In the fall of your senior year, you must enroll in the course designated as the American Studies Senior Seminar. The topic of the seminar, an interdisciplinary course housed in one of the major cooperating departments, varies every year. For Fall 2012, the seminar will be taught by Min Song of the English Department. The course is required for completion of the minor; admissions will be by permission of the instructor or the director of the American Studies Program.

EN 672.01 America and Its Futures: American Studies Senior Seminar

Drawing on literary and non-literary texts, this seminar focuses on contemporary attempts to imagine the near future. We will cover issues such as the environment, energy, technological innovation, demographic change, and globalization. The seminar explores how these topics take on a different and renew urgency when we turn our gaze forward in time. We will take a special interest in the year 2050, as this is a year that is distant enough that a lot of significant changes to the ways we live our lives will occur, but close enough that it is well within our likely lifespans.