The Conversationalist's Index
American Conversations is a four-semester program that studies the conversations that have shaped the history and culture of the United States. Together, members of American Conversations will pursue Thomas Jefferson's dream that free and educated citizens should learn to understand what is going on in the world, and to keep their part of it going right.
American Conversations allows students the opportunity to fulfill many of their core requirements in a sequence of four courses devoted to American history and American culture. In American Conversations, we cover a wide range of topics:
From the American Revolution to the Sexual Revolution
From the Civil War to the Civil Rights Movement
From Plymouth Rock to Alternative Rock
From Thomas Jefferson to Tommy Hilfiger
Drawing on history, literature, art, sociology, political science, economics, religion and other disciplines, students in the program engage in what Ralph Waldo Emerson called "creative reading" of people in the past. At the same time, we explore the ways that the past still lives in people today. We learn to write, and write to learn. And we learn how to carry on the constructive conversations that characterize good colleges and good communities, including the American community.
In American Conversations approximately 40 students and five faculty members work together over two years to study key issues and characteristics of life in the United States, from the colonial era to the present. At least one instructor guides each group of students through the entire cycle; other faculty members bring their voices and expertise to the conversations for a term or two.
American Conversations uses a combination of large-group, small-group, and individualized approaches to learning. Because exchange of information and ideas is at the heart of this program, students initially live in proximity to one another and come together regularly outside of the formal classroom for field trips, lectures, and activities.
The program includes four common courses that fulfill the college's general education requirements in First Year Writing, Historical Studies in Western Culture (one course), Human Behavior and Society (one course), Artistic Studies, Literary Studies, Multicultural Studies-Domestic, and Writing in Context (two courses).
Course I: Declaring Independence, 1620-1865
Spanning two centuries, from the founding of the colonies to the close of the Civil War, this course begins our discussion of questions central to the entire sequence: "What is an American?" and "What does it mean to be free?" Students explore the institutions, images, and stories of Euro-Americans, African-Americans and Native Americans. Topics and texts include the Declaration of Independence and Thomas Jefferson's architecture, the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, and the Pilgrim and Pocahontas myths.
Course II: Democratic Vistas, 1800-1900
In this century of institutional development, national expansion, and sectional conflict, Americans continued to define a national identity. Students probe the ways in which region, religion, race, ethnicity and gender inform individual and group contributions to the conversation. They also analyze how geographical expansion and ideas of progress influenced different visions and versions of America. Topics and texts include Transcendentalist writers, The Second Great Awakening, Black Elk Speaks, landscape painting and Western photography.
Course III: Re-making America, 1865-1945
Burgeoning cities and industrialism, an emerging market economy, changing opportunities for women, an influx of immigrants, and the migration of African-Americans to urban centers all opened questions of freedom of expression, distribution of resources, and American identity. Topics and texts include the Statue of Liberty, the World's Columbian Exposition, the Model T Ford, and the Harlem Renaissance.
Course IV: Pursuits of Happiness, 1920-2000
Students in this course examine technology, the mass market and consumerism, and the increasingly complex relations between identity and material goods. They will also explore the images, institutions, and stories of environmental, feminist, and Civil Rights activists in Cold War culture. Topics and texts include Yosemite National Park, Japanese internment camps, Adrienne Rich's poetry and prose, Freedom Summer, Las Vegas and the Mall of America.
1. What are the differences among the Conversations Programs?
All three programs (Asian Conversations, American Conversations, The Great Conversation) are similar in that they are a linked set of courses that provides general education credits in an integrated, interdisciplinary way. Students in all three programs move through the sequence together and live together in a dorm. Classes are discussion oriented.
In American Conversations, the subject is the United States, both in its colonial period and since its founding. Perhaps the greatest difference is the pedagogical strategy of examining American culture through "dense facts" (see below).
For more on Asian Conversations and the Great Conversation, consult their websites or brochures. In brief, Asian Conversations focuses on Asia and connects courses to foreign language study of Japanese or Chinese; Asian Conversations is a smaller program and the courses are not team-taught, though students will, during the two years, have courses with a variety of faculty in the Asian Studies department. The Great Conversation is the largest of the programs and focuses on the creation of Western Culture, beginning with the ancient Greeks and Hebrews and continuing to the twentieth century; three faculty members teach in the program each year and stay with the students through all five courses in the sequence.
2. Can I apply to more than one program?
Yes, by all means, but please do so only to the extent that a particular program interests you. Note that American Conversations is first come, first served -- that is, if you are admitted into the college, you are eligible for this program. If you are accepted into American Conversations, however, we will ask you to commit to the program, so that we don't turn away other students who are applying.
3. Can I enroll in more than one program?
No, for several reasons. There is overlapping of times when the courses are scheduled, and being in two programs would make it impossible for a student to be part of the student group in the dorm or at the dinners. You have to choose!
4. How are American Conversations courses organized?
American Conversations organizes its courses not around simple chronology, but rather around what students of American Studies call "Dense facts." Dense facts are facts, but not simple facts. Rather:
--They emphasize the importance of the interpreting mind, or the connecting mind.
--They suggest the importance of "close reading" of texts or artifacts or events.
--They suggest that the project of American Culture Studies is the complexification of texts and experiences, not mere coverage.
--They suggest the importance of interdisciplinary perspectives in making facts dense.
Dense facts both reveal deeper meanings inside themselves and point outward to other facts, other ideas, other meanings. As a first operating assumption in American studies, we should affirm the cultural "density" of experience. The fact that the Declaration of Independence was signed on July 4, 1776 is a fact, but studying this fact "densely" requires doing more work: when we do, we realize that it actually wasn't signed on July 4, that it almost wasn't signed at all, that it went through days of revision, that it grew out of a variety of political philosophies that had themselves developed in Great Britain, that Jefferson was dissatisfied with the final product, and that despite all of this, it became the moral and political standard against which the actions of Americans (including those of Thomas Jefferson) have since been measured. In sum, dense facts always require an interpreting mind--to search out their inner meanings and to explore their outer connections. In the dense-facts model, that a work of scholarship makes a "contribution" to knowledge is less important than that it reveals in information meanings that had not been seen before.
If you would like to participate in American Conversations, write a letter to
Diane Strom
Office Of Admissions
St. Olaf College
1520 St. Olaf Ave.
Northfield, MN 55057,
or e-mail at: stromd@stolaf.edu
All students who apply and are admitted by June 15 will live together in the same residence hall, though not necessarily on the same floor or in the same room as other people admitted to the program.
St. Olaf College admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin to all rights, privileges, programs and activities generally accorded or made available to students. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, sex, national and ethnic origin, sexual orientation, or handicap in administration of its educational policies, financial aid program, athletics, and all other programs.
To apply to St. Olaf College or for more information about the college and its American Conversations program, contact:
American Conversations is a four-semester program that studies the conversations that have shaped the history and culture of the United States. Together, members of American Conversations will pursue Thomas Jefferson's dream that free and educated citizens should learn to understand what is going on in the world, and to keep their part of it going right.
American Conversations allows students the opportunity to fulfill many of their core requirements in a sequence of four courses devoted to American history and American culture. In American Conversations, we cover a wide range of topics:
From the Civil War to the Civil Rights Movement
From Plymouth Rock to Alternative Rock
From Thomas Jefferson to Tommy Hilfiger
Drawing on history, literature, art, sociology, political science, economics, religion and other disciplines, students in the program engage in what Ralph Waldo Emerson called "creative reading" of people in the past. At the same time, we explore the ways that the past still lives in people today. We learn to write, and write to learn. And we learn how to carry on the constructive conversations that characterize good colleges and good communities, including the American community.
In American Conversations approximately 40 students and five faculty members work together over two years to study key issues and characteristics of life in the United States, from the colonial era to the present. At least one instructor guides each group of students through the entire cycle; other faculty members bring their voices and expertise to the conversations for a term or two.
American Conversations uses a combination of large-group, small-group, and individualized approaches to learning. Because exchange of information and ideas is at the heart of this program, students initially live in proximity to one another and come together regularly outside of the formal classroom for field trips, lectures, and activities.
The program includes four common courses that fulfill the college's general education requirements in First Year Writing, Historical Studies in Western Culture (one course), Human Behavior and Society (one course), Artistic Studies, Literary Studies, Multicultural Studies-Domestic, and Writing in Context (two courses).
Course I: Declaring Independence, 1620-1865
Spanning two centuries, from the founding of the colonies to the close of the Civil War, this course begins our discussion of questions central to the entire sequence: "What is an American?" and "What does it mean to be free?" Students explore the institutions, images, and stories of Euro-Americans, African-Americans and Native Americans. Topics and texts include the Declaration of Independence and Thomas Jefferson's architecture, the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, and the Pilgrim and Pocahontas myths.
Course II: Democratic Vistas, 1800-1900
In this century of institutional development, national expansion, and sectional conflict, Americans continued to define a national identity. Students probe the ways in which region, religion, race, ethnicity and gender inform individual and group contributions to the conversation. They also analyze how geographical expansion and ideas of progress influenced different visions and versions of America. Topics and texts include Transcendentalist writers, The Second Great Awakening, Black Elk Speaks, landscape painting and Western photography.
Course III: Re-making America, 1865-1945
Burgeoning cities and industrialism, an emerging market economy, changing opportunities for women, an influx of immigrants, and the migration of African-Americans to urban centers all opened questions of freedom of expression, distribution of resources, and American identity. Topics and texts include the Statue of Liberty, the World's Columbian Exposition, the Model T Ford, and the Harlem Renaissance.
Course IV: Pursuits of Happiness, 1920-2000
Students in this course examine technology, the mass market and consumerism, and the increasingly complex relations between identity and material goods. They will also explore the images, institutions, and stories of environmental, feminist, and Civil Rights activists in Cold War culture. Topics and texts include Yosemite National Park, Japanese internment camps, Adrienne Rich's poetry and prose, Freedom Summer, Las Vegas and the Mall of America.
1. What are the differences among the Conversations Programs?
All three programs (Asian Conversations, American Conversations, The Great Conversation) are similar in that they are a linked set of courses that provides general education credits in an integrated, interdisciplinary way. Students in all three programs move through the sequence together and live together in a dorm. Classes are discussion oriented.
In American Conversations, the subject is the United States, both in its colonial period and since its founding. Perhaps the greatest difference is the pedagogical strategy of examining American culture through "dense facts" (see below).
For more on Asian Conversations and the Great Conversation, consult their websites or brochures. In brief, Asian Conversations focuses on Asia and connects courses to foreign language study of Japanese or Chinese; Asian Conversations is a smaller program and the courses are not team-taught, though students will, during the two years, have courses with a variety of faculty in the Asian Studies department. The Great Conversation is the largest of the programs and focuses on the creation of Western Culture, beginning with the ancient Greeks and Hebrews and continuing to the twentieth century; three faculty members teach in the program each year and stay with the students through all five courses in the sequence.
2. Can I apply to more than one program?
Yes, by all means, but please do so only to the extent that a particular program interests you. Note that American Conversations is first come, first served -- that is, if you are admitted into the college, you are eligible for this program. If you are accepted into American Conversations, however, we will ask you to commit to the program, so that we don't turn away other students who are applying.
3. Can I enroll in more than one program?
No, for several reasons. There is overlapping of times when the courses are scheduled, and being in two programs would make it impossible for a student to be part of the student group in the dorm or at the dinners. You have to choose!
4. How are American Conversations courses organized?
American Conversations organizes its courses not around simple chronology, but rather around what students of American Studies call "Dense facts." Dense facts are facts, but not simple facts. Rather:
--They emphasize the importance of the interpreting mind, or the connecting mind.
--They suggest the importance of "close reading" of texts or artifacts or events.
--They suggest that the project of American Culture Studies is the complexification of texts and experiences, not mere coverage.
--They suggest the importance of interdisciplinary perspectives in making facts dense.
Dense facts both reveal deeper meanings inside themselves and point outward to other facts, other ideas, other meanings. As a first operating assumption in American studies, we should affirm the cultural "density" of experience. The fact that the Declaration of Independence was signed on July 4, 1776 is a fact, but studying this fact "densely" requires doing more work: when we do, we realize that it actually wasn't signed on July 4, that it almost wasn't signed at all, that it went through days of revision, that it grew out of a variety of political philosophies that had themselves developed in Great Britain, that Jefferson was dissatisfied with the final product, and that despite all of this, it became the moral and political standard against which the actions of Americans (including those of Thomas Jefferson) have since been measured. In sum, dense facts always require an interpreting mind--to search out their inner meanings and to explore their outer connections. In the dense-facts model, that a work of scholarship makes a "contribution" to knowledge is less important than that it reveals in information meanings that had not been seen before.
If you would like to participate in American Conversations, write a letter to
Diane Strom
Office Of Admissions
St. Olaf College
1520 St. Olaf Ave.
Northfield, MN 55057,
or e-mail at: stromd@stolaf.edu
All students who apply and are admitted by June 15 will live together in the same residence hall, though not necessarily on the same floor or in the same room as other people admitted to the program.
St. Olaf College admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin to all rights, privileges, programs and activities generally accorded or made available to students. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, sex, national and ethnic origin, sexual orientation, or handicap in administration of its educational policies, financial aid program, athletics, and all other programs.
To apply to St. Olaf College or for more information about the college and its American Conversations program, contact:
http://www.stolaf.edu/admissions
St. Olaf Admissions Office
1-800-800-3025 / 1-507-786-3025
e-mail:admissions@stolaf.edu
