American Studies Summer Institute
Hard Times and Public Policy: Facing Economic Challenges, Past and Present (AMST 687)
For over two decades, the American Studies Summer Institute has afforded school teachers and graduate students in American Studies, political science, history, and related disciplines an opportunity to explore in depth a topic drawn from American history, politics, culture, or social policy. The intensive two-week program held at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum includes informative and thought-provoking lectures and discussions led by a distinguished group of scholars and guests.
This year’s program offers a critical and historical examination of the social and political impact of severe downturns in the U.S. economy. The Institute will consider varied dimensions of the United States’ current attempts to deal with economic hard times while also providing historical case studies of the causes and consequences of U.S. economic crises. We will draw upon experts with diverse perspectives from a variety of disciplines to examine the impact of economic crises on areas such as income and poverty, labor and employment, the financial sector, housing, businesses, families, marriage and divorce, education, health care, and public spending priorities. Institute lecturers will assess public policies, past and present, aimed at addressing those consequences and remedying those causes, and will also propose ways of identifying how popular forms of cultural expression commented on and responded to economic crisis.
The Institute will be directed by Paul Watanabe, Professor of Political Science at the University of Massachusetts Boston, and Nina Tisch, Education Specialist at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.