American Studies

219 Bryan Hall
University of Virginia
P.O. Box 400121
Charlottesville, VA 22904-4121
(434) 924-6616
www.virginia.edu/americanstudies/

The United States is a country held together by different and often conflicting stories of nationhood, and the American Studies major is an interdisciplinary major designed to create dialogue about the multiple ways in which these stories have been told over the last five centuries. The American Studies major demands of its students self-consciousness about their own theories and practices through a comparative perspective on national narratives. We hope students will learn to describe those narratives in different modes - written and electronic, verbal and nonverbal, visual and auditory. In addition, each student will be expected to demonstrate the ability to transcend disciplinary boundaries. Although we affirm the necessity and integrity of individual disciplines, we want our American Studies students to understand the assumptions and methods of several of them. An ongoing goal for the small group admitted to the major will be to realize a sense of intellectual community that enables its members, both students and faculty, to look beyond their personal interests as they pursue studies in common.

For more information, please consult the American Studies web page at www.virginia.edu/americanstudies.