American Studies emphasizes multidisciplinary learning experience

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

by Abby Wambaugh

More than 50 students are pursuing degrees in American Studies at Oklahoma State University, five years after the program was initiated to cultivate new ways of thinking by uniting scholars across all academic disciplines.

“As a very new program having to make a name for itself and attract new students, it has done very well,” said Amilcar Shabazz, director of the American Studies program at OSU. “Part of my goal right now is to increase our visibility and to let people know that we are different from other degree programs.”

American Studies originated in the 1920s as an intellectual project on new ways of thinking and approaching problems. The forward-looking idea did not catch on at many universities until the 1940s and was offered as a major degree option at OSU-Stillwater and OSU-Tulsa in 2000.

Shabazz, who is pleased with the program’s current enrollment, expects numbers to double in the next five years. Corporations and graduate programs are looking for scholars with a broad perspective and the ability to think critically, and the program expands narrow, skills-based thought processes.

“You have students that say, ‘I am an economics major, I can calculate the gross national product,’ which is fine, but corporations want students that have the ability to adapt to a changing world and to think critically on their feet,” Shabazz said. “I think in that perspective, American Studies offers something unique.”

According to Shabazz, higher education institutions have been slow to adopt multidisciplinary programs, adhering to traditional hierarchies and separation of academic departments. Until recently, that resistance has limited the growth of American Studies programs that draw on faculty from many different departments. At OSU, Shabazz, Stacy Takacs, who primarily teaches on the OSU-Tulsa campus, and three other professors with formally associated appointments to the program compose the American Studies’ core faculty. Out of a voluntary commitment to advance interdisciplinary cultural studies, approximately 20 other affiliated professors help design the curriculum and teach courses that satisfy degree requirements.

“As we show that there is real faculty interest and real student demand in the program, we hope the administration will give us greater support in terms of new faculty positions and resources,” Shabazz said.

Shabazz, who is an associate professor in OSU’s History department, said he envisions the program enabling students to look at America and identify its strengths and weaknesses while evoking their commitment to solve problems.

“We really hope to be the incubator and facilitator for area studies on this campus,” Shabazz said. “For example, we are developing new courses that look at the multiethnic fabric of the Americas as well as the unique nature of our religious experiences, technological developments, and economic relations.”

Next fall, Shabazz will teach a new course called Introduction to Africana Studies, bringing a global perspective to the program. He also wants to highlight the rich cultural history of Oklahoma and teach students to examine world cultures with the same appreciation.

Shabazz said the program is not trying to make OSU more diverse, but to acknowledge the diversity that is already at the university.

“It’s about recognizing and celebrating and cultivating that diversity that is already here amongst us and in doing so saying to the world, ‘Don’t stereotype us,’” Shabazz said. “We are diverse, and we are open, and we celebrate that as we grow in communion with the rest of the cultures of the world.”