This class will serve two purposes. First, we will trace the emergence of an interdisciplinary movement, which has come to be known as cultural studies, that was initially associated with the Birmingham Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies in England. To this end we will consider the relationship between the politics of culture(s) in relation to class, race, and empire. Second, we will deploy a “cultural studies” approach as we consider the representation of race and “multiculturalism” in the United States during and immediately after the Second World War, with a particular emphasis on popular cinema and music. Representing a pluralist social order was an important cultural mission for a nation that fashioned itself as the rightful, benevolent global hegemon. Critically reading against this deployment of a “multicultural” pluralist social order (frequently manifested in World War Two movies), which betrayed the reality of racial formation in the period, we will look to the work of writers like Americo Paredes, Leslie Silko, and Chester Himes.

Key theorists most likely will include (but are not limited to): Karl Marx, Raymond Williams, Stuart Hall, Edward Said, Lisa Lowe, Penny Von Eschen

Writers will likely include: Americo Paredes, Leslie Marmon Silko, Violet Matsuda de Cristoforo, Lawson Inada, Chester Himes

Films will include: Go For Broke, Bataan, Guadalcanal Diary, Gung Ho


General method of instruction
Active class discussions of readings.


Class assignments and grading
Daily reading and writing assignments, a mid-term exam, and a final research project.