American Civilization
Learn to understand yourself and the world around you through the study of American Civilization.
Gain insight into American Civilization through historical and literary context at Albright College, while becoming comfortable working with people with differing values and beliefs.
Students pursuing America Civilization may choose to emphasize either Literature or History.
- Two lower level courses from HIS 151, 152, 153, 212, 216 or 240
- Two upper level courses from HIS 311, 312 or 322
- Four courses from ENG 210, 380, 384, 385, 386, THR 388 or certain sections of ENG 235 (consult with Professor Pankratz)
- One from Philosophy or Religious Studies
- One additional course: ART 107; ECO 105, 335, or 336; PHI 216; POL 101, 210, 231/331, 322 or 334; REL 261 or 262; or SPA 308
American Civilization Majors with an emphasis in Literature:
- ENG 399 or 491
American Civilization Majors with an emphasis in History:
- HIS 493
American Civilization Majors interested in historical museum studies should take HIS 311 or 312 and complete a supervised internship at either the Landis Valley Farm Museum near Lancaster or the William Penn Museum in Harrisburg.
Students interested in this major should consult Professor Pankratz in the History Department.
What Can I Do With a Major in American Civilization?
As it developed in the years following World War II, the American studies movement in the United States and abroad included literary scholars who gave new weight to the historical context of the texts they read, as well as historians eager to move beyond the main lines of political and economic historiography into other fields of endeavor and forms of expression.
To these early forays were added contributions of art historians and musicologists, folklorists and specialists in material culture. This mix of disciplines, methods and objects has prompted earnest (and much debated) attempts to develop a unified methodology, and has elicited an unusual degree of methodological self-consciousness from American studies specialists.
Albright faculty aim to instill a clear and responsible sense of the ways in which one may study American culture.