Talk:American studies

Addition to External Links
I recently posted my website, www.majorityamerican.com under external links for this article. I have checked the guidelines for External Links, under those to be avoided. I assume the viewer who deleted my link considered it as 2:mainly intended to promote a website and/or 12:link to a blog. There is partial truth in this, and I understand that Wikipedia cannot be "a mere directory of links." However, my website is intended as a contrast to the America I knew in the Depression and WWII and the America of today. My essays cut across all the fields of American Studies: the American Dream, Nation, Identity, and its economy. The Way We Were and The World Outside explore Isolationism vs. Interventionism and today's effect on the island world we once were. The intent of the essays is to give a sense of America: as it was and as it is. It seems to me that such an intent goes to the heart of American Studies, and I added it as a link accordingly. Further, I do not see my website as a blog in the sense that it advances a political position.

In adding it, I noted an existing external link, entitled "American Studies with a Mexican Accent." Clicking on this produced a website promoting a book entitled "Tex[t]-Mex, seductive Hallucinations of the "Mexican" in America." I submit that this website, by its title and listed price, primarily exists to sell a product, specifically deplored under (5) as a link to be avoided. The book, itself, although it may be valuable to the specialized field of Mexican-American study, does not cut across the broad base occupied by American Studies.

This is my first attempt to edit a Wikipedia article, and I would appreciate any suggestions that would correct any errors I may have made in submittal as well as a response to the points I have raised above. Jackeiden 19:56, 3 October 2007 (UTC)


 * In addition to the external link policy and the spam policy, you might want to look at Wikipedia's conflict-of-interest guideline, which suggests that it's never a good practice to add links to your own work or your own website to Wikipedia articles. Also, in adding links, the most important question is not whether the link is simply relevant to the topic (if this were our standard Wikipedia would become a web directory).  Regarding the other link you point out, note that the spam policy explicitly warns against arguments that one dubious link justifies another; but you're right that that link seems unnecessary, so I will remove it. -- Rbellin|Talk 22:49, 3 October 2007 (UTC) RIAS leads to IASA.

Is This A Real Subject?
I thought that "American Studies" was the last resort major of the desperate. When an undergraduate has accumulated a lot of credits without impressive grades, or any real focus, they either major in Business, or if their math is too weak, American Studies. There's no real scholarship in this field, is there? --Moly 19:10, 23 July 2008 (UTC)

Not really, no. It doesn't produce its own texts, just "analyzes" texts from other fields. The unique thing is that they don't limit what can be a text, so it could be anything from artifacts to music to literature. Also, the objective of the study isn't really defined either. It's a "subject" academics can run to so they don't have to produce anything substantial. Even by liberal arts standards, it's a pretty lame field.75.39.129.217 (talk) 01:00, 28 August 2008 (UTC)

Your ignorance of non-American academic systems astounds me. In most universities around the world, you start a degree with mostly fixed courses and have to stick to it. It is only in the American system of higher education that you choose courses first and determine what degree you want to work toward later.

"The unique thing is that they don't limit what can be a text, so it could be anything from artifacts to music to literature."

Not so unique, seeing as how this has been the case in most humanities/liberal arts fields since the formularization of semiotics and discourse analysis.

Also, "[analyzing] texts from other fields" is called "interdisciplinarity," and has been the predominant approach in humanities for, what, the past 30 years? It's by no means unique to American studies. Cultural studies, sociolinguistics, women's studies, sociology, history, and literature (among many others) are all inter- and multidisciplinary fields. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 91.98.208.111 (talk) 19:37, 18 November 2008 (UTC)


 * Please remember that Wikipedia Talk pages are for discussion directly related to improving the article, not for general chat about the article subject. -- Rbellin|Talk 19:43, 18 November 2008 (UTC)

Boy...Moly, your question is laughable and lamentable. The original culture war was American vs European and English culture, and American Studies (or, rather, American intellectuals and artists) confirmed that the American is preferable on all fronts to the European or the English. However, this article should mention the seminal work done in this field by A. Whitney Griswold and others. That'll change.64.61.144.67 (talk) 18:36, 2 February 2009 (UTC)SLY111 I believe that American studies are important because it's important to "know ourselves".

American Studies in East Asia
Interesting article, but it only barely touches upon American Studies in the Middle East, and doesn't address the subject at all as it pertains to the Far East. Anecdotal evidence would seem to point to the assertion that American Studies is a rather popular major in Japan; are there any particularly prominent or influential Centers for American Studies in Japan, or elsewhere in East Asia?

I can appreciate the Eurocentric view that American Studies is essential to Europeans' formation of conceptions of us & them, using American Studies as a means by which to better understand European identity, etc etc. But that's not exactly the whole of the subject, now, is it? What developments and ideas surround the introduction and development of the field in the Middle East, East Asia, and elsewhere? What role does American Studies play in Japanese, Chinese, or Syrian or Iranian academia, etc.?

LordAmeth (talk) 08:32, 1 September 2009 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just added archive links to 1 one external link on American studies. Please take a moment to review my edit. If necessary, add after the link to keep me from modifying it. Alternatively, you can add to keep me off the page altogether. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/20090307123419/http://userspages.uob.edu.bh:80/asc/tenth%20anniversary.htm to http://userspages.uob.edu.bh/asc/tenth%20anniversary.htm

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External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified 7 one external links on American studies. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20090307193645/http://userspages.uob.edu.bh:80/asc/ to http://userspages.uob.edu.bh/asc/
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20141110013928/http://asc.bfsu.edu.cn:80/index.php/en/ to http://asc.bfsu.edu.cn/index.php/en/
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20141129011622/http://www.asc.pku.edu.cn/Pages/Default.aspx?id=b666eff9-c079-462e-a492-9a60f2bd7cfe to http://www.asc.pku.edu.cn/Pages/Default.aspx?id=b666eff9-c079-462e-a492-9a60f2bd7cfe
 * Added tag to http://cas.tongji.edu.cn
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20141129012354/http://www.flold.ecnu.edu.cn/myzx/About_Us.htm to http://www.flold.ecnu.edu.cn/myzx/About_Us.htm
 * Added tag to http://enlgish.sogang.ac.kr
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20120508024141/http://ragazine.cc/2011/12/discourse-american-studies/ to http://ragazine.cc/2011/12/discourse-american-studies/
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20120321163448/http://www.iasaweb.org:80/rias/ to http://www.iasaweb.org/rias/
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20051111133409/http://www.wsu.edu:80/~amerstu/tm/ to http://www.wsu.edu/~amerstu/tm/

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External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified 7 external links on American studies. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20090307193645/http://userspages.uob.edu.bh/asc/ to http://userspages.uob.edu.bh/asc/
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20141110013928/http://asc.bfsu.edu.cn/index.php/en/ to http://asc.bfsu.edu.cn/index.php/en/
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20141129011622/http://www.asc.pku.edu.cn/Pages/Default.aspx?id=b666eff9-c079-462e-a492-9a60f2bd7cfe to http://www.asc.pku.edu.cn/Pages/Default.aspx?id=b666eff9-c079-462e-a492-9a60f2bd7cfe
 * Added tag to http://cas.tongji.edu.cn/
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20141129012354/http://www.flold.ecnu.edu.cn/myzx/About_Us.htm to http://www.flold.ecnu.edu.cn/myzx/About_Us.htm
 * Added tag to http://asc.bfsu.edu.cn/index.php/en/about/american-studies-center
 * Added tag to http://enlgish.sogang.ac.kr/
 * Corrected formatting/usage for http://www.iasaweb.org/rias/
 * Corrected formatting/usage for http://www.wsu.edu/~amerstu/tm/
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20131203192622/http://library.columbia.edu/subject-guides/amerihist.html to http://library.columbia.edu/subject-guides/amerihist.html

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External links modified
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I have just modified one external link on American studies. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20141129030155/http://ias.cass.cn/zhmgxuehui/zc.asp to http://ias.cass.cn/zhmgxuehui/zc.asp

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related aricles
the related articles on "see also" got nothing to do with the main article — Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.57.205.60 (talk) 02:10, 4 November 2017 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified one external link on American studies. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20150916062345/http://www.theasa.net/project_eas_online/page/project_eas_online_eas_featured_article/ to http://www.theasa.net/project_eas_online/page/project_eas_online_eas_featured_article/

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