US Studies - History, Literature, Political Science, and Public Policy

Overview

America is a unique experiment in self-governance, economic formation, and cultural production. It is rooted in Puritan settlement and the American Revolution and has been reshaped from the beginning by racial, religious, regional, linguistic, and sexual minorities upwardly mobile and on-the-make. U.S. nationality therefore includes both patriotic nationalism and pointed dissent. There is also a long history to U.S. connections with Asia and of Asian—especially Chinese—impact on the United States, which is now taking on ever greater force as China and the United States engage on the global stage. 

Key Features

The US Studies - History, Literature, Political Science, and Public Policy major from Duke Kunshan University is both an appreciation and a critique. It captures the utopian impulse in the American narrative, its far-reaching and inspiring vision, and its many successes including the achievement of a revelatory ironic and self-critical literature.  It also examines ideas of nationhood that transcend national boundaries and forms of nationalist ideology that have produced anti-nationalist dissent. The courses offered in the program examine the formation of historical, philosophical, religious, social, artistic and political traditions that shape American political thought, institutions, culture and literature. Students can choose among four disciplinary tracks with the overall US Studies major: History, Literature, Political Science, and Public Policy.