COURSE CALENDAR:
Sept. 5
Course description
What is American studies?
What is material culture?
Introduction to the AT&T Teaching Theatre
Introduction to the AMST 205 home page

Sept. 7
Introductions and class directory exercise
Surfing the Internet: ISO exhibitions
Virtual Greenbelt

Sept. 12
Working vocabulary for Culture Studies
REQUIRED: WAM account

Sept. 14
Words vs. Things debate
Introduction to email and class listserv, THINGS
READINGS: "American Studies: Words or Things?" by John Kouwenhoven;
"The Challenge of the Artifact," by Wm Hesseltine (in coursepack)

Sept. 19
Artifact Study--one way to do it!
PROJECT #1 ASSIGNED
READING: "Artifact Study: A Proposed Model," by E. McClung Fleming (in coursepack)

Sept. 21
Artifact Study--cont.

Sept. 26
Instruction in HTML

Sept. 28
Fieldwork exercise and quiz
Work session on home page and Project #1 exhibition

Oct. 3
Work session on Project #1 exhibition

Oct. 5
Presentation of exhibition of artifacts representative of contemporary college life
PROJECT #2 ASSIGNED
DUE: PROJECT #1

Oct. 10
On the uses and meanings of museums in American society Afro-American Decorative Arts
READING: John Michael Vlach, The Afro-American Tradition in Decorative Arts, introduction and chs 1-4.

Oct. 12
Exercise in archaeological reconstruction

Oct. 17
How to construct a museum exhibition review
How to critique a virtual museum exhibition
Historical fallacies and reflections exercise
READING: Thomas J. Schlereth, "Collecting Ideas and Artifacts: Common Problems of History Museums and History Texts" (in coursepack)

Oct. 19
Afro-American Decorative Arts
READING: Vlach, The Afro-American Tradition in Decorative Arts, chs 5-9.

Oct. 24
Time capsule exercise and superartifacts
Presentation of virtual exhibition critiques

Oct. 26
Discussion: Ethnicity and the museum exhibition
PROJECT #3 ASSIGNED
DUE: PROJECT #2

Oct. 31
Consuming Issues
Fashion, Culture, and Identity discussion
READING: Fashion, Culture, and Identity by Fred Davis, chs 1-4

Nov. 2
Appearance and Identity: Grooming Rituals
READINGS: Horace Miner, "Body Ritual Among the Nacirema" (in coursepack)

Nov. 7
Fashion, Culture, and Identity discussion, cont.
Reading fashion: exercise in thick description
READING: Davis, Fashion, Culture, and Identity, chs. 5-9.

Nov. 9
Work session on Project #3 exhibitions

Nov. 14
Presentation of exhibition on artifacts of appearance
PROJECT #4 ASSIGNED
DUE: PROJECT #3

Nov. 16
Fieldtrip

Nov. 21
Introduction to Cultural Landscapes
History of Greenbelt, Maryland

Nov. 23
NO CLASS

Nov. 28
Reading Greenbelt: Sources and Resources
Work session on Project #4

Nov. 30
Work session on home pages and virtual curating

Dec. 5
Work session on Project #4

Dec. 7
Presentations: Virtual Greenbelt--Life in and American Community
DUE: PROJECT #4

Dec. 12
Conclusion: Artifacts and American Life
Presentation of final home pages

FINAL EXAM: There will be no final exam in AMST 205 this semester.