Pamela Steinle Professor of American Studies & Graduate Adviser Email: psteinle@fullerton.edu Office: UH-418 Phone: (714) 278-3438 Dept. of American Studies California State Univ., Fullerton Fullerton, CA 92834-6868 Office Hours - Spring 2008: M 5:00-6:00pm (AMST 405); W 3:00-4:00pm (AMST 320) *Grad Office Hours by Appt Only: T 10:00am-7:00pm; W 4:00-5:00pm

Courses Usually Taught

Research Interests and Publications

Book

In Cold Fear: The Catcher in the Rye Censorship Controversies and Postwar American Character. Hardback edition: Ohio State University Press, 2000; paperback 2002. In Cold Fear examines the censorship controversies over J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye as a cultural debate occurring across America, from 1954 to the present day. Catcher presents a narrative in which adolescent embrace of American ideals of individualism and egalitarianism lead to criticism and rejection of dominant postwar social practices--a narrative as threatening to some adults as it is heartening to others. Attempts to remove Catcher from high schools as an "un-American" text have generated continuous and extensive controversy, distinguishing it as one of the most frequently

taught postwar novels--and the most frequently censored. Treating Catcher as a cultural Rorschach test, In Cold Fear tracks debate discourse in open-ended interviews, public media, editorial letters, and in school board and community meetings across the United States. Debate participants express common agreement with Salinger's critique of postwar American life but are divided over whether adolescents should be exposed to or protected from this perspective. In Cold Fear provides historical post-holes for understanding how differing audiences interpreted Catcher and offers a suggestive context for understanding the contemporary anxieties of America's "troubled teens."

Publications

"The Fall-Out Over Catcher in the Rye: A Contemporary American Conflict." In Beyond the Lonely Crowd: Popular Culture and Political Change in Modern America, Larry Bennett and Ronald Edsforth, eds. (the inaugural volume of the Popular Culture and Political Change Series from S.U.N.Y. Press, 1991), pp. 127-136 and 202-206.

 

"Ideological Animations: Television Programming for (of) Children," Popular Culture Review, v.5#4 (August 1994) pp.105-121.

Encompassing programming and advertising 1960-1990, the article is a qualitative exploration of commercial children's television in which I identify and analyze themes and structures of ideological suasion, with particular attention to concepts of ethnocentrism, race, and class. Definitions of "belonging" in both family and community contexts are also pursued, as are portrayals of technological and militaristic conflict resolution.

"On the Construction of Cultural Knowledge: The Next Generation Asks 'Why Vietnam?'" Vietnam Veterans Institute Journal, special issue on "Vietnam in Academe," v.4#1 (November 1995) pp.43-54.

The VVI Journal was a most appropriate location for this article because the impetus and data base was student response to my course on the "American Character" in which I devote the last segment to America's involvement in Vietnam and the corresponding war at home. Taking advantage of the large numbers in the Mackey Auditorium, I began collecting voluntary student response in 1990, and conducted open-ended surveys of (pre-existing) student knowledge and interest in 1992.

Based on the student essays, "The Next Generation Asks..." is both an analysis of their responses (what they know and what they would like to know) and a theoretical argument which interprets and attempts to explain their limited knowledge of the war in Vietnam -- and their expressed lack of confidence in the little knowledge they have -- in the face of their expressed interest and particular familiarity with popular accounts of the war. Essentially, I argue that neither formal historical accounts nor popular texts are able to be integrated into shared knowledge by the next generation when more intimate discussion of the subject at hand (in this case, Vietnam) is discouraged by the silence and/or negative responses of significant adults such as family members, teachers, and neighbors. I am now conducting comparative research on student knowledge of the American Revolution and the Civil War.

Invited Editor, Children's Television (2000 word summary essay introducing the genre, and six program-specific 750-1000 word essays). Encyclopedia of United States Popular Culture, forthcoming1997, (Popular Press, Bowling Green, Ohio).

The article on children's television led to an invitation to write the genre essay for children's television as well as six additional program entries on Popeye, Rocky and Bullwinkle, The Flintstones, The Jetsons, He-Man, and She-Rah.

Offices Held in Professional Organizations

Local Arrangements Chair, California American Studies Association Annual Conference, Fall 1991-Spring 1992.

Chapter Representative (California) to the American Studies Association Regional Chapters Committee (subcommittee of the ASA National Council), 1993-1996.

Related publication: Summary essay on the history of the Calif. American Studies Assoc., its current status and agenda for the A.S.A. Regional Chapters Handbook.

President, California American Studies Association, 1995-96