Departing from the study of the relationship between culture and conflict, the North American Culture course aims at reflecting on representative moments of US culture and history, from the discovery of the "New World" to the War on Terror. It hence intends to analyse significant events for the US that featured a confrontation between ideas, ideologies and values and that eventually helped shape the way contemporary American society both perceives/represents itself and is perceived/represented by others. This course thus aims at fostering a critical spirit about American culture and to endow students with the necessary knowledge to better understand the American way of thinking and America's place in the world.