RELI 100 - Introduction to American Studies

Semester Offered: Fall and Spring
1 unit(s)

An invitation to the welcoming and ever-evolving field of American Studies, an inclusive and expansive interdisciplinary area of inquiry that seeks to understand “the multiplicity of the social and cultural lives of people in–and in relation to–the United States, both past and present.”

Either AMST 100 or AMST 102 or AMST 105 will satisfy the 100-level core requirement of the American Studies major. Topics vary with expertise of the faculty teaching the course.

Topic for 2025/26b: The American Secular. (Same as AMST 100 ) Is there a distinct realm in American politics and culture called the secular, a space or a mode of public discourse that is crucially free of and from the category of religion? This class considers the sorts of theoretical and historical moments in American life, letters, and practice that have, on the one hand, insisted the importance and necessity of such a realm, and on the other hand, resisted the very notion that religion should be kept out of the American public square. We ask whether it is possible or even desirable—in our politics, in our public institutions, in ourselves—to conceive of the secular and the religious as radically opposed. We ask if there are better ways to conceive of the secular and the religious in American life, ways that acknowledge their mutual interdependence rather than their exclusivity. Jonathon Kahn.

Priority given to first-year students and sophomores.

Two 75-minute periods.

Course Format: CLS