American Studies

I enjoyed the fact that the small class sizes allowed for personalized learning in each and every subject. Additionally, the University’s Jesuit values have really helped mold my academic, personal, and professional life, as well as the way I approach my thinking. I’ll never forget walking onto campus for the first time and being greeted by individuals who were so positive and enthusiastic. It was clear that students enjoyed going to school at Fairfield, and four years later, I certainly agree!

My American Studies major started out as a minor in my second semester. I found it to be a very unique blend of the history, politics, and popular culture, and I found myself learning inside and outside of the classroom. I tend to seek out questions off the ‘traditional path’ of knowledge, and look into themes like memory, imagination, and identity, which are often overlooked in our studies. American Studies allowed me to explore these themes. Eventually, I just kept taking more and more classes and knew it would beneficial to change my minor to a major to be able to really explore my passion.

The American Studies program is designed in a way that allows each student to take control of what they are learning. The introductory course, “Roots of American Culture,” is crafted in a way that students are able to understand a wide variety of concepts relating to the field of American Studies and emphasizes just how diverse and interdisciplinary this field of study can be. After this course, students are able to design the major as they see best by selecting courses rooted in politics, English, the arts, sociology, and more. No two American Studies majors are the same, and I think the ability to mold the major into each student’s specific interests is what really pushed me to declare my American Studies major.

All of my professors have proven to be incredible sources of knowledge. They challenge me to ask broader questions and are supportive of my academic interests. Because American Studies is an interdisciplinary major, the faculty members represent a variety of different fields. Yet they all hold a common interest in making sure my studies are truly interdisciplinary, and that I am utilizing other aspects of my learning both in and out of the classroom. The faculty push you - the questions they ask are meant to prompt the student to ask their own. I have really appreciated the creative liberties I have been offered to make my American Studies major exactly what I want it to be.

I was given a unique opportunity to conduct research on slavery in colonial Fairfield County in collaboration with the late Dr. Vincent Rosivach. The overarching goal for this project was to compile a database of slaves and slave-owners in colonial Fairfield. As with much of the New England slave-holding colonies, Fairfield’s slavery records were messy and incomplete, unlike records in the south that were kept as accurate as possible due to the impact slavery had on the economic success of the Southern planter. This project was designed to reclaim the lives of the slaves of Fairfield who were lost to incomplete historical records and to create a more accurate representation of what slavery was like in colonial New England. This includes documenting previously undocumented individuals, tracking movements of slaves from household to household, connecting families, and more.

Since Dr. Rosivach’s passing last year, my partner Alec Lurie and I have taken the responsibility of completing the project upon ourselves, and it has been named the “Vincent J. Rosivach Register for Slaves in Fairfield, Connecticut 1639-1820” in his honor. It has challenged us to develop a better understanding of how a research project of this caliber should be done, with support by members of the University and Historical societies of the surrounding area. By using Fairfield as a case study, we have been able to develop a greater understanding of slavery trends in the north. The Register hopes to streamline all the information into a conclusive, all-encompassing database, in order to ensure that all persons formerly enslaved in Fairfield are accounted for, for posterity. While we know we may not collect information about every person, we are confident that the register will lay groundwork for future historians to expand upon this research.