Fall Course Offerings

American & New England Studies
Fall 2012 Course Offerings

ANE 600 Creating New England I

Monday, 4:10P-6:40P, L. Carroll

This required core course examines the development of New England regional identity from the 17^th to the mid-19^th century.  Drawing on interdisci­pli­nary approaches and materials, the course focuses on how regional identity has been both histor­i­cally grounded and culturally invented.  Topics include:  the invention of New England as a second England; the Yankee character; the New England town; the creation of regional traditions; and New England reform and cultural pluralism.

ANE 612 Documenting America

Wednesday, 4:10P-6:40P, A. Cameron

This course will introduce students to the politics, culture, and history of documentary practices including film, photography, oral history, war reportage, television journalism, and storytelling venues such as Moth Radio and This American Life.  The course will be organized chronologically with special attention given to the Progressive era and WWI, the 1930’s, including oral narratives conducted by Federal Writers Project, photojournalism of 1930’s and 40’s, postwar television documentary, documentary field schools in the 1970’s, and contemporary radio practices.

ANE 633 Mapping New England

Tuesday, 5:35P-8:05P, M. Edney

A study of the history of construction and use of cartographic representations of New England and Maine, through the 20th century. Students learn to read maps as cultural texts and to analyze them according to their originating discourses. The basic theme running through the course is therefore that of cartographic literacy and commercialism: who used the maps and for what purposes? The course is structured around spatial discourses which have been relevant for New England and the cartographic practices they have sustained. The scope of the course will expand to address, as necessary, more general issues in European and North American cartographic history.

ANE 657 Language and Print Culture in America

Wednesday, 7:00-9:30P, K. Ryden

This course will examine what various groups of Americans have been publishing and reading over time for purposes of education, edification and entertainment, as well as the larger linguistic text in which those books have been produced.  We will focus on questions of both the history of American English and the history of the book in America, while also examining the specific nature of print as a medium of communication. 

ANE 670 Museums and Public Culture

Thursday, 4:10-6:40P, D. Cassidy

This course will examine the role of museums, pres­ervationists, and collectors in shaping cultural iden­tities and public memories in 19th- and 20th-cen­tury America. Topics will include: ethnographic collections and displays, fine arts museums and patrons, traditions of human display (such as 19th-century “freak shows”), history, anthropological and natural history museums, festivals, living history sites, and the narrative role of collections, artifacts, and museum design.

ANE 675 Workshop in Research & Writing

Monday, 7:00P-9:30P, A. Cameron

This course is a collaborative workshop that focuses on student writing and research needs.  Students will read and comment on work in progress or use the workshop to design, research and begin a thesis, project or exit paper.  This course is required for students writing a thesis or project, but is open to all ANES students.  Prerequisite: 6 credit hours, 3 hours of which must be in either ANE 600 or ANE 610.

ANE 685 Reading and Research

Open to advanced students with exceptional records in the program, this course offers opportunities for reading and research under the direction of a faculty member. The approval of the ANES Curriculum Committee is required. This course may be taken only once.

ANE 687 Internship

Open to qualified students with exceptional records in the program; required for students in the Public Culture and History track. Internships are by application to the ANES Curriculum Committee. Participating organizations include: Portland Museum of Art, Old York Historical Society, Pejepscot Historical Society, and Maine Historical Society.

ANE 690 Project

Completion of a two-semester project that may be an independent project or that may combine independent study and work in a historical society, a museum, a cultural organization, or other public or private institution. In consultation with an advisor, the student defines and develops the project in relation to his or her particular interest in American and New England Studies.

ANE 695 Thesis

The product of original research, the thesis should embody an interdisciplinary combination of approaches and/or materials.

Continuous Enrollment and Residency
Continuous enrollment requires that every graduate student must earn at least six credits toward his or her degree program every calendar year from the time of first registration to completion of all requirements for the graduate degree. The following course aids students in maintaining continuous enrollment status.

GRS 601 is a noncredit course that allows the student continued access to University services, including USM computers, library, and recreational facilities.  Registration for this course incurs applicable University fees for which the student is financially responsible. It is designed for students who are working on a capstone, thesis, or dissertation. GRS 601 does not grant a student part-time or full-time status for financial aid eligibility, University-funded fellowships, scholarships, graduate assistantships, loan deferment, or visa compliance. Enrollment in GRS 601 requires approval from the student’s faculty advisor or the program chair and is typically limited to two semesters.

GRS 602 is a 1-credit course that permits master’s degree candidates registered for less than 6 credits to retain eligibility for financial aid, University-funded fellowships, scholarships, graduate assistantships, student health insurance, loan deferment, visa compliance, and access to University services, including USM computers, library, and recreational facilities. This course option is primarily intended for students who have completed coursework for the master’s degree, but have not completed their thesis or capstone. Enrollment in GRS 602 requires that students have certification of adequate academic progress by their program faculty advisor or program chair and approval from the Office of Graduate Studies.