Folk and Popular Culture covers cultural expressions and processes associated with traditional (folk) and commercial (popular) practices in American everyday life. Although folklife and popular culture are sometimes separated for analysis, the American Studies Program at Penn State Harrisburg emphasizes the study of their interrelations and forms, particularly in material and visual culture. Penn State Harrisburg's region provides abundant resources for research in folk and popular culture, including agrarian, urban, industrial, tourist, and ethnic communities. Topics of study at Penn State Harrisburg include folklore, material and visual culture, sports and play, literature, film and television, cyberculture, music, ritual and custom, and religion.
Relevant coursework at Penn State Harrisburg includes:
- AMST 50 The Literature and Lore of Mining
- AMST 105 Popular Culture and Folklife
- AMST 106N The Mass Media and Society
- AMST 134 American Comedy
- AMST 135 Alternative Voices in American Literature
- AMST 140 Religion in American Life and Thought
- AMST 150N Western Pennsylvania Art, Literature, and Culture
- AMST 196 Introduction to American Folklore
- AMST 226N Critical Approaches to Hip-Hop
- AMST 307N American Art and Society
- AMST 308 American Architecture
- AMST 309N American Material Culture
- AMST 417 American Beliefs and Myths
- AMST 422 Religion and American Culture
- AMST 423 Folk Groups and Genres
- AMST 439 American Regional Cultures
- AMST 441 History of Sport in American Studies
- AMST 448 Ethnography of the United States
- AMST 451 Topics in American Film
- AMST 470 The American Renaissance
- AMST 472 Topics in American Literature
- AMST 475 Black American Writers
- AMST 476 American Women Writers
- AMST 479 American Expressive Forms
- AMST 482 Public Heritage Practices
- AMST 493 The Folktale in American Literature
- AMST 510 U.S. Literature and Culture
- AMST 511 Pivotal Books
- AMST 520 Topics in Popular Culture
- AMST 530 Topics in American Folklore
- AMST 531 Material Culture and Folklife
- AMST 540 Ethnography and Society
- AMST 541 Ethnography of Technology and Media in the United States
- AMST 562 Topics in Religion and American Culture
- AMST 570 Topics in American Art