Sexuality in general and particularly in India remains an ever enigmatic phenomenon, giving rise to a vast field of academic study across the social and human sciences. Through in-depth theoretical analysis and an array of case studies, this volume establishes a firm analytical framework for sexuality studies in the country.

Introduction : the object of American studies -- Why History? -- Four American studies mixtapes -- An institutional history of American studies (or, what's the matter with mixtapes?) -- Method and methodology -- Texts : an interpretive toolkit -- Archives : a curatorial toolkit -- Genres and formations : an analytical toolkit -- Power : a theoretical toolkit -- A few thoughts on ideas and arguments -- Dispenser : a case study

American Studies has long been a home for adventurous students seeking to understand the culture and politics of the United States. Despite being taught in universities around the world, American Studies has resisted developing a coherent methodology for fear of losing the flexibility and freedom to imagine new avenues of thought. But what if these fears are misplaced? Through a fresh look at the origins of the field, this book contends that a shared set of “rules” can offer a springboard to creativity. American Studies: A User’s Guide offers readers a critical introduction to the history and methods of the field, useful strategies for interpretation, curation, analysis, and theory, and case studies of American Studies in practice.

Seit seiner Entstehung in den 1930er- Jahren hat sich das Fach "American Studies" in den USA radikal verändert. Als Motor dieses Prozesses galt bislang die wissenschaftliche Forschung. Matthias Oppermann beleuchtet nun erstmals die Rolle der Lehre und zeigt, dass das Fach von Beginn an durch Kurse und Lehrpläne nicht nur didaktisch, sondern auch theoretisch kontinuierlich neu konstituiert wurde. Mit dieser Neubewertung liefert er ein revidiertes Verständnis der "American Studies" als interdisziplinäre Kulturwissenschaft im Spannungsfeld unterschiedlicher Theorien, Methoden und Forschungsgegenstände.

“What if American Studies is defined not so much in the pages of the most cutting-edge publications, but through what happens in our classrooms and other learning spaces?” In Teaching American Studies Elizabeth Duclos-Orsello, Joseph Entin, and Rebecca Hill ask a diverse group of American Studies educators to respond to that question by writing chapters about teaching that use a classroom activity or a particular course to reflect on the state of the field of American Studies. Teaching American Studies speaks to teachers with a wide range of relationships to the field. To start, it is a useful how-to guide for faculty who might be new to, or unfamiliar with, American Studies. Each author brings the reader into their classes to offer specific, concrete details about their pedagogical practice, and their students' learning. The resulting chapters connect theory and educational action as well as share challenges, difficulties, and lessons learned. The volume also provides a collective impression of American Studies from the point of view of students and teachers. What primary and secondary texts and what theoretical challenges and issues do faculty use to organize their teaching? How does the teaching we do respond to our institutional and educational contexts? How do our experiences and those of our students challenge or change our understanding of American Studies? Chapters in this collection discuss teaching a broad range of materials, from memoirs and novels by Anne Moody and Octavia Butler to cutting-edge cultural theory, to the widely used collection Keywords for American Cultural Studies. But the chapters in this collection are also about dancing, eating, and walking around a campus to view statues and gravestones. They are about teaching during the era of Donald Trump, Black Lives Matter, and giving up authority in the classroom. Teaching American Studies is both a new way to think about American Studies and a timely collection of effective ways to teach about race, gender, sexuality, and power in a moment of political polarization and intense public scrutiny of universities.