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Hopper_Edward_Rooms_By_The_SeaEdward Hopper, Rooms By The Sea

Program Description

In this program we will explore American culture and history by immersing ourselves in our American Stories. We believe that in telling a story we not only describe ourselves, but we also explain, interpret, and justify what we do and believe.  Stories help us articulate our differences and our similarities to other peoples. Stories thus convey the values we want to say publicly about ourselves. We assume that what it means to be American resides in the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves. We will explore how we legitimate institutions and practices and how we have become American by listening to, contesting, and believing these stories.  We will ask what is a story? How does it come into existence and take form. How are stories affected by the medium through which they are created and shared?  What are critical American stories and how have they shaped the world within which we live and the persons we have become?