American Studies – (B.A.)

The course aims to:

-provide students with the opportunity to engage with a significant range of relevant American literature, history, politics and film, exploiting their interdependence and distinctiveness within the discipline of American Studies;

-encourage independent study, the spirit of enquiry and a commitment to scholarly method;

-develop in students powers of critical and analytical thinking, the ability to apply these to primary and secondary texts, and to foster skills in written and verbal forms of expression. This is an inter-disciplinary degree programme which offers you the opportunity to study the history, literature, film, politics and popular culture of the United States. The first year is taught mainly by lecture and tutor-led sessions, which gives you a solid grounding in debates (both historical and contemporary) about the character, nature and purpose of America, and which introduces you to US literature and history before 1900. In the second year you may have the opportunity to study at a North American university for one or both semesters. Our exchange partners include the University of California, Arizona State University, the University of Massachusetts and the University of Toronto. In the final year you complete a compulsory dissertation and select five other course units from a list of options, taught by a weekly seminar taken by a specialist member of staff. These options, which change from year to year, reflect the research interests and expertise of the American Studies staff and may include courses on Conspiracy Culture, Film and Politics, American Masculinities, African-American Writing, the Civil Rights Movement, American Slavery, Race Mixing in American Literature, Independent Cinema, the History of California and Hip-Hop and Hollywood.