American Studies
199 reviews
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Holly Allen’s American Consumer Culture is one of the most engaging and rewarding courses I have taken at Middlebury. The class takes an interdisciplinary approach, weaving together history, cultural studies, sociology, and media analysis to explore how consumption has shaped American life from the late nineteenth century to the present. Through readings that range from classic theorists like Thorstein Veblen to modern scholars such as Lizabeth Cohen and Juliet Schor, students gain a rich understanding of how advertising, leisure, and mass media reflect and construct social values.
Holly Allen’s American Consumer Culture is one of the most engaging and rewarding courses I have taken at Middlebury. The class takes an interdisciplinary approach, weaving together history, cultural studies, sociology, and media analysis to explore how consumption has shaped American life from the late nineteenth century to the pres …Read more
This is a nice, low-commitment class. I enjoyed how the professor is very enthusiastic about the subject and has a lot of knowledge in the field. She is very understanding of students' needs and situations. Readings are very interesting. She allows you to choose your topics for papers. there are no exams
The work in this course all basically oriented around a giant spreadsheet database that we made for the Sheldon museum’s collections. I found the work and the content engaging, but I certainly can’t describe it as life-changing in any way. I enjoyed the course and found Ellery to be a lovely professor, albeit sometimes a bit timid for lack of a better term. She’s not the kind of be very strict or hardnosed, which made the entire project feel more laid-back, but sometimes I’d have wished there were a firmer hand in control of everything. At times it didn’t feel like anyone was “in charge.” We still got everything done the same, it just felt unclear at times what direction we were going in.
The work in this course all basically oriented around a giant spreadsheet database that we made for the Sheldon museum’s collections. I found the work and the content engaging, but I certainly can’t describe it as life-changing in any way. I enjoyed the course and found Ellery to be a lovely professor, albeit sometimes a bit timid fo …Read more