“Contending Viewpoints: Rethinking American Cultural Studies”Journal of American & Comparative Cultures, 24 (Fall & Winter 2001), 37-42. The concerns of the Traditionalists during the 1940s and the Eisenhower 1950s were the need to make capitalism viable, the desire to have babies, the yearning to belong through worship, and the imperative to win the Cold War - or at least not lose it. Consensus, conformity, and security were preeminent values. Every generation interprets the past in terms of its own compelling concerns. Thus, the Revisionists, with intimations of patricide, swung the curriculum towards challenges to authority, the liberation of women, the equality of race, the celebration of ethnic diversity, and the freedom of sexual orientation. A drama of polarities quickened on numerous campuses into a curricular brawl. What subjects should be taught and how? Why teach them? Who should do the teaching? Who should be taught? The questions are still being asked - and answered - with contending viewpoints about how to interpret the nature of American civilization. |
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