BA American Studies (United States)

University of Essex

Bachelor's degree

In Colchester

£ 9,250 + VAT

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Description

  • Type

    Bachelor's degree

  • Location

    Colchester

  • Duration

    3 Years

About the course
The complex and ever-changing American culture continues to fascinate

For well over a century, the US has been one of the most influential countries in the world, rising to be a world ‘superpower’ and dominating the world stage

Its commercial and cultural products are exported all over the world, from Silicon Valley and Hollywood, to jazz, blues and hip hop


BA American Studies (United States) is for those with enthusiasm, passion and intellectual curiosity about all things American

At Essex, we offer you an opportunity to understand some of the diverse and paradoxical aspects of the US through interdisciplinary studies

The US – perhaps more than any other society – lends itself to interdisciplinary study; its literature and film are connected to its politics, its cultures are linked to its histories


Crucially, you also spend either a term or a full academic year studying in the United States, so you can explore and become immersed in American culture


The degree is built to be extremely flexible and student-led, and as you progress through the course you can choose from an enormous range of options from across the humanities and social sciences including:
Contemporary social issues, such as the struggles for racial justice
The legacies of slavery and the civil rights movement
Environmental protection of the ‘wilderness’ of the Far West
Native American histories and rights
Based within our Interdisciplinary Studies Centre (ISC), this course allows you to explore the many ways of understanding the American experience

Facilities

Location

Start date

Colchester (Essex)
See map
Wivenhoe Park, CO4 3SQ

Start date

On request

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Subjects

  • Teaching
  • Hollywood

Course programme

Example structure
Studying at Essex is about discovering yourself, so your course combines compulsory and optional modules to make sure you gain key knowledge in the discipline, while having as much freedom as possible to explore your own interests. Our research-led teaching is continually evolving to address the latest challenges and breakthroughs in the field, therefore to ensure your course is as relevant and up-to-date as possible your core module structure may be subject to change.
For many of our courses you’ll have a wide range of optional modules to choose from – those listed in this example structure are just a selection of those available. The opportunity to take optional modules will depend on the number of core modules within any year of the course. In many instances, the flexibility to take optional modules increases as you progress through the course.
Our Programme Specification gives more detail about the structure available to our current first-year students, including details of all optional modules.
Year 1
The Enlightenment
Introduction to United States Literature
Introduction to US History
Introduction to United States
Introduction to United States Sociology
Skills for University Studies
Initial Spanish (optional)
Year 2
America: Centres and Margins, Borders and Boundaries
Social Entrepreneurs, Sustainability and Community Action (optional)
United States Literature Since 1850 (optional)
'The Special Relationship'? Anglo-American Relations 1850-2005 (optional)
Doing Interdisciplinary Research for a BA Dissertation: Approaches, Methods, Practice (optional)
Final year
Term Abroad Module 1 (optional)
Term Abroad Module 2 (optional)
Hollywood Directors
Women, Gender and Sexuality in US History (optional)
Final Year Dissertation (optional)
Year abroad
On your year abroad, you have the opportunity to experience other cultures and languages, to broaden your degree socially and academically, and to demonstrate to employers that you are mature, adaptable, and organised. The rest of your course remains identical to the three-year degree.
Teaching
Taught through lectures plus classes of about twenty students
You take a one-hour lecture and a one-hour class for each of your modules every week
Spend either a term or a full year experiencing the American education system
Other teaching methods will depend on your individual combination of subjects
Assessment
Assessed through a combination of written coursework and end-of-year examinations
Other assessment methods will depend on your individual combination of subjects
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Additional information

You draw on multiple perspectives in order to reach a deeper understanding of the world we inhabit, opening up exciting possibilities to discover the American continent The cities, vast open plains, mountains and deserts shape diverse and intriguing ways of life By encouraging you to think and operate across traditional boundaries, our American studies course has produced confident, assertive and intelligent graduates who have become successful in many professional fields “We have a broad range of lecturers who each add a different perspective We're lucky to have such great minds at our disposal ” Talia Burr, first-year BA American Studies (United States) student Study abroad Your education extends beyond our University campus In your third year, you spend either one term or one year at one of the American universities with whom we have an exchange agreement, depending on whether you take the three- or four-year variant of this course The four-year version of our degree allows you to spend your third year studying abroad at no extra cost, while otherwise remaining identical to the three-year course We have exchange partners with fifteen excellent academic institutions across the United States, from New Mexico to Massachusetts, including upstate New York, the Deep South, Miami and California Studying abroad allows you to explore and become immersed in American culture, to broaden your degree socially and academically, and to demonstrate to employers that you are mature, adaptable, and organised Our expert staff We are a team of internationally recognised writers and lecturers with expertise across the arts, humanities and social sciences As well as being one of the UK’s leading universities for social science and the highest ranking institution for political science, Essex academics are world leaders in human rights and pioneers in the literature and arts of the Americas Our staff teach in departments across the university,...

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BA American Studies (United States)

£ 9,250 + VAT

The best Sociology courses

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