Bachelor 2024/2025

History and Culture of the USA

Type: Elective course (Foreign Languages and Intercultural Communication)

Area of studies: Linguistics

Delivered by: School of Foreign Languages

Where: School of Foreign Languages

When: 1 year, 4 module

Mode of studies: offline

Open to: students of all HSE University campuses

Instructors: Alexey Bakulev, Alina Budnikova, Daria Chikhacheva, Elena Styrina

Language: English

ECTS credits: 4

Course Syllabus

Abstract

The course “History and Culture of the U.S.A.” is taught to freshmen majoring in foreign languages and intercultural communication. The aim of the course is to establish the context of understanding of the cultural, historic, economic, and political background of the U.S.A. as a country whose language is the target language of students’ professional scrutiny. Course materials include a variety of primary and secondary sources that explore the phenomena discussed from different perspectives to enhance students' analytical, critical thinking and media literacy skills. Special attention is paid to a comparative analysis of the U.S. – Russia relations. The course features both lectures and seminars, which enables students to interiorize the “American component” of their intercultural communicative competence through involvement in class discussions, case-study, quizzes, tests and writing critical reviews.

Learning Objectives

• familiarizing students with the U.S. traditions, culture, politics and policies, economy and history
• developing skills of social and cultural analysis of historic milestones of the U.S. emergence, growth and modern status
• enhancing critical thinking to come to independent conclusions about the U.S. sociocultural and political phenomena through the acquisition of media literacy skills
• developing intercultural competence and forming a clear picture of the key types, forms, and issues of intercultural communication through the reflective analytical and synthetic perception of the student's local culture and the U.S. culture
• motivating students for further professional development in the field of American Studies

Expected Learning Outcomes

• To recognize and interpret the U.S. traditions, culture, politics and policies, economy and history
• To interpret the history, current state and prospects of Russia – U.S. relations
• To analyze and evaluate historic milestones of the U.S. emergence, growth and modern status from social and cultural perspectives
• To select relevant primary sources and come to independent conclusions about the U.S. sociocultural and political phenomena on their basis

Course Contents

• 1. Introduction to the course
• 2. Genesis of the American nation
• 3. American fight for independence
• 4. American national identity
• 5. American democracy
• 6. Law in the USA
• 7. Black Lives Matter: the past and the present
• 8. Multiculturalism in the USA
• 9. Gender in the USA
• 10. The US foreign policy: from isolationism to interventionism
• 11. American foreign policy in the Middle East
• 12. The USA and Russia: the past, the present, and the future

Assessment Elements

• Continuous Assessment
  The control element assesses independent preparation for seminars (information search; reading papers; watching videos; annotating and rendering the obtained materials) and class participation (taking part in discussions, debates, roundtable talks, case studies).
• Lecture Quizzes
  The control element assesses students' knowledge and understanding of lecture material.
• Final Paper
  The control element assesses the students' ability to analyze and evaluate the given case based on the information studied in the course and to come to independent conclusions about the U.S. sociocultural and political phenomena.
• Exam
  The control element comprises 5 open questions to be answered in writing.
• Module Test
  The control element assesses students' knowledge and understanding of seminar material.

Interim Assessment

• 2024/2025 4th module
  0.25 * Continuous Assessment + 0.3 * Exam + 0.15 * Final Paper + 0.2 * Lecture Quizzes + 0.1 * Module Test

Bibliography

Recommended Core Bibliography

• Talalakina, E. V. Academic Skills through Cases in American Studies / E. V. Talalakina, I. V. Yakusheva. — Москва : Высшая школа экономики, 2011. — 144 с. — ISBN 978-5-7598-0919-7. — Текст : электронный // Лань : электронно-библиотечная система. — URL: https://e.lanbook.com/book/65968 (дата обращения: 00.00.0000). — Режим доступа: для авториз. пользователей.

Recommended Additional Bibliography

• A Glimpse of the USA, учебно-методическое пособие, ГУ-ВШЭ, Нижегород. фил., каф. ин. яз., 54 с., Емельянова, Н. А., Смирнова, Н. И., 2001
• Америка: народ и страна, Стивенсон, Д. К., 1993

Authors

• BUDNIKOVA ALINA ALEKSANDROVNA
• BAKULEV Aleksey VALENTINOVICH