Will Nash
Office
Axinn Center 250
Tel
(802) 443-5337
Email
nash@middlebury.edu
Office Hours
Spring 2024: Tuesdays 1:30-3:00, Thursdays 10:00-11:30, and by appointment

William Nash is Professor of American Studies and English.  He received his B.A. from Centre College of Kentucky and his M. A. and Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and has taught at Middlebury since 1995.  The recipient of three NEH grants and author of Charles Johnson’s Fiction and co-editor of Charles Johnson: The Novelist as Philosopher, he has also published scholarly articles and reviews in anthologies and journals such as African American Review and Callaloo.  His current research focuses on historical and contemporary representations of abolitionism and enslavement.  He teaches courses on Black literature, enslavement and abolitionism, and contemporary Black culture.

Courses Taught

Course Description

Black Freedom Struggles
This course explores racial tensions of the present moment and situates them in the historical context of the ongoing struggles for Black freedom. Topics discussed may include Black reparations, Abolitionism, mass incarceration, the Black Lives Matter movement, and the Civil Rights Movement. The primary mode of interaction will be synchronous online discussions. Students will do individual and group presentations, engage in debates, and write essays. Readings may include Coates’ The Case for Reparations, Kendi’s We're Still Living and Dying in the Slaveholder's Republic, Alexander’s The New Jim Crow, ; and Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time, and screenings may include “13th” and “Eyes on the Prize.”. 3 hrs. lect./disc.

Terms Taught

Fall 2020

Requirements

AMR, NOR

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Course Description

The Cultural Work of Country Music
“I like all kinds of music...except country.” Arguably, aversion to American country music often tracks with class- and race-based assumptions about both makers and consumers of this genre. In this course we will challenge those views while studying the history of the form. Balancing our consideration of the big picture with case studies of performers like Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton, and The Chicks, we will explore what types of music the “country” tag comprises; some of the major themes and motifs associated with the form; the Black and White roots of country music; and the politicization of the music and its performers throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Source materials for the course will include Bill Malone’s Country Music, USA; Ken Burn’s Country Music documentary; Creating Country Music: Fabricating Authenticity, and A Good-Natured Riot: The Birth of the Grand Ole Opry.

Terms Taught

Spring 2023, Spring 2024

Requirements

AMR, HIS, SOC

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Course Description

African American Literature
This course surveys developments in African American fiction, drama, poetry, and essays during the 20th century. Reading texts in their social, historical, and cultural contexts—and often in conjunction with other African American art forms like music and visual art—we will explore the evolution and deployment of various visions of black being and black artistry, from the Harlem Renaissance through social realism and the Black Arts Movement, to the contemporary post-soul aesthetic. Authors may include Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Gwendolyn Brooks, Ralph Ellison, Lorraine Hansberry, Amiri Baraka, Ishmael Reed, Toni Morrison, Charles Johnson, and Octavia Butler. This course may also be counted as a general elective or REC elective for the ENAM major. 3 hrs lect./disc. (Diversity)/

Terms Taught

Fall 2021, Fall 2022, Fall 2023

Requirements

AMR, LIT

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Course Description

Re-Presenting Slavery
In this course we will examine 20th century American portrayals of chattel slavery through creative works and situate them in their historical contexts. Working primarily with fiction (Oxherding Tale, Kindred, The Underground Railroad), film (Mandingo, Django Unchained, Twelve Years a Slave), television (Roots, Africans in America, Underground), and visual art (works by Jacob Lawrence, Romare Bearden, and Kara Walker), we will evaluate how those various representations of the “Peculiar Institution” have changed, and/or have been changed, by the cultural moments in which they appeared. This course may also be counted as a general elective or REC elective for the ENAM major. 3 hrs lect.

Terms Taught

Spring 2021, Spring 2022

Requirements

AMR, ART, HIS

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Course Description

The Guitar in American Culture
Although it has European and African antecedents, modern acoustic and electric guitars are American inventions. From the genteel parlor guitars of the 19th century elite to the electric weaponry of today’s rock stars, the guitar is an essential artifact of American material culture. Drawing on histories, cultural critiques, interviews, and sound and video recordings, we will study both the evolution of the instrument and the builders and players who have helped define its role. Examining artifacts and talking with working guitar builders will illuminate the craft of guitar making. The culmination of the course will be a student-curated exhibition.

Terms Taught

Spring 2022, Spring 2023

Requirements

AMR

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Course Description

Livin' for the City
In this course we will engage the idea of the "ghetto" as constructed through literature, film, music, and television. Our exploration will relate this concept to geographic spaces and to a socially-constructed set of ideas about urban African American spaces and communities. We will combine critical textual analysis with fundamental concepts from human geography and social history to explore shifting conceptions of the “ghetto”, consider its impact on urban African American space, and examine how the responses of urban black American artists affect, resist, and change its imaginative geography. 3 hrs. lect./disc.

Terms Taught

Spring 2020

Requirements

AMR, CMP, NOR, SOC

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Course Description

Imagining Rural America
Although many Americans equate “rural” with whiteness, political conservatism, and poverty, the realities and representations of rural life have always been complicated those notions. Using methodologies from geography, cultural history, folklore, and literary criticism, and privileging lenses of race, class, and gender, we will explore these complexities by analyzing novels, paintings, photographs, moving images, and music against the histories of Appalachia, the Rust Belt, the Dust Bowl, and New England. Texts may include Richard Wright’s Twelve Million Black Voices, The Grapes of Wrath (novel and film), paintings of Thomas Hart Benton and Edward Hopper, Winter’s Bone, O Brother Where Art Thou?/, and the music of John Prine and Steve Earle.

Terms Taught

Spring 2024

Requirements

AMR, ART, LIT

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Course Description

Reading, Slavery, and Abolition
In this course we will study both black and white writers' psychological responses to, and their verbal onslaughts on, the "peculiar institution" of chattel slavery. We will work chronologically and across genres to understand how and by whom the written word was deployed in pursuit of physical and mental freedom and racial and socioeconomic justice. As the course progresses, we will deepen our study of historical context drawing on the substantial resources of Middlebury's special collections, students will have the opportunity to engage in archival work if they wish. Authors will include Emerson, Douglass, Jacobs, Thoreau, Stowe, Walker, and Garrison. This course may also be counted as a general elective or REC elective for the ENAM major 3 hrs. sem. (Diversity)

Terms Taught

Spring 2020, Fall 2021, Fall 2022

Requirements

AMR, HIS, LIT

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Course Description

Independent Study
Select project advisor prior to registration.

Terms Taught

Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Winter 2021, Spring 2021, Fall 2021, Winter 2022, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Winter 2023, Spring 2023, Fall 2023, Winter 2024, Spring 2024, Fall 2024, Winter 2025, Spring 2025

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Course Description

Senior Work
(Approval required)

Terms Taught

Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Fall 2022, Fall 2023, Fall 2024

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Course Description

Honors Thesis
For students who have completed AMST 0705, and qualify to write two-credit interdisciplinary honors thesis. on some aspect of American culture. The thesis may be completed on a fall/winter schedule or a fall/spring schedule. (Select a thesis advisor prior to registration)

Terms Taught

Winter 2021, Winter 2022, Winter 2023, Winter 2024, Winter 2025

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Course Description

Introduction to Black Studies
This course considers the issues, epistemologies, and political investments central to Black Studies as a field. We will explore chronologically, thematically, and with an interdisciplinary lens the social forces and ideas that have shaped the individual and collective experiences of African-descended peoples throughout the African Diaspora. This course is a broad survey of the history of chattel slavery, colonial encounters, community life, and social institutions of black Americans. We will address issues of gender and class; the role of social movements in struggles for liberation; and various genres of black expressive cultures. Students will develop critical tools, frameworks, and vocabulary for further study in the field. Course materials may include Maulana Karenga’s Introduction to Black Studies, C.L.R. James’s The Black Jacobins, and Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God. 3 hrs. lect.

Terms Taught

Spring 2021

Requirements

AMR, HIS, SOC

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Course Description

Senior Work
(Approval Required)

Terms Taught

Fall 2020, Spring 2021, Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Spring 2023, Fall 2023, Fall 2024

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Course Description

Senior Thesis Work
(Approval Required)

Terms Taught

Spring 2021, Spring 2022, Spring 2023

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Course Description

Special Project: Creative Writing
Approval Required.

Terms Taught

Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Spring 2021, Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Spring 2023, Fall 2023, Spring 2024, Fall 2024, Spring 2025

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Course Description

Senior Thesis: Creative Writing
Discussions, workshops, tutorials for those undertaking one-term projects in the writing of fiction, poetry, or creative nonfiction.

Terms Taught

Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Spring 2021, Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Spring 2023, Fall 2023, Spring 2024, Fall 2024, Spring 2025

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Course Description

Special Project: Literature
Approval Required.

Terms Taught

Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Winter 2021, Spring 2021, Fall 2021, Winter 2022, Spring 2022

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Course Description

Senior Thesis: Critical Writing
Individual guidance and seminar (discussions, workshops, tutorials) for those undertaking one-term projects in literary criticism or analysis. All critical thesis writers also take the Senior Thesis Workshop (ENAM 700Z) in either Fall or Spring Term.

Terms Taught

Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Spring 2021, Fall 2021, Spring 2022

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Course Description

Special Project: Literature
Approval Required. (Formerly ENAM 0500)

Terms Taught

Fall 2022, Spring 2023, Fall 2023, Spring 2024, Fall 2024, Spring 2025

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Course Description

Senior Thesis: Critical Writing
Individual guidance and seminar (discussions, workshops, tutorials) for those undertaking one-term projects in literary criticism or analysis. All critical thesis writers also take the Senior Thesis Workshop (ENAM 700Z) in either Fall or Spring Term. (Formerly ENAM 0700)

Terms Taught

Fall 2022, Spring 2023, Fall 2023, Spring 2024, Fall 2024, Spring 2025

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Course Description

Understanding Johnny Cash
From his first appearances as a performing artist to his present lionization, Johnny Cash has always had a tremendous impact on American culture. While his significance has been persistent, its his nature has rarely, if ever, been consistent. Creatively, spiritually, politically, and personally, Cash lived a life marked by contradictions—making him a figure that fans and scholars alike have struggled to understand. This course will enter into that process, working to develop a rounded, comprehensive assessment of the man and his music by setting his life, his work, and creative and critical responses to him in their historical contexts.

Terms Taught

Fall 2023

Requirements

AMR, CW

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