What does it mean to be “an American?” How does our understanding of American culture, and our relation to it, differ depending on historical context, social position, and the interpretive and ideological perspectives we bring to bear?
American studies pursues these questions using a variety of interdisciplinary approaches, texts, performances, and material culture as points of departure for a wide-ranging exploration of American culture. By analyzing race, gender, sexuality, social class, disability, and other identities — and reflecting on their own connections to these topics — students examine what it means to belong, hold privilege, or face exclusion.
Matt Von Vogt, Academic Administrative Assistant
4 Andrews Rd
Pettengill Hall
Phone: 207-786-8296
mvonvogt@bates.edu
The Program in American Studies prepares students for fulfilling careers in a variety of fields, including research and teaching; policy, advocacy, and community work; law; cultural organization and curating; and digitization and management. Graduates have attended law school and gone on to work in philanthropy or for major law firms; serve as administrators in both public community-based education and charter schools; and work in athletics, beauty, and the performing arts.
of 2020-2024 humanities graduates are employed and/or attending graduate school
Afro-Cuban Hiphop artist Pablo D. Herrera Veitia led a workshop yesterday titled ìLet’s Talk About Cultural Production, Franklyî with Bates students in Olin Arts Center 128. . Herrera Veitia has managed urban musicians and music-related projects in Cuba for more than 20 years. He is considered Cuba’s most influential beat-maker and a pioneer of the Cuban Hiphop sound, which is highly influenced by Afro-Cuban music and culture. He is a 2018-19 Nasir Jones Fellow Hutchins Center for African African American Research, Harvard University, and a doctoral candidate in social anthropology, University of St Andrews, Scotland. . During the workshop, Herrera Veitia discussed how he has engaged in cultural production in and outside of Cuba and asked students to consider ìWhat motivates us to be cultural producers?î The participants broke into small groups to propose hypothetical cultural productions and the roles they might play in them. He then asked the each student to share their individual identities ó their passions ó as cultural producers. Cultural production, he pointed out, can be ó but is not exclusively ómusic or theater or film. îAs active citizens, weíre all doing culture in our own way,î he said. . Herrera Veitia will offer the same workshop on Thursday, Feb 28 at 4:15pm in Olin 128. and Friday, March 1 at 4:15 in a TBD location. For more information, call 207-786-6135 or olinarts@bates.edu. His visit to Bates was sponsored by the Latin American Studies Program, the Department of Music, and an NEH Learning Associates Grant. Luis Da Molina (preferred) but in directory, it’s Luis David Molina Rueda and Reilly Dwight.
Students in Associate Professor of Hispanic Studies Stephanie Pridgeon’s “Screening Citizenship: Jewish Latin American Film” class prepare for two upcoming presentations they will make at the upcoming Maine Jewish Film Festival, both in Portland and Bates. One film is called “Torah Tropical” (see below) and the other, made in Argentina and Austria, is called “The Klezmer Project). Pridgeon says: This coming Tuesday, March 4 at 7 PM in Olin, we will be screening the beautiful documentary “Torah Tropical” followed by a Q + A with producer Heidi Paster (parent of a current Bates student) led by students from my Jewish Latin American film seminar. The documentary follows the story of a family in Cali, Colombia, who converts to Judaism and attempts to immigrate to Israel. Please join us if you’re interested and please also consider passing along the information to your students, colleagues, and friends if they might also be interested (entry is free for Bates staff, faculty, and students!) This course considers films from throughout Latin America made by Jewish directors. Students learn the history of Latin American film production as well as terms and skills necessary for audiovisual analysis. The course examines the ways in which film is used as a vehicle to explore and represent issues of identity, belonging, immigration, and assimilation that have long characterized Jewish experiences in Latin America. Moreover, the course focuses on filmmakers’ engagement with key social and political issues within their respective countries as well as on a regional or global scale. Taught in Spanish. Recommended background: HISP 228. Prerequisite(s): HISP 210 or 211.
Art and visual culture majors with a studio concentration work in their first-floor Olin Arts Concert Hall studios in preparation for the Annual Senior Exhibition that will open in April at the Bates College Museum of Art. Emily Graumann ’22 (in gray sweater) of Salem, a double major in AVC and English, is producing a thesis in hand-drawn animation. Ollie Penner ’22 (purple shirt) of Pasadena, Calif,, is a double major in AVC and American Studies, whose thesis uses photography and Photoshop. Kathy Boehm ’22 (black sweater) of Denver, Colo., is a double major in AVC and American studies, who’s designing town with drawings and mixed media. Mary Richardson ’22 (black tank top) of Blue Hill, Maine, is a double major in AVC and psychology and exploring themes of growing up and bodily image. She’s using mixed media and colored pen.
Students in our program enjoy a wide range of hands-on experiences, from working with local organic farms and community gardeners to archaeological fieldwork in Alaska and on Maine’s Malaga Island. They also engage in curatorial work with local and regional galleries and museums, and work closely with well-known artists and musicians. In addition, students have the opportunity to collaborate with program faculty on research and experience a dynamic senior capstone grounded in a supportive faculty-student community.
Our faculty specializes in a range of fields, including musicology, gender and sexuality studies, politics, and history. They present research across the globe, curate national and international art exhibits and performances, contribute to national and international journals, and have received national awards from the Andy Warhol Foundation, the Whitney Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Science Foundation, and more.
In the Student Center for Belonging and Community, first-generation Bates students mentor their younger peers, providing guidance on everything from academics to internships to social life.
Bates is embarking on a $45 million project to update two key athletic facilities and construct a new fitness and well-being center. A gift of $10 million from Jon W. Brayshaw ’90, P’25 and Jocelyn Stoddard Brayshaw ’88, P’25 has brought the college a vital step closer to construction. The new facility will be named the Stoddard Fitness and Well-Being Center.
February on campus saw sports successes, several large snowfalls, and our annual Winter Carnival — a week of events celebrating the joys of the chilly season.
