American Studies Oklahoma State University

10/29/2025

Katie Megan Burns packed the house for her talk "Radical Ecologies: The Story of the Cowpea." Congratulations!

05/22/2024

FALL COURSES

We have a number exciting online and in-person courses for the Fall:

Online

2103 - Intro to American Studies
3513 - Film and American Society
3653 - The Body in American Culture (first time online)

In Person

2103 - Intro
2523 - Dust Bowl
3223 - Theory and Methods
3313 - Science, Technology & Am Culture (taught by new hire)
3373 - Comparative Truth and Reconciliation
3423 - American Pop Culture

Spread the word!

11/08/2023

The AfAm Student Association in Tulsa is hosting a game night on Friday 11/10. See

10/07/2023

Hi folks. A late addition to the spring 2024 schedule in Tulsa is Race, Gender and Ethnicity in American Film (AMST or ENGL3473). It carried a D gen ed credit and meets f2f on Tuesday at 7:20. There is a "virtual lab" meaning you'll screen the films outside of class time and we'll discuss during class time. Should be a fun class! Email [email protected] if you have questions

05/08/2023

A few spots left for paid internships with the "Mapping Historical Trauma, Tulsa" team this summer:

Are you a student with a passion for the study of history, racial justice, and the material remains of the past? Mapping Historical Trauma in Tulsa, 1921-2021 (MHTT), a research project led by Dr. Alicia Odewale (University of Tulsa) and Dr. Parker VanValkenburgh (Brown University), will be conducti...

02/21/2023

Important talk and workshop sponsored by the English Department, the Norris Endowment, American Studies Oklahoma State University, and others.

Register at https://tinyurl.com/3n9rdte7

05/16/2022

The Mapping
Historical Trauma in Tulsa from 1921-2021 project will be conducting an archaeological survey in select locations within Greenwood from June 13 to June 24th, 2022, seeking to document the remains of historic structures in the district. To expand the impact
of our program, we are excited to provide free archaeological skills training to college and high school students in the greater Tulsa area. In total, we have 15 spaces available for student volunteers. Over the course of the program, students will learn about
best practices for archaeological data recording, field survey using high resolution GPS, the history of Greenwood, and approaches in archaeology to highlight both the documentation of anti-Black violence and Black resilience in the 20th century. Students
who are unable to participate in the full program are welcome to join us for shorter portions of the research program, but the orientation is required. Spaces are open to all but preference will be given to students from historically underrepresented groups,
those with ancestral ties to the Greenwood community, and students with previous experience in archaeology.

The project's
research schedule is as follows:
June 9th
& June 10th Virtual Orientation
June 13th
Tour of Black Wall Street
June 13-June
17th Archaeological Survey Field Research
June 18th
Trip to Juneteenth Festival in Greenwood
June 19th
- June 24th Artifact Documentation and Laboratory Work

If you
are interested, please fill out the student interest form here: https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fforms.gle%2FgAPoDFmLsi2ix9Dt8&data=05%7C01%7Cstacy.takacs%40okstate.edu%7Cda169083ea514a88a59f08da3598f289%7C2a69c91de8494e34a230cdf8b27e1964%7C0%7C0%7C637881228287402189%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=GbKFlXZrg5i0FG6YFuRTwCkr9AQ7bZrbRlrI6BAJ4ug%3D&reserved=0
by Friday, May 20th and please don't hesitate to reach out with questions to [email protected].

Are you a student with a passion for the study of history, racial justice, and the material remains of the past? Mapping Historical Trauma in Tulsa, 1921-2021 (MHTT), a research project led by Dr. Alicia Odewale (University of Tulsa) and Dr. Parker VanValkenburgh (Brown University), will be conducti...

05/10/2022

The American Studies Program is so proud of its graduates. We hope that all of them will take what they learned to make OSU, Tulsa, Oklahoma, the US, and the world a better place. Congratulations!

Ann Williams (“Hardest Working American Studies Major”) and Dr. David Gray

04/13/2022

Be sure to check out this workshop by American Studies faculty member Dr. David Gray!

"Picture This: Using Visual Images in Historial Research"
Monday, April 18th at 3:00pm
Zoom: https://zoom.us/j/9051407653

Propaganda posters, photographs, advertisements and
motivational publicity: what do these and other visual sources
bring to historical research and writing? How should we
interpret and analyze them? What questions should we ask
when working with such images? Ultimately, how can we make
sense of visual culture when doing history?
To explore these questions and more please join us for a 90-minute interactive workshop offered by Dr. David Gray,
Teaching Assistant Professor in the American Studies
Program and the Department of History. Dr. Gray will talk
about his research on American workplace propaganda and
provide a “how-to” on using visual images in historical writing.

03/30/2022

Exciting 4-week online class for this summer.

"20th Century American War Narratives" (Jared Young)
- fiction, movies, graphic novels, and more

Spread the word and sign up now!

03/10/2022

American Studies director John Kinder spoke to Melissa Harris-Perry about zoos in wartime.

The impacts of war on zoo animals and the animals left behind in Ukraine during the Russian invasion.