AMERICAN POPULAR CULTURE GROWS AS A MAJOR

AMERICAN POPULAR CULTURE GROWS AS A MAJOR

The Department of American Studies and Ethnicity (ASE) sponsors several options for undergraduates to major in or minor in at USC, including the general ASE major and several majors in Ethnic Studies-specific areas.  The undergraduate field that has grown the most over the past few years as been American Popular Culture (APC), and USC undergraduates have the option of a major or a minor in this growing subspecialty.  This interdisciplinary major helps students assess the icons and ideas they encounter every day, think critically about the images of mass media and commercial culture, and experience popular culture as it interacts with gender and ethnicity in the U.S. context.  Right now, of the 71 total majors in the ASE department, 29 are in APC, which makes American Popular Culture the largest major in the ASE department.  In addition, 11 of the 20 minors in the ASE Department are also in APC.

The American Popular Culture major is anchored by popular lower-division core requirements, especially the Introductory course to American Popular Culture.  Other options at the lower division include a course on the Politics and Culture of the 1960s, or one in African American Popular Culture.  In addition, majors can write a senior honors thesis or take the senior seminar as a core requirement for graduation.  Upper Division requirements include taking courses in (1) critical approaches to popular culture; (2) gender and ethnicity; (3) popular culture in the arts; and (4) a broad group of electives across Dornsife College, or the schools of communication, cinema, dance, or theater.  The ASE Department offers electives in the major that range from the Middle East in Hollywood or Black Music and the Political Imagination, to Latinx Music in the Americas or African American Humor and Culture.