Overall objectives:

1 - Taught in English, the course objectives are: (I) Survey study of America's cultural history, and past/present Anglo-American relations, focused on (im)migration movements, social, religious, political and economic developments/trends, intellectual thought, literature and arts; Improve students' knowledge of role of America in the World; (II) Improve students' analytic/critical thought, proficiency in English, and research and self-learning skills.
2 - Competences to be developed: (I) Capability to identify, write, and comment on topics related to American Culture and act as intercultural speakers; (II) Capability to identify and analyse cross-cultural influences between America and other nations; (III) Capability of analytic/critical thought; (IV) Research and self-learning skills, initiative, and decision making; (V) Reading, writing, comprehension and communication skills in English.

Syllabus:

1. - INTRODUCTION
1.1 - American Identity/Identities [Mauk & Oakland, American Civilization, 1-9]
1.2 - US Cultural Regions [Mauk and Oakland, American Civilization, 29-39]
2. - COLONIAL AMERICA (1600 ? 1776)
2.1 - Early Settlers & Settlements: The Founders
2.2 - Colonial Social/Religious/Economic/Political Structures.
2.2.1 - ? English Interest in Colonisation [Norton, 41-43 (Illust: 42, 45, 50 / Map: 49, 62 / Table 63)]
2.2.2 - ? The Founding of Virginia [Norton, 43-46]
2.2.3 - ? Life in the Chesapeake [Norton, 46-48]
2.2.4 - ? The Founding of New England [Norton, 48-53]
2.2.5 - ? Life in New England [Norton, 54-57]
3. - IM(MIGRATION) MOVEMENTS (1600 ? 20th Century)
3.1 - America Mother of Exiles [Emma Lazarus?s ?The New Colossus?]
3.1.1 - Immigration Waves:
3.2.1 - FIRST WAVE (1690s-1780s): AFRICAN SLAVES:
3.2.1.1 - ? African Slavery: Pioneer experiences (Madeira and São Tomé) Norton, 16-18]
3.2.1.2 - ? African Slavery on the Mainland [Norton, 71-73]
3.2.1.3 - Enslavement of Africans and Indians [Norton, 78-81, 85]
3.2.1.4 - ? Involuntary Migrants from Africa (18th cent) [Norton, 89-91 (Illust: 71 / Map: 74, 90, 91)]
3.2.1.5 - ? Growth of the Black Population [Norton, 319-322 / Illustration: 320]
3.2.1.6 - ? A Southern World-view; Pro-slavery Argument
3.2.2 - ARRIVALS FROM EUROPE: British, Northern Europeans [Norton, 91-94 (Map: 94)]
3.3 - SECOND WAVE (1820s-1880s): Northern and Western Europe
3.3.1 - ? Gold Rush in California (1840s) [Norton, 302-04 / 303]
3.3.2 - ? Immigrant lives in America (1830-60) [Norton, 314-19 (Illust: 317 / Map: 315)].
3.3.3 - THIRD WAVE (1890s-1920s): Southern and Eastern Europeans, and Asians
3.3.3.1 - ? A Complex Population¸ Significance of Race [Norton, 462-463]
3.3.3.2 - ? Foreign Immigration; New Immigration [Norton, 515-520 (Map: 516, 517)]
3.3.3.3 - ? Geographic and Social Mobility [Norton, 518-19]
3.3.3.4 - ? Newcomers from Mexico and Puerto Rico [Norton, 661-662 (Illust: 661)]
3.3.3.5 - ? Immigration Quotas [Norton, 667 (Illust: 668 / Graphic 669)]
3.3.3.6 - ? Eugenics [Norton, 579]
3.3.4 - FOURTH WAVE (since 1960s): Asians and Hispanics
3.3.4.1 - ? New Immigrants from Asia [Norton, 908 (Illust: 909)]
3.3.4.2 - ? The Growing Latino Population [Norton, 909-910]
3.3.5 - MIGRATION MOVEMENTS
3.3.5.1 - ? Americans Move Westwards [Norton, 261-263 (Map: 262, Illustration: 263)]
3.3.5.2 - ? Freed African-Americans Diaspora [Norton, 446-447]
3.3.5.3 - ? African-Americans and Hispanics Move to Cities [Norton, 659-662]
4. - U. S. ECONOMIC HISTORY
4.1 - America as a Developing Nation: Colonial to Mid-19th Century (1600-1860s)
4.1.1 - ? Economic Growth and Development [Norton, 94-98 (Map: 95, 96, 97, 98)]
4.1.2 - ? Domestic Manufacturing and Industrial Piracy [Norton, 228-229 (Illust: 229) ]
4.1.3 - ? The US as a Developing Nation [Norton, 250-252 (Illust:250, 252, 256, 257 /Map: 251)]
4.1.4 - ? Commercial Farming [Norton, 252-254]
4.1.5 - ? The Rise of Manufacturing and Commerce [Norton, 254-258 (Illust: 255)]
4.1.6 - ? Extraction of Natural Resources [Norton, 460-462 (Maps: 461)]
4.1.7 - ? Farming the Plains [Norton, 469-473 (Maps: 471)]
4.1.8 - ? The Ranching Frontier [Norton, 473-476 (Maps: 461, 471)]
4.2 - Industrialization, Economic Expansion, Corporate Consolidation (1870s-1920s)
4.2.1 - ? Technology and the Triumph of Industrialism [Norton, 481-487 (Illust: 481)]
4.2.2 - ? Consequences of Technology [Norton, 486-7]
4.2.3 - ? Mechanisation and the Changing Status of Labour
4.2.4 - ? The Corporate Consolidation Movement [Norton, 245-249, 502-506 (Illust: 503)]
4.2.5 - ? Te Gospel of Wealth and its Critics [Norton, 504-506]he
4.2.6 - ? The Social Gospel and Eugenics [Norton, 579-580]
4.2.7 - ? Big Business Triumphant (1920s) [Norton, 652-654]
4.3 - Effects of 19th-Century Economic Growth
4.3.1 - ? Economic Effects of Industrialization [Norton, 538-539 (summary)]
4.3.2 - ? City Life and Growth of the Modern City [Norton, 511-513, 523, 659]
4.3.3 - ? Growth of Suburbs [Norton, 662-663, 801 (Illust: 511, 513, 662)]
4.3.4 - ? The Roaring 1920s: Emergence of Mass-Consumer Society
4.3.4.1 - o Materialism Unbound [Norton, 657-659 (Illust: 658, 659)]
4.3.4.2 - o The Age of Play [Norton, 670-672 (Illust: 672, 673, 674)]
4.3.4.3 - o Cultural Currents [Norton, 672-74]
4.4 - American Economy in the 20th Century
4.4.1 - ? U.S. Economy during World War I & II
4.4.2 - ? Post-WW II U.S. Economic Growth:
4.4.2.1 - o Economic Recovery and Baby Boom [Norton, 800-1 (Graphic 801)]
4.4.2.2 - o Creating a Middle-Class Nation [Norton, 812-816 (Graphic 813 / Map: 814)]
4.4.2.3 - o The 60s Youth Culture and Counterculture [Norton, 819-21, 848-853]
4.4.2.4 - o Poverty in an Age of Abundance [Norton, 823-24]
4.4.2.5 - o U.S. Economic Globalization [Norton, 923-926 (Illust: 925 (McDonalds), 926)]
5. - MINORITIES ? THE OTHER AMERICA
5.1 - Challenges to Gender
5.1.1 - ? Women in the Work Force (1920-1950s)
5.1.2 - ? Marriage, Families & Gender Roles in the 1950s
5.1.3 - ? The Suffrage Movement
5.1.4 - ? Women?s Liberation Movement (1960s) [Norton, 864-867 (Illust: 866)]
5.2 - Social, Ethnic, Racial Tensions
5.2.1 - ? Discrimination and Exclusion of Native Americans [Mauk, 74-83; Campbell, 44-51]
5.2.2 - ? Discrimination and Exclusion of African Americans
5.2.3 - ? Discrimination and Exclusion of Immigrants
5.2.4 - ? Urban Neighbourhoods [Norton, 519-522, 823]
5.2.5 - ? The Ku Klux Klan / The Sacco and Vanzetti Case [Norton, 440-441, 666-668]
5.2.6 - ? The Civil Rights Movement [Norton, 808-812, 833-839 (Illust: 812, 835, 837, 838, 847)]
5.2.7 - ? Challenges to Racism and Discrimination
6. - AMERICA AND THE WORLD ? QUEST FOR EMPIRE
6.1 - Roots and Growth of Expansionism
6.1.1 - ? Manifest Destiny and Expansionism [Norton, 290-295]
6.2 - Regional and Overseas Expansion
6.2.1 - ? Wars of Conquest: with Mexico, British and French
6.2.2 - ? Imperial Dreams [Norton, 597-602 (Illust: 601, 602 / Graphic: 599, 600)]
6.2.3 - ? Ambitions and Strategies [Norton, 602-604 (Illust: 603)]
6.3 - Economic, Political and Cultural Imperialism (1865-1920)
6.3.1 - ? Hawai?i, Venezuela and Cuba [Norton, 366, 604-607, 791 (Illust: 366, 602, 603, 605, 607)]
6.3.2 - ? The Spanish-American War and the Debate over Empire [Norton, 607-609 (Illust: 608)]
6.3.3 - ? The Anti- and Pro-Imperialist Argument [Norton, 609-610]
6.3.4 - ? War in the Philippines, Diplomacy in China [Norton, 610-613 / Map: 611)]
6.3.5 - ? Theodore Roosevelt?s Foreign Policy [Norton, 613-617 (Illust: 615, 617 / Map: 614]
6.3.6 - ? Anglo-American Rapprochement [Norton, 617-618]
6.3.7 - ? US Dominance in Latin America [Norton,719-723 (Illust: 720 / Map: 721)]
6.3.8 - ? The Cold War and the Domino Effect (1945-2000):
6.3.8.1 - o From Allies to Adversaries: the Beginnings of the Cold War [Norton, 772-774]
6.3.8.2 - o Containment Action [Norton, 774-778 (Illust: 774 / Map Iron Curtain: 776)]
6.3.8.3 - o The Cold War in Asia [Norton, 778-783 (Illust: 779, 781 / 782)]
6.3.8.4 - o Unrelenting Cold War [Norton,783-787 (Illust: 786)]
6.3.8.5 - o The Struggle for the Third World
6.3.8.6 - o The War in Vietnam [Norton, 867-870 / Map: 843]
6.3.8.7 - o The Détente: Nixon, Kissinger and the World [Norton, 870-872]
6.3.8.8 - o The End of the Cold War and Global Disorder [Norton, 910-912 / Map: 912)]
7. - AMERICA AND THE WORLD TODAY
7.1 - Foreign Policy: Tensions/Conflicts
7.1.1 - ? The Middle East Crisis War on Terrorism
7.2 - Globalisation Challenges
8. - XX-XXIst CENTURY AMERICAN SOCIETY
8.1 - Affluence, Social Strains, Violence, Hate Crimes
8.1.1 - ? Era of Ostentation [Norton, 908]
8.1.2 - ? Social Strains, Violence and Hate Crimes
8.2 - Multiethnic, Multiracial, Multicultural America

Literature/Sources:

Campbell, Neil and A. Kean , 1997 , American Cultural Studies , Routledge,
Chomsky, Noam , 2003 , Hegemony or Survival: America?s Quest for Global Dominance , Penguin Books
Cruden, Robert M , 2000 , Body and Soul: The Making of American Modernism: Art, Music and Letters in the Jazz Age, 1912-1926 , Perseus Basic Books
Drowne, Kathleen and P. Huber. , 2004 , The Twenties , Greenwood Press
Mauk, D., and J. Oakland , 2003 , American Civilization , Routledge,
Tallack, Douglas , 1991 , Twentieth-Century America , Longman,
Woodard , Komozi. , 1999 , A Nation within a Nation: Amiri Baraka (Le Roi Jones) & Black Power Politics , Univ. of North Carolina Press
Mary Norton et al (eds.) , 2005 , A People and a Nation , Houghton Mifflin

Assesssment methods and criteria:

Classification Type: Quantitativa (0-20)

Evaluation Methodology:
Classes, in English, are of the expositive, theoretical-practical type. Syllabus? topics are discussed with regular lecturer-student-lecturer interaction. The students? work will be entirely in English, based on the bibliography (selection of texts, handouts...) provided by the lecturer at the start and/or along the term, as well as on the suggested bibliography and the students? self-research. Students are encouraged to improve their language proficiency through writing, and oral readings/presentations and debate during class-meetings, in English. Students? evaluation will follow Type A Format/Model defined in the Evaluation Regulations of the University of Madeira. Hence, students are assessed during the semester in two written exams (Exam 1: 40% + Exam 2: 40%), plus an written/oral component (20%) based on individual and/or group (depending on the number of students enrolled) research project work on a topic apropos the course programme.