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WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY IN ST. LOUIS
HIST 3711: THE HISTORY OF POPULAR CULTURE IN THE UNITED STATES
Krister Knapp Fall 2012
T, TH: 9 -10 AM
Office: Busch 133 Lecture: Cupples II, L015
Office Hours: Weds. 12:30 - 2:30 PM Disc. Sect. A: Fri. 11 - 12 PM
Office Phone: 5-6838 Cupples II, L001
Hist. Dept: Busch 113 Dept. Phone: 5-5450
DESCRIPTION
This course examines the history of popular culture in America. It focuses on the developments of amusement, play, leisure and recreation, and gives special attention to the rise of the entertainment industry that evolved in American society over the last two hundred years. The course holds that understanding popular culture’s function helps us comprehend modern American life, and argues that popular culture content shapes and reflects our social, political and intellectual values. It contextualizes popular culture within the matrices of production and consumption while analyzing its myths, stereotypes, heroes, parables, rituals and iconographic forms. It also examines the multiple ways that race, class, gender, ethnicity and sexuality have been portrayed in these forms. While not wholly inclusive, this course covers a wide variety of topics and subject matter. After a brief look at popular culture in the colonial and federalist periods, the first third of the course covers the rise of the entertainment industry in the nineteenth century, focusing on minstrelsy, dime museums, baseball, boxing, burlesque, vaudeville, amusement parks, and world fairs. The middle third examines the expansion of entertainment in a period of mass culture during early twentieth century, giving particular attention to the advent of new technologies like the phonograph, motion pictures, and radio, as well as the consumption culture upon which popular culture became dependent. The final third covers the maturation of popular culture since WWII, and examines the advent of newer technologies—television, digital recording, and computers—and the increasing fragmentation of entertainment since the 1960s. Major developments in sports and popular music are examined throughout the course.
TEXTS
Richard Davies, Sports in American Life, 2nd ed. (2011)
Susan Douglas, Listening In (1999)
Robert Sklar, Movie-made America, 2nd ed. (1994)
Larry Starr and Christopher Waterman, American Popular Music, 3nd ed. (2010)
Bradford Wright, Comic Book Nation (2001)
All the books are required and available for purchase at the campus bookstore. They can also be checked out at the Olin Library reserve desk. Required articles are available on ARes (see below).
REQUIREMENTS & EVALUATION
1. Participation and Attendance: You are expected to be an active participant in the learning process of this course. Repeated absence from class will adversely impact your grade.
2. Discussion Section: You are expected to complete all reading assignments in a timely manner and come to section prepared to engage other members of the group in lively discussion. Each student will be required to write discussion questions and lead discussion one time over that week’s readings. Questions must be posted to Blackboard by 6 PM the Thursday before section. A sign-up sheet with dates will be provided to you. For instructions on uploading your questions, see Blackboard below.
3. Writing Assignments: There will be three major writing assignments, 5 to7 pages each. Each one will be a take-home essay. Descriptions and requirements of all the essays will be made available ahead of time in class and/or on Blackboard (see below) with plenty of time to complete them. There is no final exam.
Your final grade for this course will be based on class/discussion section attendance and participation (25%), and three take-home essay exams (25% each), and calculated on a 100 point scale: 98-100 = A+, 93-97 = A, 90-92 = A-; 88-89 = B+, 83-87 = B, 80-82 = B-; 78-79 = C+, 73-77 = C, 70-72 = C-; 68-69 = D+, 63-67 = D, 60-62 = D-; 59↓ = F. Pass/Fail = 73↑
LATE POLICIES
All written work must be turned in on time. Please note that late papers will be reduced by one-third grade point for each day they are late! Thus, a paper that earned a B+ but was turned in one day late would automatically drop to a B. All written work must also conform to the standards of college essay writing (see College Essay Guidelines on Blackboard). Extensions will be granted only for religious holidays and for extreme medical emergencies (documented) such as grave illness or a death in the family. Please bring such cases to my attention immediately rather than waiting until the last minute.
OFFICE HOURS
Office hours are for you. You are strongly encouraged to come to them to discuss the course material and when you have questions. A good deal of learning and confidence-building occurs during one-on-one conversation with the professor. If you cannot make the designated office hours, contact me to schedule an appointment.
COURSE EVALUATION
Students will be given the opportunity at the end of this course to evaluate it, the content, and the instructor and teaching assistant. The College of Arts and Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis strongly recommends that you fill out and submit course evaluations, and your professor and TA find them useful for improving their performances and future versions of this course. To fill one out, go to http://evals.wustl.edu.
STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES
Students who need disability-related accommodations (learning and physical) are encouraged to meet and work with Libby Lessentine, the Disability Resources Coordinator (ext. 5-4062, . Her office is located in the Center of Advanced Learning in Cornerstone in the South 40. I will do everything I can to accommodate your needs as well.
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY & PLAGIARISM
To plagiarize is defined as “to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one’s own” (Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary, 898). This includes but is not limited to submitting someone else’s work (in whole, part or paraphrase) as one’s own without fully and properly crediting the author (intentionally or not); submitting as one’s original work materials obtained from an individual or agency; and/or submitting as one’s own original work material that has been produced through unacknowledged collaboration with others. “Cyber cheating” is also plagiarism. It includes cutting and pasting someone else’s web work and submitting it as your own; downloading essays, papers, etc. from the web and turning them in as your own; and buying essays, papers, speeches etc. from the web and turning them in as your own. Plagiarism is absolutely forbidden. Its violation is taken very seriously. Punishment ranges from automatic failure of the assignment and failing the course to various levels of official university sanctions, including suspension and even expulsion. Students should review the Academic Integrity Policy that they signed upon entering the University, and recall that Washington University has a “three-strikes-and-you’re-out” policy. See also: https://acadinfo.wustl.edu/WUCRSLFrontMatter/WebWUCRSLInfo_Acadntegrity.htm
BLACKBOARD
Blackboard is the new Washington University web-based course management system. You can reach Blackboard at https:/bb.wustl.edu or through WebSTAC at https://acadinfo.wustl.edu. You will need your WUSLT KEY to access it. Once you are logged on, find HIST 3711. Click on it and go to the various options. The Blackboard page for this course is meant to be used exclusively by its members. You should check it regularly. All up-to-date information will be posted there including the course flyer, syllabus, schedule, writing assignments, readings, and the discussion section. Questions meant for my exclusive attention should be sent to my e-mail.
To upload your discussion questions: go to Blackboard, click on this course, go to Groups, start a new group, paste your questions into the blank document, provide a title in the subject line, and click Submit.
AUTOMATING RESERVES
Automating Reserves (Ares) is the Washington University electronic system for scanned articles and other readings for student use. A number of required readings have been uploaded to the Ares page for this course. To download them, go the Washington University Library Home Page, click on Reserves, click on Search Ares (students), and enter your WUSTL KEY. Final access requires a password. The password for this course is “popular.”
COURSE SCHEDULE (subject to change)
SAL = Sports in American Life
APM = American Popular Music
MMA = Movie-made America
LI = Listening In
CBN = Comic Book Nation
AR = Automating Reserves [password = popular]
INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND
Aug. 28: Course Overview, Syllabus, Schedule, Discussion Sections, etc.
Aug. 30: Popular Culture in Colonial and Federalist America: Sports, Games and Gambling
Davies, SAL, Chap 1; and Daniels, “Frolics for Fun,” “Drinking and Socializing”
and “Men Frolic by Themselves, AR, 109-124, 141-159 & 163-184
Aug. 31: No Discussion Section
PART I: BUILDING AN ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY: SHOW BUSINESS AND THE RISE OF MODERN SPORTS, 1830-1880s
Sept. 4: Blackface Minstrelsy
Starr/Waterman, APM, 20-26
Sept. 6: P.T. Barnum and Dime Museums
Adams, “’All Things to All People…’” and “Barnum’s Long Arms…” AR, 1-40 & 75-115
Sept. 11: Baseball
Davies, SAL, Chap 2
Sept. 13: Boxing
Davies, SAL, Chaps 3 & 4, and 194-196
Sept. 18: Burlesque
Allen, “Lydia Thompson’s First Season” and “The Institutionalization of
Burlesque,” AR, 3-21 & 159-193; and Mizejewski, “Celebrity and Glamour:
Anna Held,” AR, 41-64
Sept. 20: Vaudeville
Snyder, “Taming the Bowery Boys” and “Vaudeville, Inc.,” AR, 3-25 & 26-41
Sept. 25: Amusement Parks
Sterngass, “The Rise of Coney Island,” AR, 75-111
Sept. 27: World’s Fairs
Rydell, “The Chicago World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893,” AR, 38-71
ESSAY #1 POSTED TO BLACKBOARD
PART II: EXPANDING THE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY: TECHNOLOGIES AND CONSUMPTION, 1880s-1930s
Oct. 2 & 4: Pop Music and the Phonograph: Songwriters, Brass Bands, Tin Pan Alley, and Ragtime
Starr/Waterman, APM, 26-43
Oct. 9 & 11: Motion Pictures and Mass Culture
Sklar, MMA, Chaps 1-6 & 9
ESSAY #1 DUE (Oct. 9)
Oct. 16 & 18: Radio and Commercial Broadcasting
Douglas, LI, Intro., Chaps 2 & 3
Oct. 19: Fall Break—No Discussion Section
Oct. 23 & 25: The Roaring Twenties: Radio Shows, Dance Crazes, Jazz, Sports, Hero Worship, and the Golden age of Pop Music
Douglass, LI, Chap 4; Starr/Waterman, APM, 44-68 & Chaps 4 & 5; and Davies, SAL, 122-155 & 161-175
Oct. 30 Popular Culture in the Great Depression
Nov. 1:
Sklar, MMA, Chaps 11 & 12; Douglass, LI, Chap 5; Starr/Waterman, APM, 115-152; Wright, CBN, Chap 1; and Davies, SAL, 175-190
ESSAY #2 POSTED TO BLACKBOARD (Nov. 1)
PART III: THE MATURATION OF POPULAR CULTURE: NEW TECHNOLOGIES, CONSENSUS, AND FRAGMENTATION SINCE THE 1940s
Nov. 6 & 8: Popular Culture during the War and Post-War Years
Sklar, MMA, Chap 15 & 16; Douglas, LI, Chaps 7 & 8; Starr/Waterman, APM, Chap 7; MacDonald, “Programming for a Nation” and “Shaping a National Culture,” AR; Wright, CBN, Chaps 2 & 3; and Davies, SAL, 190-194, 210-215, 228-235 & 253-262
Nov. 13 & 15: Counterpoints to Consensus
Starr/Waterman, APM, Chap 8; Douglas, LI, Chap 9; Wright, Chap 5; and Davies, SAL, 215-227
ESSAY #2 DUE (Nov. 13)
Nov. 20: Cracks in the (Popular Culture) Republic: The Sixties
MacDonald, “Appearance and Reality,” AR, and Davies, SAL, 242-246
Nov. 22 & 23: Thanksgiving Recess—No Classes
Nov. 27 & 29: Cracks in the (Popular Culture) Republic: The Sixties (Cont’d)
Sklar, MMA, Chap 17; Douglas, LI, Chap 10; AR; Starr/Waterman, and APM, Chaps 9 & 10
ESSAY #3 POSTED TO BLACKBOARD (Nov. 29)
Dec. 4 & 6: Leaving the Sixties: Popular Culture in the 1970s and ‘80s
Sklar, MMA, Chaps 19 & 20; Douglas, LI, Chap 11; Starr/Waterman, APM, 330-350 & 382-425; MacDonald, “The Politics of Television,” AR; and Davies, SAL, 242-251, 263-280 and Chaps 12 & 13
Dec. 7: Last Discussion Section—Summary and Wrap up
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Dec. 13: ESSAY #3 DUE (by 4:30 pm, hardcopy, in my mailbox, Busch 116)