Pages de Jean Kempf — Université Lumière - Lyon 2 — Département d'études du monde anglophone


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M1  — US Art and Culture in the 1930s



The 1930s in the United States cannot be simply reduced to the New Deal, although its politics /policies-- and particularly its cultural policies defined it to a great extent. This course aims at charting the period from the Wall Street Crash in 1929 to the beginning of the war in Europe (the US only became a belligerent per se in 1941).

This class has an usual format: it will be taught as a joint seminar with American studies students from the University of Wyoming. Our weekly session will be divided in two parts: a common visioconference with Wyoming and then a in-class session in Lyon.

As this is a Master's seminar, you will be asked to do weekly readings. Every week,  documents will be posted on Moodle and students will be expected to be able to present and discuss the readings.

I will then wrap up the session by synthesizing the discussions and offering a comprehensive perspective on the topic.

Examen
  • Final exam (4h) : a commentary of a primary source or an essay question on the period.
Syllabus (adjusted as we'll ago along)

Jan 30: What were the Fifties? A general introduction

Feb 6: End of the introduction. Discussion of the following documents : 1) Irving Howe, "The Age of Conformity" (1954); 2) "The Paradox of Change," excerpt from W. Chafe, The Unfinished Journey, OUP, 1986.

Feb 13: The Cold War as defining factor. Discussion of the following documents : 1) Guy Oakes, The Cold War Conception of Nuclear Reality: Mobilizing the American Imagination for Nuclear War in the 1950's, International Journal of Politics, Culture and Society, 1993; 2) Greg Barnhisel,  Cold Warriors of the Book: American Book Programs in the 1950s," Book History 13 (2010)

Feb 20: McCarthyism and the great witch hunt. Discussion of the following documents : 1) "Conservative Battles for Public Education," 2) "Religion, Culture, and the Cold War," and 3) Joseph McCarthy on Communism.

Feb 27:
Follow up on McCarthyism and the great witch hunt.
Beginning of "The great Civil Rights battles."
Discussion of the following documents : 1) General presentation.
Another look at race in the fifities, from the bottom up : 2)  "The Perils of the Back Seat: Date Rape,Race and Gender in 1950s America" ; 3) "Jim Crow, Civil Defense, and the Hydrogen Bomb: Race, Evacuation Planning, and the Geopolitics of Fear in 1950s Savannah, Georgia"



March 5: winter break

March 12: Special guest lecture by Dr. Ksenija Kondali, professor at the University of Sarajevo: "Equality Now: The African American Civil Rights Movement."

March 19: Follow-up on "race in the 50s" : "The Perils of the Back Seat: Date Rape,Race and Gender in 1950s America". Looking at young women and young people : 2) A“Very Innocent Time”: Oral History Narratives, Nostalgia and Girls’Safety in the 1950s and 1960s; 3) The Subversive Nature of Girl Scouting in the 1950s.


Beginning of new syllabus.

For March 26 : try to watch these films :
You may also read this very interesting Letter to a Northern Editor by William Faulkner.

We'll try to have a live chat via Moodle on these documents and discuss my comments on the summaries you sent me yesterday. I am sending you more detailed instructions by mail.




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