As of 2018-19 American Conversations will be offering a redesigned set of courses
AmCon 211 Fear and Hope
Hope, grounded in America as a land of opportunity, and fear, grounded in cataclysms, shape everyday life and the United States’ role in the world. Fears underlie conflicts between groups; hope animates social movements and energizes human rights initiatives. This course prepares students to be engaged citizens on campus and beyond. A culminating Civic Engagement experience draws from previous American Conversation assignments. Students will help design part of the course, shaping- future conversations of hope and fear.
Previous offering
AmCon 202: Pursuits of Happiness, 1920-Present
Sophomore Year, Semester II
Amcon 202 examines the many ways Americans in the 20th and 21st centuries have interpreted a version of Jefferson’s famous phrase, “Pursuit of Happiness.”
With ever more technological innovations and consumer products at their disposal, some interpreted the American dream in material terms. Others pursued a happiness that could only come by securing access to the rights and liberties that Americans believed they had fought for in World War II and after – equal rights for all American regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, or sexuality. At the same time, such pursuits of happiness took place against the backdrop of increasing fear – of communism, terrorism, economic insecurity, social change, and technological transformation. And all of these struggles played out in a new environment of mass media – television, popular music, and the internet.
In the final course in the AmCon sequence, we ask: What kind of America have we inherited? What kind of America do we want to create?
Explore some of the topics, themes, and student projects in Amcon 202