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What is American?

The concept of "American" as a subject of study spans disciplines ranging from history and sociology to literature and cultural studies. It invites students to examine what defines American identity, society, and values — questions that resist simple answers. Courses in world studies, American history, and cultural analysis regularly ask students to interrogate the idea of America as both a geographic place and an evolving set of ideals. Works like J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur's 1782 letter posing the question "What Is an American?" and figures such as Benjamin Franklin and Amiri Baraka serve as anchors for exploring how American identity has been constructed, contested, and redefined across centuries.

Student papers on this topic take a wide range of approaches. Comparative essays examine American values alongside European or Asian counterparts, or place historical periods like the Progressive Era and the New Deal in direct contrast. Other papers use case studies to analyze specific social and political developments — the Abolition Movement, the Americans with Disabilities Act, or the influence of Latin migration on American life. Cultural and media analysis appears as well, with papers exploring pop music in the 1980s, advertising's effect on dietary choices, and the evolution of the cell phone as a lens into American society.

A strong essay on an American studies topic works best when it anchors a broad theme in a specific argument. Effective evidence draws on policy documents, literary texts, historical events, or cultural artifacts rather than vague generalizations about national character. The most common pitfall is treating "America" as a monolith — successful essays acknowledge the diversity of voices, regions, and experiences that shape any aspect of American life.

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Paper Undergraduate

Fascination and repulsion from Otherness in Song of Kali and The City of Joy

In this chapter, I examine similarities and differences between The City of Joy by Dominique Lapierre (1985) and Song of Kali by Dan Simmons (1985) with regard to the themes of the Western journalistic observer of the Oriental Other, and the fascination-repulsion that inspires the Occidental spatial imaginary of Calcutta. By comparing and contrasting these two popular novels, both describing white men's journey into the space of the Other, the chapter seeks to achieve a two-fold objective: (a) to provide insight into the authors with respect to alterity (otherness), and (b) to examine the discursive practices of these novels in terms of contrasting spatial metaphors of Calcutta as "The City of Dreadful Night" or "The City of Joy." The chapter further argues that these spatial metaphors are redolent of what Peter Stallybrass and Allon White (1986) refer to as the "phobic enchantment" (p. 124) of the Occidental social imaginary for the poverty, squalor and the horror of the Third World.

Thesis Undergraduate

African-American\'s Ethnic or Cultural Background Affects Ethical Convictions

For most African-Americans, their history of slavery and discrimination has had the most profound, shaping effect upon their ethical convictions than any other historical experience.

Paper Undergraduate

Racial categories and their social construction

The concept of race has had a profound impact upon human history. However, it is also a scientific fiction. Genetically speaking, members of one 'race' can have many genetic dissimilarities. As a species, different 'races' share more in common than they differ as human beings. This paper argues that race is no longer a useful construct with which to analyze human society.

Paper Doctorate

Race Discrimination Justice Discrimination Race Discimination Criminal

Race and Discrimination in the Criminal Justice System

Thesis Undergraduate

Intelligence in the Battle of the Atlantic

The Battle of the Atlantic was the longest and likely the most important battle of World War II. The importance of this battle cannot be overstated because Germany had taken nearly all of Europe and was threatening to topple England. The U.S. and other allies needed to send supplies to England across the Atlantic and the Germans sent U-boats to sink many of the supply ships. But in the end, allied technologies were developed that took away the stealth advantage the U-boats originally had.

Research Paper Doctorate

Factors That Determine the Increasing Number of African-American Children in Special Education

¶ … African-American Children in Special Education Programs

Research Paper Doctorate

How it Promotes Sexual Violence

How Pornography Promotes Sexual Violence Against Women

Research Paper Doctorate

Death Unnaturally Euthanasia Suicide Capital Punishment

¶ … death: suicide, euthanasia and the death penalty. Looking at certain aspects of each and discussing the issues concerning society. Also providing a sociological out look and economic basis for the arguments.

Paper Undergraduate

American and German perspectives in World War I

The First World War began in the summer of 1914 with the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria. The conflict lasted through late 1918, concluding with the treaty of Versailles.

Paper Doctorate

Incongruous to Try to Compare the Artists

¶ … incongruous to try to compare the artists William Shakespeare and Bob Marley. These two men, separated by centuries and embodying two very different forms of art, both make up part of the history of popular culture.

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