American Studies and History BA

This course gives you the opportunity to examine key periods, debates and ideas within American history and world history. In American and Canadian studies, you will examine issues surrounding American foreign policy, war, political protest, slavery, the penal system and the US presidency, among many other topics. The history side is broad, both in chronology (spanning from 500 CE to the present) and in areas covered, allowing you to focus on the periods of history that interest you most.
At the beginning of year two, you may apply to transfer to a four-year degree course with a year abroad, depending on availability of places and academic performance.
Year one
Your American Studies core modules introduce you to the key themes, issues and events in American history from the pre-colonial period to the present day. You will also take the multidisciplinary Approaches to American Culture modules which explore cultural forms such as painting, photography, film and music in historical and social context. The history core is Learning History, a skill- and methodology-based module. The emphasis is on reflecting on the nature of history as a discipline and developing the skills required for the writing and debating of history.
Year two
You will broaden and deepen your understanding of both disciplines. We offer a Key Text in Social and Political Thought module, and a range of modules allow you to focus on certain periods, events, authors and texts.
The core element in History is provided by the Contemporary World since 1945, which deals not just with global developments, political and economic, social and cultural, environmental and demographic, but also explores key historical debates concerning the immediate origins of the world in which we now live. In addition, you will be able to select more specific optional modules from an extensive menu, covering an extremely wide chronological and geographical range.
International study year
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