Graduate research and teaching in the American Studies Department are centered around two principal intellectual themes at the forefront of the field: the cultures of everyday life; and cultural constructions of difference and identity. These themes recur in our established methodologically--based areas of ethnography and life writing, material culture, popular culture and media studies, body and sexuality, cultural landscapes, race and intersectionality, foodways, and information technologies. This fund provides support for travel, summer research, and Department activities.