Undergraduate Study

"...some of the best subjects that you can do at uni."
Students' Representative Council Counter Course Handbook 2011

The following units of study can be completed as part of a major in either American Studies or Government & International Relations.

USSC2604 can also be completed as a part of a major in History.

Students from all disciplines with an interest in the United States are welcome to take these undergraduate units as an elective.

For information on enrolments please contact your Undergraduate Coordinator.

AMST1001 - Global America
USSC2601 - US in the World
USSC2602 - Introduction to US Politics
USSC2603 - Americanism & anti-Americanism
USSC2604 - Sex, Race & Rock in the USA

AMST1001 - Global America

Overview

Global America (AMST1001) explores how the United States interacts with the world around it through the lens of key concepts in American life including empire, freedom, gender, mobility, religion and race. Serving as a first year introduction to American Studies, Global America provides students with the tools to understand the most important issues facing the US in the 21st century.

Note: Students intending to study American Studies at senior level are also required to complete HSTY1076 American History from Lincoln to Clinton.

Students can enrol by logging in to MyUni.

View the AMST1001 Global America flyer (PDF)

*The venue for this lecture has changed to the New Law School Lecture Theatre 101.

The Fine Print

There will be 1 x 2 hour lecture on Mondays from 12pm-2pm and 1 x 1 hour tutorial per week.

Assessment consists of three 1,000 word "critical reviews," plus a 90-minute final exam.

Learning Outcomes

The purpose of this unit is to enable students to think critically about the key issues affecting the contemporary United States in the global 21st century.

By the end of this Unit of Study, students should be able to:

Have a greater appreciation of the complexities of American culture in the 21st centuryRead texts of political science, cultural studies and cognate disciplines, and be able intellectually to analyse themHave an understanding of contemporary American fiction and film, and be able to discuss them according to current practices of literary and cultural criticism Have an understanding of the challenges and opportunities presented by interdisciplinary methodologiesBe able to acquire and evaluate new knowledge through independent researchCritically evaluate the sources, values, validity and currency of information

Write analytic essays on contemporary issues bringing academic rigour to bear on them.

This Semester 2, 2012 unit is coordinated by Paul Giles, Brendon O’Connor and David Smith.

USSC2601 - US in the World

Overview

US in the World (USSC2601) explores the dramatic political and economic changes taking place before our eyes in America that will shape lives in Australia and around the world for years to come. This dynamic unit focuses on the United States under President Barack Obama amid the challenges posed by the worst global economic downturn since the Great Depression and the expanding struggle against violent Islamic extremism.

This highly interactive unit features guest lectures and conversations with leading American and Australian experts. In Semester 2, 2011 this will include multiple Pulitzer Prize-winning author and New York Times columnist, Thomas Friedman. An outspoken and influential commentator on the Middle East and global affairs, Friedman is the author of The Lexus and the Olive Tree, From Beirut to Jerusalem and the forthcoming That Used to Be Us: How America Fell Behind in the World We Invented and How We Can Come Back.

Other special guests include, US Ambassador to Australia, Jeffrey Bleich, influential China watcher at Washington DC's The Atlantic Monthly, James Fallows, international editor of The Sydney Morning Herald, Peter Hartcher and Huffington Post media and politics commentator, Marty Kaplan.

US in the World is taught by Professor Geoffrey Garrett, one of Australia's leading analysts of the US and among the most influential political scientists of his generation for his writings on the causes and consequences of globalisation. Garrett is founding CEO of the United States Studies Centre and Professor of Political Science, having previously been a Professor at Stanford and Yale universities as well as President of the US West Coast's leading international affairs think tank.

In Semester 2, 2011, Professor Garrett will focus on the 9/11 decade, policies under President Obama and the global financial crisis. Students will be encouraged through the use of the Socratic Method to develop and substantiate their own arguments and opinions in relation to these topics.

Enrolments for Semester 2, 2011 have now reached capacity. We will be offering this unit again in Semester 1, 2012 so make sure you enrol early for what the 2011 SRC Counter Course Handbook calls one of the "best subjects that you can do at uni".

View the USSC2601 US in the World flyer (PDF)

Videos of the 2010 guest lectures are online here http://vimeo.com/album/1509468.

Learning Method

Students in this unit will learn using the Socratic Method, a crucial analytical tool in political science and is fundamental to the development of views that can be clearly expressed and reasonably defended.

The focus will be on role of the United States amid the challenges posed by the key global transformations of the contemporary era. Both lectures and tutorials will be designed to engage students fully in order to increase their knowledge and develop their skills: analysing situations, forming opinions, solving problems and defending positions.

By the end of this Unit of Study students will be able to:

access a body of knowledge about the role of the United States in the world;
acquire and evaluate new knowledge through independent research;
identify, investigate, and solve problems;
access diverse resources to build and defend a reasoned position;
think analyticall; and
defend their opinions in public in a robust manner.

The Fine Print

Lectures run for 90 minutes each week.
There is a one hour tutorial per week.
Assessment consists of:
- Three critical reviews in weeks 5, 8, 11 (each 800 words) 40%;
- One synthetic essay due in week 13 (2500 words) 40%;
- Participation in lectures and tutorials (20%)
This unit is worth 6 credit points.
Pre-requisites: 18 junior credit points (this means it is a senior unit, for students in their 2nd year or above.

Taught in Semster 1, 2012.

USSC2602 - Introduction to US Politics

Overview

US Politics The unit introduces students to US political institutions and political culture. The American electoral system and recent presidential elections will be examined as well as the careers of American presidents from the 1960s onwards.

US public policies in the areas of race, welfare, and criminal justice will also be analysed. By the end of the unit students should have a comprehensive understanding of American domestic politics.

This unit will be taught Semester 2, 2012 by Associate Professor Brendon O'Connor. Brendon is an Associate Professor in American Politics.

Student evaluation of the unit in 2010:

"Overall my lecturer effectively supported my learning" 4.66 out of 5 (with a satisfaction rate of 99%)
"Overall I was satisfied with the quality of this unit of study" 4.57 out of 5 (with a satisfaction rate of 94%).

The unit received the following formal commendation: "An excellent lecturer who made every lecture of Introduction to US Politics an interesting and enjoyable one. Everyone enjoyed the course greatly."

Link to more student feedback (2010)

Student evaluation of the unit in 2011:

"Overall I was satisfied with the quality of this unit of study" 4.78 out of 5 (with a 98% satisfaction rate)
"Overall my lecturer effectively supported my learning" 4.73 out of 5 (with a 96% satisfaction rate)

Link to more student feedback (2011)

Learning Outcomes

The central aim of the unit is to provide students with a strong understanding of US politics.

Students will receive a solid overview of the key areas of American political culture, institutions, elections and public policy. The unit will also examine public policy issues to provide students with a detailed knowledge of how US society is organised and what we can learn (both positive and negative) from American approaches.

The unit's systematic framework will give students the ability to analyse the US, while encouraging them to see the contradictions within, and the complexity of, American society.

Students will develop the following generic skills within this course:

Communication - oral and written skills
Research skills
Problem solving and decision making
Conceptual and analytical skills
Information skills

Taught in Semester 2, 2012.

USSC2603 - Americanism & anti-Americanism

Overview

Americanism America has often been described as a culturally backward, unsophisticated and uncouth nation with American politics frequently viewed as populist and anti-intellectual.

In contrast America has also been viewed as a haven from the Old World and as an exceptional nation. This unit will explore the origins and development of both these negative and positive opinions of America. It will also examine how these stereotypes impact on America's foreign relations with Europe, the Middle East and Australia.

This unit is taught by David Smith and Adam Lockyer.

As well, students will be required to undertake their own research (into other sources of expert knowledge) to complete assessment tasks.

This unit will be taught in Semester 1, 2012.

Student evaluation of the unit in 2011:

"Overall I was satisfied with the quality of this unit of study" 4.49 out of 5 (97% satisfaction)

Link to more student feedback

Learning Outcomes

The central aim of the unit is to provide students with a strong understanding of the beliefs and values that have shaped American political culture from the colonial period to the present. Students will examine how Americans perceive their own politics and culture as well as look at positive and negative foreign interpretations. A lecture and tutorial program will provide students with a solid overview of Americanism and anti-Americanism. The unit's systematic framework will give students the ability to analyse the US, while encouraging them to see the contradictions within, and the complexity of, American society.

Students will develop the following generic skills within this course:

Communication - oral and written skills
Research skills
Problem solving and decision making
Conceptual and analytical skills
Information skill

Taught in Semester 2, 2012.

USSC2604 - Sex, Race & Rock in the USA

Overview

Sex, Race and Rock New in Semester 2, 2012, this innovative and exciting unit will explore the cultural history and intersections of sexuality, race and rock music in the United States from Elvis to Lady Gaga. Influenced by black and working-class cultures, and with sexuality embedded in its form and practice, rock music challenged and transformed existing norms of family, sex and gender. Through subjects including black women, glam rock, and disco, students will learn that rock music, far from being frivolous, provided a realm for rebellion, freedom, community and profit.

Through this unit, you will develop a body of knowledge about the cultural history of American rock music, both mainstream and alternative, with a focus on race, gender and sexuality in the postwar decades. By examining the paradoxes of rock music's freedom and commercial success, you will gain a unique insight into the complexities, contradictions and possibilities of American culture and its global impact. You will also be better equipped to contextualise contemporary popular music and its historical roots.

Through the development of a research question and paper you will gain a greater understanding of the methods and evidence used to study cultural history at a university level, particularly through consideration of the use of music as a source of evidence. This will also enhance your ability to formulate research questions and construct cogent, evidence-based arguments.

The unit will be highly interactive, encouraging debate on key issues, group presentations and scholarly writing.

View the USSC2604 Sex, Race & Rock flyer (PDF)

Learning Outcomes

At the end of this unit of study students will have the ability to:

Understand sexuality and race in the cultural history of American rock and its impact on cultural norms in and outside the US
Critically analyse popular cultural forms in scholarly ways
Express conceptually difficult ideas and independent critical thinking in oral and written forms
Pose research questions and access and synthesise diverse sources to build and defend a reasoned position in response to those questions
Identify values and beliefs inherent in a culture superficially similar but in other ways unlike their own
Appreciate the role of reasoning and creativity in communication
The course will be cross-listed with American Studies, Gender & Cultural Studies, History, and Music so will count towards any of those majors.

The Fine Print

Prerequisites: 12 junior level credit points

Format: 2 x 1 hr lecture and 1 x 1 hr tutorial each week

Taught in Semester 2, 2012 by Dr Rebecca Sheehan.

What they're saying about us...

"USSC2601 (Obama's America) and USSC2602 (US in the World) are some of the best subjects that you can do at uni. They are taught by inspiring lecturers (Geoffrey Garrett and Brendon O'Connor) who will leave you wanting more. There are a variety of cross-listed units that you can take in Government, both in US Studies, as well as the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies and others. These units are often far more engaging and innovative in their teaching practices, and are a good way to mix-up your degree."

Students' Representative Council Counter Course Handbook 2011

VIDEOS & INTERVIEWS

Romney under fire

Geoffrey Garrett says that Mitt Romney's greatest weakness is that many Americans see him as representing Wall Street: a place loathed even more at the moment than Capitol Hill.