Reflection on the Semester

I feel like I have learned a lot from this class and in a way that will stick in my mind rather than just forgetting it all after December. I learned that music and music videos are not just created to entertain people and make money; they can teach us a lot about society and issues in our culture. Especially rap music, which is highly debated because of the way life is portrayed in the videos and how women are used as objects. I also learned that race is a socially constructed idea, as is the term freak, and both were developed to help make sense of "the other." Another interesting part of the course was learning about the Irish and how tough life was for them when they first came to America. This course has taught me much more and these are just the first three things that came to mind, but I definitely benefited from taking American Studies.