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American Frontiers: The West in U.S. History and Mythology

Module description

This module explores the history and mythology of the American West from the nineteenth century to the present. While broadly chronological, our focus is thematic, taking into account key factors in the development and meanings of the West. We will look at a diverse range of scholarship and primary sources, from Native American testimonies to frontier shows, mining letters to newspaper editorials on ‘cowboy presidents’. Throughout we will explore how and why the American West became such a significant yet contested space in U.S. history; how it represents both a place and a place in the mind; and ultimately how it has shaped U.S. society, politics, and culture in myriad ways.

Module aims - intentions of the module

Studying the West from the early republic and U.S. continental expansion to modern-day struggles over Native American sovereignty and Western historiography, this module will enable you to interpret and analyse the West as a critical space and mythology in American history and national identity. This module aims to help you develop your skills in researching, interpreting, and analysing both primary and secondary material. It provides you with an opportunity to explore broadly the rich and fascinating history of the American West from multiple perspectives, and it helps you to develop the depth of understanding you will require to study more specialised areas of history.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Analyse the key developments in the cultural, social, and political histories of the American West
• 2. Trace the changing nature of, and approaches to, the history and mythology of the American West

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 3. Have a detailed knowledge of the main themes in the subject, together with a very close knowledge of the areas selected for essay and presentation work
• 4. Handle profoundly different approaches to history in a deeply contested field
• 5. Understand and deploy complex historiographical debates and interpretations

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 6. Conduct independent study and group work, including the presentation of material for group discussion, developed through the mode of learning.
• 7. Digest, select and organise material to produce, to a deadline, a coherent and cogent argument, developed through the mode of assessment
• 8. Present arguments orally, and to work in a group

Syllabus plan

Whilst the content may vary from year to year, it is envisioned that it will cover some or all of the following topics:

• Westward Expansion and the American “Frontier”
• Euro-Native American Interactions and Conflicts
• Mining Booms and Frontiers
• Agricultural Colonization
• Violence and Vigilantism
• Frontier Shows and Tourism
• Westerns in Literature and Film
• Native American Sovereignty
• the U.S.-Mexico borderlands

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

Key reading:

• Clyde Milner et al (eds.), Oxford History of the American West (Oxford UP, 1994)
• William Deverell (ed.), A Companion to the American West (Blackwell, 2007)
• Robert Hine & John Mack Faragher, The American West: A New Interpretive History (Yale University Press, 2017)
• Clyde Milner et al (eds.), Major Problems in the History of the American West (Cengage, 1997)
• Karen Jones & John Wills, American West: Competing Visions (Edinburgh, 2009)
• Nicolas Witschi (ed.), A Companion to the Literature and Culture of the American West (Chichester, 2011)
• Western Historical Quarterly
• Pacific Historical Review

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

ELE: https://vle.exeter.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=11603 

Key words search

American West; frontier; U.S. history