Americanists give special emphasis to the History of American Political Culture, broadly construed. Faculty are concerned with matters such as the creation and evolution of "the state" in all its manifestations, but in most instances, their approach to such matters highlights the politics of institutions, cultures and structures of thought, feeling and representation that historically have never been contained by the nation-state.
The cultural politics of slavery and freedom, gender and race, rights claims, identity, national and trans-national narratives, rhetoric, visual and literary representation, education and science encompass some of the recent scholarly foci of the Americanist faculty. Strong collaborative relationships with faculty and programs in American Culture Studies, Gender & Sexuality Studies, Environmental Studies and Religious Studies provides students with rich resources for cross-field and -disciplinary training.
Core Faculty
Iver Bernstein
Elizabeht Borgwardt
Alexandre Dubé
Andrea Friedman
Margaret Garb
Peter Kastor
Linda Nicholson