Kristen Wilson (she/her) is a PhD student in American Studies. She is currently teaching a class titled “The American Body;” we asked her how her course is going so far & how her course embodies American Studies at UT. This is her response.

“This course explores how conceptions of the “ideal” American body have historically shaped and motivated claims of belonging and otherness. We examine the relationship of sport to this “ideal” American body and how sport has often helped to define who and what an “American” is.

The first month of teaching this course has been wonderful! There's definitely been a learning curve, for me even moreso than the students, but we've already dug into some incredible moments in American history--bicycles and first wave feminism, indigenous stickball and indigenous resistance to white colonization, daredevilism and the birth of the white working class during early industrialization. I'm excited for all that's ahead!

This class embodies American Studies because it uses a cultural phenomenon (sports!) to help us make sense of political, economic, and social developments in American history from a bottom-up perspective; aka, how does the average American experience sport and what does it tell us about how the country is changing?”