Keele University Prospectus Undergraduate | 2017 | Page 74

Undergraduate Prospectus 2017 | English, History and Liberal Arts

American Studies
Key Information
Why study this course?

Course type

America is the largest industrial nation, and a superpower. From music to
McDonald’s, movies to military engagement, it impacts on the daily lives
of people in every corner of the world. If you want to understand current
events and culture, you must understand historical and contemporary
America. American Studies at Keele examines historical, literary,
cinematic, political and geographical perspectives on issues such as
slavery, crime, power, imperialism, conflict, security and the presidency,
and compares the USA w ith Great Britain. You could choose to spend a
year studying abroad at a partner university in the USA or Canada.

For information on dual
honours combinations
please visit www.keele.
ac.uk/ugcourses or page 158

Indicative modules

Indicative entry
requirements

Keele was a pioneer in American Studies in Britain in the 1960s,
and this remains one of the leading programmes in the UK.

First year
• A Beginner’s Guide to
Contemporary America
• Starting Out: An Introduction
to American Literature
• New York, New York:
An Introduction to
American Culture
• The American Past:
Explorations in US History
• Debates in American Politics
Second year
• The Romance of Fiction: History
and Society in 19th Century
American Literature
• History of the US in the
20th Century
• Burning Crosses: Religion
and American Culture
• Discovering America: From
Empires to Revolutions
• From Modernity to
Counterculture: American
Literature and Social Criticism
in 20th Century
• The New World in Chains:
Slavery and the Bonds
of Race in America
• Alfred Hitchcock’s America
• The Detective and the
American City

Third year
• Dissertation in
American Studies
• Wild Woods and Wide Worlds:
British and American
Children’s Literature
• Film Noir: The Dark Side
of America
• High Culture: Drink, Drugs,
and the American Dream
• Contemporary American Fiction

Course duration

Three years or four years
with an International Year
(single honours)

BBB or ABC

For further information on
entry requirements please
visit www.keele.ac.uk/
entryrequirements

Study abroad
Yes

What will this mean
for my future?

This subject offers a broad
perspective on the contemporary
world and you will graduate
as a well-informed critical
thinker. You’ll have a wide range
of subject-specific skills and
understanding, but you’ll also
have transferable skills which are
of interest to employers in many
different fields. You might work as
a journalist, an academic librarian,
a social researcher, a museum
conservator, an advertising
copywriter or a politician’s
assistant, for example.

For more course information please visit

keele.ac.uk/americanstudies
74

Single honours, dual
honours, major, minor

Book an Open day keele.ac.uk/visiting

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Satisfaction
(2015 NSS)