop a learning community,
students will learn how to extend discussion outside the conventional
classroom by interacting in wholly online (Internet) chat rooms
and other discussion forums. Projects include weekly writings and
independent written or visual research. Highlights include guest
lectures, an optional field trip, and CD-ROM. For more information,
special technology fees and computer requirements please go to the
EU Website at eu.unm.edu
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