Title: Paradigm Dramas in American Studies: A Cultural and Institutional History of the Movement
1Paradigm Dramas in American Studies A Cultural
and Institutional History of the Movement
- Gene Wise
- American Quarterly, Volume 313 (1979) 293-337
2Paradigm Definition (Thomas Kuhn)
- Beliefs held by a person, group or culture
- The acts that function to characterize those
beliefs.
3American Studies Stages of Development (An
Overview)
- Prelude to the American Studies Movement (Before
1900) - Initial Stage Revolt against Academic Formalism,
1900-1927 - Consensus School of American Studies, 1927-65
- Crisis in American Studies, 1965-1975
- Emergence of Cultural Studies and Cultural
Materialism, 1975- 1990s - The Current State of American Studies
(Kessler-Harris).
4I. Prelude to the American Studies Movement
(Before 1900)
- The insignificance or inferiority of American
culture, especially in relation to British and
European cultures - Emphasis on individuals, great men and heroic
events.
5II. Initial Stage Revolt against Formalism,
1900-1927
- Vernon Parrington, intellectual founder of
American Studies - Main Currents in American Thought (1927)
- Era when academic disciplines are being created
and institutionalized (methods and hierarchies)
formalism. - Where does the study of America fit?
- Integration of Academic disciplines history,
literature, sociology, philosophy, etc.
6III. Consensus School of American Studies, 1927-65
- Intellectual agreement--or CONSENSUS-- on what
the American experience is like and how to study
it. - Goal of consensus scholarship
- To make American culture "intellectually usable.
Not just objective history but a history (story)
that supports the development of America and
American culture - To discern the fundamental (or universal) meaning
of American experience and American culture.
7III. Five Characteristics of Consensus Scholarship
- 1. There is an American Mind.
- This mind is more or less homogeneous,
essentially the same in everyone. - While it may be complex and multi-layered, it is
a single entity.
8III. Five Characteristics of Consensus Scholarship
- 2. What distinguishes the American Mindin fact,
what creates itis its location in the New World.
- As result, Americans are typically . . .
- Hopeful (oriented toward the future rather than
the past) - Idealistic or Innocent (Naïve)
- Individualistic (Democratic)
- Pragmatic or materialistic
- Believe in boundless opportunity.
9III. Five Characteristics of Consensus Scholarship
- 3. The American Mind can be found (theoretically
at least) in any American to varying degrees.
Some individuals will possess it more fully than
others based on their intellect and experiences - Great intellectual works (artistic / political)
reveal or express the major themes or ideas at
work in the culture at large. They transcend
their own particularity. They are universal.
10III. Five Characteristics of Consensus Scholarship
- 3. Continued
- The American Mind finds its fullest expression in
the countrys most influential leaders and
thinkers - Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson
- Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry Thoreau
- These become the basis for our educational and
political systems, as a way to train
othersespecially new Americansin what it means
to be American.
11III. Five Characteristics of Consensus Scholarship
- 4. The American Mind is also evident not just in
individuals but in the portrayal of our
intellectual and cultural history - Creates distinctive themes and identities
- The Pilgrims / Puritanism
- American Revolution
- The Frontier and Westward Migration
- Individualism / Non-Hierarchical Society
- WWII and The Greatest Generation
- The Cold War (Democracy threatened by communism)
12III. Five Characteristics of Consensus Scholarship
- 5. The American Mind (and America itself) is
revealed most profoundly in its high culture,
its greatest intellectual thinkers and it
greatest creative works (art, music, literature).
These hold a privileged position - Representatives of popular culture may be
interesting but are NOT as significant to the
understanding of America - Popular heroes (Daniel Boone / John Wayne)
- Artistic works (The Western / Star Trek)
- Cultural Events (Dueling / Professional
Wrestling) - Material Culture (farm implements / shopping
malls)
13III. Key Figures in the Consensus School
- Henry Nash Smith, Virgin Land The American West
as Symbol and Myth (1950) - Perry Miller, The New England Mind From Colony
to Province (1953) - F.O. Matthiessen, American Renaissance Art and
Expression in the Age of Emerson and Whitman
(1941) - Leo Marx, The Machine in the Garden (1964)
- Alan Trachtenberg, Brooklyn Bridge Fact and
Symbol (1965).
14III. Other Important Contributions During this Era
- American Quarterly, 1949
- American Studies Association, 1951.
15IV. Crisis in American Studies, 1965-1975
- Emerges along with the cultural / political
rebellions of the sixties - Critiques A/S as a field of study
- Argues that it is not a pioneering movement but a
very conservative one that reinforces old
historical and cultural assumptions about America
and Americans.
16IV. Crisis in American Studies, 1965-1975
- America is not one monolithic culture (the
American mind), but a variety of interrelated
cultures that are at times working together and
at times in conflict with different values and
goals - Complete cultural synthesis is no longer
possible.
17V. New American StudiesEmergence of Cultural
Studies and Cultural Materialism, 1975- 1990s
- Shift from humanistic to scientific / analytical
approaches to American Culture - Not interested in what the "meaning" of America
is (or if one meaning is more legitimate or valid
than another) - Rather, it is interested in how and why people
create meaning, how individuals and groups go
about creating a coherent social universe.
18V. New American StudiesSEVEN Major
Characteristics
- 1. Focus on the social and material structures
that underlie intellectual and artistic
expression
19V. New American StudiesSEVEN Major
Characteristics
- 2. CULTURE is redefined via social sciences.
- The totality of socially transmitted behavior
patterns, arts, beliefs, institutions, and all
other products of human work and thought - A set of control mechanisms--plans, recipes,
rules and instructions for the governing of human
behavior - Social structures always mediate between a
particular cultural artifact and the larger
society in which it is situated. - Includes high culture (art forms) as well as
popular culture
20V. New American StudiesSEVEN Major
Characteristics
- 3. Highly self-conscious
- Critically reflective
- Intellectually neutral or objective not
interested in supporting or endorsing any
prevailing cultural ideologies. - Treats the study of America as a science.
21V. New American StudiesSEVEN Major
Characteristics
- 4. Pluralistic approach (the MANY)
- Does not focus on just one unifying national
culture but looks at the many different cultures
contained within America and how these are
related to each other - Looks at commonalities but also looks at where
conflicts and tensions exist.
22V. New American StudiesSEVEN Major
Characteristics
- 5. Emphasis on the PARTICULAR and the ORDINARY
- Instead of examining heroic figures or great art,
the focus is on - Common Americans (farmers or laborers)
- Popular art forms (collectibles or music)
- Ordinary material culture (farm implements or
daily life).
23V. New American StudiesSEVEN Major
Characteristics
- 6. Rejection of universal essences, universal
truths or absolutes - While these may exist, they are not fully
knowable and not the domain of intellectual
inquiry - Whatever America may be, we cannot assume that
it is universal for all people.
24V. New American StudiesSEVEN Major
Characteristics
- 7. Comparative Approach
- No longer is the focus just on America or even
America and Europe - Understanding American through a dialogue with
other countries and cultures - Third or Developing World Nations
- Africa and the Caribbean
- The Muslim World.
25V. New American Studies Characterized by the
shift from myth . . .
- MYTH a fixed story used to normalize and
regulate our social life - Everything is read through the myth and it makes
all things familiar - Often a form of non-critical, self-interpretation
.
26V. New American Studies to Rhetoric . . .
- RHETORIC attempts to question and analyze
culture rather than affirm or deny it. - its purpose is to reveal the interests that
reinforce myths and culture - the power of words, things, images, and ideas to
create and subvert culture.