The American Studies course allows students to extend their knowledge and understanding of the United States, and to gain an appreciation of the elements that characterise the US in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The course stimulates interest in the study of American society, its politics and history, ideas and literature and music. In Year 1 students are introduced to the interdisciplinary study of the United States and provided with an overview of some of the major ideological and cultural issues which have given shape to the nation in the twentieth century. The relationship of the individual to the American state and the emergence of national consciousness are examined.
Students study selected material drawn from history, politics, literature, music and film.
Year 2 modules concentrate on America in the twentieth century and prepare students to undertake third and fourth year interdisciplinary studies at a more demanding level. In addition to core modules in history and literature, there are modules on music, film and drama. There are also two interdisciplinary modules, one dealing with the Depression in American Culture which examines the period through literature, history, film and Music, the other giving consideration to the development of the West through the study of history, literature, and music. Students following a three year course will spend the Spring semester of the Second Year at a university or college in the United States, before proceeding to the Final Year of the course. Students taking a four year course will undertake an intercalary year between Second and Final Year.