America's Aftermaths

Overview

In Life magazine in February 1941, publisher Henry Luce declared the twentieth century to be the American Century: “[i]t is [ours] not only in the sense that we happen to live in it but ours because it is America’s first century as a dominant power in the world.” For Luce, the failure of the American project at that point, reflected in the Depression, could be redeemed by a successful campaign to defeat fascism in Europe. Since the US’s entry into WW2, America has continuously had troops posted overseas and, in the aftermath of the death of George Floyd on 25 May 2020 and the 6 January 2021 attack on the Capitol, on American streets as well.

This module examines the aftermaths of the American twentieth century as demonstrated in specific cultural, literary, and political events of the first decades of the twenty-first century. It will examine a number of interconnected ‘aftermaths’: the war on terror; 9/11; racism and Black Lives Matter; the return of authoritarianism; #MeToo; the battle over reproductive rights; conspiracies, the disinformation wars, and social media; the Big Lie and the 6 January insurrection; the aftermaths of trauma; terrorism, foreign and domestic.

Taking an interdisciplinary approach to the contemporary American moment, this module offers an insistently twenty-first-century American Studies approach to the questions and issues that it discusses and is committed to decolonising academic and pedagogic practice.

*Students should be aware that the module texts and discussions deal directly with difficult material and potentially triggering issues such as gun violence, abortion, terrorism, mass murder, racism, rape, and other violent forms of sexism and sexual violence.

Suggested texts/sources:
Books: Don DeLillo, Falling Man (2007); Solmaz Sharif, Look (2016); Paul Beatty, The Sellout (2015); Claudia Rankine, Don’t Let Me Be Lonely (2004); Terrance Hayes, Sonnets for My Past and Future Assassin (2018); Joyce Carol Oates, A Book of American Martyrs (2017); Miriam Toews, Women Talking (2018); R. F. Kuang, Yellowface (2023)

Films and Streaming:
Turning Point: 9/11 and the War on Terror (2021), dir. Brian Knappenberger [Netflix]
Trouble the Water (2008), dir. Tia Lessin and Carl Deal [Amazon Prime, Apple TV]
The Purge (2013), dir. James DeMonaco [Amazon Prime, Netflix, Apple TV]
Mass (2021), dir. Fran Kranz [Sky Cinema, Now TV, Apple TV]
Women Talking (2022), dir. Sarah Polley [Amazon Prime, Apple TV]

Excerpts from Judith Butler, Precarious Lives: The Powers of Mourning and Violence (2004); Judith Butler, Frames of War (2010); Lauren Berlant, Cruel Optimism (2011); Mike Davis, Dead Cities (2002); Sarah Churchwell, Behold, America (2018)
www.blacklivesmatter.com
http://www.blacklivesmattersyllabus.com/

Learning Objectives

On completion of this module, students will:

(i) have developed some critical insights on a range of contemporary American cultural, literary and political movements
(ii) demonstrate critical awareness of multi-disciplinary approaches to understanding the contemporary United States;
(iii) apply where relevant critical and theoretical models to texts, contexts and contemporary issues;
(iv) demonstrate an ability to engage with contemporary American studies discussions and scholarship in the twenty-first century;
(v) develop theoretical insights into how the contemporary US is represented in a range of disciplines, texts and critical contexts.

Skills

Skills

(i) develop close critical reading skills of a range of literary, cultural
and visual texts;
(ii) summarise theoretical arguments and concepts;
(iii) effective communication and group work skills;
(iv) basic Wordpress/blogging/vlogging and digital skills;
(vi) ability to apply theoretical concepts of study to literary and cultural texts;
(vii) independent thought and the ability to conduct academic research skills appropriate to the stage of study.

Assessment

None.