American Studies, Interdisciplinary Studies, Feminist Studies, Women's and Gender Studies, Comparative Ethnic Studies, Sociology, Cultural Studies, Literary Studies

Courses and Curriculum

University of Maine at Augusta Courses
American Studies
AME 201w: Introduction to American Studies
AME/MUS 303: Hip Hop: Art, Culture, and Politics
AME/WGS 304: American Girls: Identity, Culture, and Empowerment
--revised to AME/WGS 304: Girls on Fire: Feminism, Activism, and the Future (coming Fall 18)
AME/WGS 305: Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality in American Culture
AME/WGS 306: American Fitness: Culture, Community, and Transformation
AME/ENG/WGS 389: Girls on Fire: Gender, Culture, and Justice in YA Dystopia
AME/ENG 318: Cultural Criticism and Theory: The Arts of Social Change

English
ENG 101: College Writing
ENG 251w: American Literature Since 1900
ENG 300w: Literary Criticism and Theory
ENG/AME 458: Race & Ethnicity in American Literature and Culture

Women's and Gender Studies
WGS 101w Introduction to Women's Studies

Interdisciplinary Studies
INT/HON 188: The Interdisciplinary Colloquium
INT/HON 208: Introduction to Interdisciplinary Studies
HON 300: Critical Thinking and Writing

UMA Bio for Professor Hentges
Girls on Fire: Gender, Culture, and Justice in YA Dystopia
Online AME/ENG/WGS Course
Spring 2015, Fall 2015, Fall 2016 UMA

A cultural studies course that puts contemporary American literature, and the specialized genre of young adult dystopia, in social, cultural, and political context. We'll consider the ways in which female protagonists--teenage girls--navigate power, corruption, poverty, violence, identity, and love as well as the ways in which they build community, fight injustice, and create a better world for us all.

Primary Books in reading order:
~Parable of the Sower, Octavia Butler
~The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins
~Catching Fire, Suzanne Collins
~Mockingjay, Suzanne Collins
~Choose One:
Divergent, Veronica Roth OR Legend, Marie Lu OR Uglies, Scott Westerfeld OR Matched, Ally Condie
~Birthmarked, Caragh M. O'Brien
~Prized, Caragh M. O'Brien
~Orleans, Sherri R. Smith
~Shadows Cast By Stars, Cassandra Knutsson
~The Summer Prince, Alaya Dawn Johnson

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A student's Action/Education Project--Tumblr blog

For more resources, click here
AME/WGS 304 American Girls: Identity, Culture, and Empowerment
Summers 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 online
University of Maine at Augusta

In this 7-week course, I combine Pictures of Girlhood with a variety of other scholarly works about girls and girlhood. Students also write film reflections and complete an action/education project where they are encouraged to being ideas from class into their local communities.

Syllabus for American Girls

Action/Education Projects are always my favorite part of class. I appreciate the effort that every student puts into this work and the ways in which so many find ways to make a difference--sometimes even to make an intervention--in their own lives and communities. Here's a general overview of students' Summer 13 projects:
  • Volunteered at a food bank with daughter. Also interviewed women who had relied upon food bank assistance when they were younger.
  • Interviewed and researched local area programs for girls like Hardy Girls Healthy Women, Mainely Girls, Fostering Female Leadership in Youth (FFLY), Womancare, Rape Response Services, Family Violence Project, and the Saco Jets (a baton twirling organization).
  • Interviewed girls about their lives, interests, and challenges they face. 
  • Created a website with resources for girls.
  • Created and offered a "Girls' Art Catharsis" program at a library.
  • Girls who came to the library worked together to create a poster representing an "American Girl."
  • Attended a talk on campus about the challenges South African girls face in getting an education and then shared what she learned in a discussion with friends, making connections to the challenges girls face in the U.S.
  • Showed a movie to a group of teens and discussing it in relation to class ideas.
  • Created a lesson plan to educate teens about peer pressure, particularly related to sex and drugs. Got feedback from a focus group of girls and women.
  • Interviewed a variety of women working in fields traditionally dominated by men and creating a
    pamphlet about these women to share with another student for her project.
  • Taught gender equality to girls and boys (ages 3 to 5) in day care through games and a pamphlet (created by another student) about women who work in non-traditional fields.
  • Worked/volunteered as a camp counselor/swim instructor at a YMCA children's camp.
This book was built from my master's thesis and I wrote it while working on my PhD. My work has continued to evolve, but Pictures of Girlhood begins a conversation about the possibilities of popular culture and oppositional consciousness.

I have taught a variety of classes based on this work, including the course I teach every summer online at UMA. I love sharing this work with my students and learning from them as they consider my arguments and make their own analyses of the films I feature.

My Culture and Movement blog provides an opportunity to consider some of the films that I do not discuss in my book and to expand and extend the conversation begun in Pictures of Girlhood. If you are interested in joining this conversation, or contributing a guest blog, please feel free to contact me.

contact Sarah Hentges
AME/MUS 303: Hip Hop: Art, Culture, and Politics
Fall 2011, Fall 2013 online
University of Maine at Augusta

Course description: Hip Hop is an umbrella term for art, music, dance, literature, identity, style and politics. We will begin to understand the art, culture, and politics of Hip Hop by looking at the movements and politics that inspired the birth of Hip Hop as a form of art and music. We will consider the art and aesthetics of Hip Hop and the musical styles that made Hip Hop music possible. The ways in which Hip Hop speaks to youth and speaks about oppression, violence, identity, culture, and power will also be considered. We will then explore Hip Hop as a form of cultural politics and activism toward social justice. Students will create art or music toward Hip Hop inspired social justice. Finally, we’ll consider the possibilities of a Hip Hop future.

Action/Education Projects
The image on this page is part of a students' action/education project. When family circumstances caused her to have to leave the country before she could finish the class. She used the resources at her disposal (notebook paper, a black pen, a red pen) to create an image that speaks to her love/hate relationship with Hip Hop. I highlight this image, and other student projects, in my article "Rasquachismo: A Theory, Methodology, and Pedagogy for Hip-Hop Intersections."

Introduction to Interdisciplinary Studies

This video provides a brief introduction to Interdisciplinary Studies and why it is important.
A short book that acts as an introduction to students of all kinds. Click on the cover above for a link to Amazon to get the real book experience. Here's a pdf.