Why Iowa?

Explore how American institutions, values, gender and ethnic relations, artifacts, popular and fine arts, and everyday life have developed over time to define what we know as America.

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Critically examine the complex connections between past and present culture and history to understand the impact people have on American society.

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Prepare for a wide range of careers in the arts, education, and public service through interdisciplinary inquiry into the central role power and struggle have played in American culture.

News and announcements

In Memoriam: Dr. Lauren Rabinovitz

Monday, September 15, 2025
The Department of American Studies mourns the passing of our cherished colleague and friend, Dr. Lauren Rabinovitz.

Elizabeth Rodriguez Fielder receives funding to continue research and writing her manuscript

Tuesday, June 17, 2025
Elizabeth Rodriguez Fielder is an assistant professor in the Department of English and in the Latinx Studies Program. She is a scholar of the 20th and 21st century transnational American literature and culture. She will continue research and writing her manuscript Corporis Fabrica: Encountering the Body through the Book, which seeks out the relationship between the development of anatomy science and moveable books. Rodriguez Fielder argues that their interconnected history has shaped how we understand our bodies.

Jose Fernandez receive funding to pursue summer research projects

Tuesday, June 17, 2025
Jose Fernandez is an assistant professor in the Latinx Studies program. Fernandez’s research interests include American, African American, and Latinx literary histories, Black and Latinx literatures after the 1960s; Latinx intellectual history; and Mexican American literature of the Borderlands. He will conduct archival research at three university library collections in California: the Tomas Rivera Papers at UC-Riverside, the Helena Maria Viramonted Papers at UC-Santa Barbara, and the Norma Alarcon Papers at the Bancroft Library at UC-Berkeley. This work will contribute to a book, A Publisher’s Revolution: Arte Publico Press and the Making of Latinx Literature.

Events

Culture on Film: Short, Indigenous, Creative (pick 2 or more) - Ida Beam public lecture promotional image

Culture on Film: Short, Indigenous, Creative (pick 2 or more) - Ida Beam public lecture

Wednesday, April 1, 2026 3:30pm to 4:20pm
Becker Communication Studies Building
This talk will offer a quick-start guide for novice filmmakers, illustrated by several Indigenous-made films that showcase the creative energy and power of short-form and do-it-yourself media.
Documentary screening of "Searching for Sequoyah" hosted by Ida Beam Distinguished Visiting Professor Joshua B. Nelson promotional image

Documentary screening of "Searching for Sequoyah" hosted by Ida Beam Distinguished Visiting Professor Joshua B. Nelson

Wednesday, April 1, 2026 6:30pm to 8:30pm
Becker Communication Studies Building
We will hold a screening of the PBS documentary "Searching for Sequoyah (ᎾᏍᎩᏃ ᏍᏏᏉᏯ ᎠᏥᏲᎭ)" with commentary by co-producer, co-writer and host Prof. Joshua B. Nelson, Ida Beam Distinguished Visiting Professor.
Floating Friday: Role-Play as a Midcentury Social Technology promotional image

Floating Friday: Role-Play as a Midcentury Social Technology

Friday, April 3, 2026 4:00pm to 5:00pm
Jefferson Building
The Department of American Studies will host Peter Mcdonald, who will share work from his book "The Impossible Reversal." This talk will address how role-play emerged as a practice from therapy, espionage training, education, and protest contexts.
Constance Irwin Lecture Series presents Hector Tobar: "How to Be a Migrant Writer: A Literary Journey" promotional image

Constance Irwin Lecture Series presents Hector Tobar: "How to Be a Migrant Writer: A Literary Journey"

Thursday, April 9, 2026 4:00pm to 5:00pm
English-Philosophy Building
Héctor Tobar is the author of six books published in fifteen languages, including, Our Migrant Souls: A Meditation on Race and the Meanings and Myths of Latino, published by MCD/Farrar, Straus & Giroux.
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