"Futures for Teaching American Studies"

The aim of this issue is to collect a series of essays from contributors around the world that focus directly on the practice of teaching American Studies at various levels, with a particular emphasis on under- and postgraduate teaching.

We welcome contributions from anyone engaged with American Studies, either as a teacher or a student. Contributions should be no more than 10-12 pages in length. They can be experiential in focus -concentrating on teacher methodology, lesson plans, syllabus design, or examination; or they can be more theoretical. The aim of the issue is to provide a series of essays from contributors working in a variety of contexts, teaching American Studies in a variety of ways.

Some of the themes might include:

1) Pedagogic practice - how is American Studies taught in the classroom? And for what reason? Language learning? Inter- or cross-cultural knowledge? Factual learning about the United States? To create inter- or cross-cultural speakers?

2) Cross- and/or inter-cultural issues: why should students engage with American Studies, especially in countries other than the United States? And how are such basic terms as multiculturalism translated into pedagogic practice?

3) Histories and/or Futures for American Studies? Has the practice of teaching and learning American Studies changed within the last decades, and to what extent does it have to change, with the onset of new technologies?

4) Syllabus design. Can American Studies be taught in a genuinely inter-disciplinary manner, or should we focus on one particular discipline within the field -* e.g. literature, history, or politics. What does an 'inter-disciplinary' form of study mean?

5) Evaluation. How do we judge students to be 'competent' in American Studies? Knowledge of facts, or by looking at what recent theorists have described as their 'intercultural competence'?