American Studies

The following 2024-2025 courses count for concentration credit in the American Studies field.

In most cases, this means that at least 50% of the material in the course relates directly to the student’s field. If you find a course that you think is well-suited to your own particular course of study, but that does not appear on the list, please petition the Committee on Instruction for credit, keeping in mind the 50% guideline.

Please note that this list is subject to change through the start of the semester. Make sure you check back before registering for classes. Look to the key below to determine which courses can count towards specific field requirements. Click on the requirement term to see a short list of courses that fulfill that field requirement. If you have any questions, please direct them to Assistant Director of Studies Morgan Day Frank.

"F" indicates a course offered during the fall semester. "Sp" indicates a course offered during the spring semester.

Key to Requirements:
 
  • AAAS 10. Introduction to African American Studies. Gates. (1865-1945)  (B)  Sp
  • AAAS 55. Ishmael Reed: Novels, Poetry, Essays. Carpio.   (B)  Sp
  • AAAS 108. Black Religion and Sexuality. Greene-Hayes.   (B) (C) F
  • AAAS 109. Religion, Theory, and the Archive. Greene-Hayes.   (B)  F
  • AAAS 112. Black Art and the Refounding of America: Art, Race, and U.S. Law. Lewis.   (B)  F
  • AAAS 119. Chocolate, Culture, and the Politics of Food. Martin.  (A) (B)  Sp
  • AAAS 177x W.E.B. Du Bois and His Critics. Gates.   (B)  Sp
  • AAAS 191x African American Lives in the Law. Higginbotham.   (B)  Sp
  • AAAS 197. Poverty, Race, and Health. Williams.   (B)  F
  • AFVS 107. Studies of the Built North American Environment since 1580. Stilgoe.     F
  • AFVS 160. Modernization in the Visual United States Environment, 1890-2035. Stilgoe.     Sp
  • AFVS 166. North American Seacoasts and Landscapes, Discovery to Present: Seminar. Stilgoe.     F
  • AFVS 167. Advernture and Fantasy Simulation, 1871-2036: Seminar Stilgoe.     Sp
  • Anthropology 1190. American Invasions: Archaeological Tales of Encounter, Exploration, and Colonization, 1492-1830. Liebmann. (pre-1865)  (B)  Sp
  • English 90b James/Baldwin. McCarthy. (C)  Sp
  • English 90fd The Rhetoric of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln. Stauffer. (pre-1865)  (B)  F
  • English 90ln Harvard and Native Lands. Niles. (pre-1865)  (B)  F
  • English 172ad American Democracy.  Stauffer.     Sp
  • English 175pl American Dissent. Stauffer.   (B)  Sp
  • English 178n The American Novel Since 1900. Serpell.     F
  • English 185rj Race and Jurisprudence. Menand.   (B)  Sp
  • English 187nd Indigenous Literatures of the Other-than-Human. Pexa.   (B)  F
  • English 190ve Voices of Environmental Justice. Dimick.     Sp
  • English 197ls Introduction to Indigenous Literary Studies: Poetry, Prose, and Politics. Pexa.   (B)  Sp
  • EMR 133. Power, Knowledge, Identity: Critical Approaches to Race and Ethnicity Craig.   (B)  F
  • EMR 157. Techno-Orientalism: Asia, Technology, Futurity. Fernandez.   (B)  F
  • EMR 158. Land, Labor, and the Color Line: New Perspectives on Black and Indigenous Histories. Izadi. (Pre-1865)  (B)  F
  • EMR 159. Contemporary Asian American Popular Culture. Fernandez.   (B)  F
  • EMR 161. Urban Latinidad: Barrios, Public Space, and Social Movements. Mendoza-Mori.   (B)  Sp
  • EMR 162. Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Race and Aritificial Intelligence. Fernandez.   (B)  Sp
  • EMR 163. Asian American Graphic Narratives. Fernandez.   (B)  Sp
  • EMR 164. Global Rebellion: Race, Solidarity, and Decolonizatin. Patel.   (B)  Sp
  • EMR 1010. Topics in Latinx Studies: Imagining Latinidad. Mendoza-Mori.   (B)  F
  • EMR 1020. Topics in AAPI Studies. Craig.  (A)   Sp
  • EMR 1030. Topics in Native American and Indigenous Studies: North America. Izadi. (Pre-1865)  (B)  Sp
  • Folklore and Mythology 120. Folklore and Appalachia. Craycraft     Sp
  • Folklore and Mythology 172. Quilts and Quiltmaking. Lufkin. (1865-1945)   (C) Sp
  • Folklore and Mythology 176. Tattoo: Histories and Practices. Lufkin.     F
  • General Education 1133 Is the U.S. Civil War Still Being Fought? Stauffer. (pre-1865)  (B)  F
  • General Education 1113 Race, Gender, and Performance. Bernstein.   (B) (C) Sp
  • General Education 1115 Human Trafficking, Slavery and Abolition in the Modern World. Patterson. (pre-1865) (A) (B)   Sp
  • General Education 1130 Power to the People: Black Power, Radical Feminism, and Gay Liberation. Bronski.   (B) (C) Sp
  • German 199 Freedom: A Transatlantic Affair. Carranza. (1865-1945) (A)   F
  • History 12m Abolitionist Women and Their Worlds. Miles. (pre-1865)   (C) F
  • History 12z The History of American Conservatism from William F. Buckley, Jr., to Donald Trump. Bekemeyer.     Sp
  • History 1014 Afro-Indigenous Intersections in Early America. Miles. (pre-1865)  (B)  Sp
  • History 1219 American Legal History: From Reconstruction to the Present. Weinrib     Sp
  • History 1223 The American Century?: A History of the United States since World War II. Bekemeyer.     F
  • History 1225 "Harvard Works Because We Do": A History of Labor and Class at Harvard Bekemeyer.     Sp
  • History 1473 Environmental History of the United States. Deloria.     F
  • History 1908 Racial Capitalism and the Black Radical Tradition. Brown and Johnson.   (B)  Sp
  • History 1965 Asian American History. Lee.   (B)  F
  • History 1973 Re-Wilding Harvard. Chaplin (pre-1865)    Sp
  • History and Literature 90cm Asian American Cultural Studies. Instructor TBD.   (B)  F
  • History and Literature 90er The Gilded Age. Day Frank. (1865-1945)    F
  • History and Literature 90gb American Education Reforms. Gowen. (pre-1865)    F
  • History and Literature 90ge Screen Cultures from Cinema to TikTok. von Stackelberg     F
  • History and Literature 90gj Contesting Citizenship in the United States. Knolle.   (B)  F
  • History and Literature 90gk Performing Latinidad: Race, Sex, and Excess in Contemporary U.S. Culture. Sanchez Cruz.   (B)  F
  • History and Literature 90gp Race and Ethnicity in Twentieth-Century American Thought. Bloom.   (B)  F
  • History and Literature 90gq Introduction to Popular Culture. Allan.     F
  • History and Literature 90gr Indigenous Genders and Sexualities in North America. Ridgway.   (B) (C) F
  • History and Literature 90fz The South: Histories of a U.S. Region. Kirby.   (B)  F
  • History and Literature 90fi Race and Empire in the Americas. Waits. (1865-1945) (A) (B)  F
  • History and Literature 93ae Prison Abolition. Dichter.   (B)  F
  • History and Literature 93aa Queer Archives. Kaminsky .    (C) Sp
  • History of Art and Architecture 170g Harvard Square. Blier.     F
  • History of Art and Architecture 179v Vision and Justice. Lewis.   (B)  Sp
  • History of Art and Architecture 197p Introduction to Pre-Columbian Art Cummins. (pre-1865)  (B)  F
  • History of Science 1445 Medicine and Health in America. Alam.     Sp
  • History of Science 1735 Being Human since 1945 Torracinta.     F
  • History of Science 1740 The Psychology of War. Robinson.     F
  • History of Science 1820 An American Way of War: Technology and Warfare. Hersch.     F
  • History of Science 1825 Open Minds, Wired Worlds: Computers and Cyberculture. Hersch.     Sp
  • History of Science 1950 Science, Activism, and Political Conflict. Baker.     F
  • History of Science 1955 Science in Popular Culture. Baker.     Sp
  • Music 32 Music of the Mexican Diaspora. Madrid-Gonzalez.   (B)  F
  • Music 142r Foundations of Modern Jazz. Terry.   (B)  F
  • Music 142r Foundations of Modern Jazz. Monson and Terry.   (B)  Sp
  • Music 159 Analyzing Popular Music after 2000. Duguary.     F
  • Religion 120 Religion and Nationalism in the United States. Brekus.     Sp
  • Religion 1087 Black Religion and Sexuality. Greene-Hayes.   (B) (C) F
  • Religion 1089 African American Religious History. Greene-Hayes.   (B)  Sp
  • Religion 1256 Gender and Judaism in Modern America. Braude.    (C) Sp
  • Religion 1462 Catholocism in America. Brekus.     F
  • Religion 1538 Liberal and Liberation Theologies in Dialogue. McKanan.     F
  • Religion 1556 Pragmatism and Religion: Pierce, James, and Dewey. Instructor TBD. (1865-1945)    Sp
  • TDM 173bf Black Feminist Theory in Media and Performance.  Bell.  (B) (C)  F
  • TDM 182b Black Arts Movement to #blacklivesmatter. Bell.  (B)   Sp
  • WGS 1170 Power to the People: Black Power, Radical Feminism, and Gay Liberation. Bronski.   (B) (C) F
  • WGS 1209 Dangerous Words: Feminist Debates on Speech, Harm, and Representation. Wells.    (C) F
  • WGS 1210ft Black Feminist Theory. Perry.   (B) (C) F
  • WGS 1216 Women's Voices in Asian and Asian American Literature. Choi.  (A) (B) (C) Sp
  • WGS 1225 Leaning In, Hooking Up: Visions of Feminism and Femininity in the 21st Century. Thompson.    (C) Sp
  • WGS 1283 Love's Labors Found: Uncovering Histories of Emotional Labor. Light.   (B) (C) Sp