This course has a start date in October
In the wake of “the American Century”, this is an exciting moment to be studying North America. To what extent will the US be forced to renegotiate political, financial and cultural relationships long characterised by dominance? How should the Obama Presidency be understood within the history of race relations and the struggle for civil rights? How will cultural responses to changing political, media, and built environments work within and against established forms and traditions?
The MA American Studies (Literature) combines an interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary American studies approach with a focus on the analysis of various kinds of literary texts.
In the first semester a suite of core modules introduce postgraduate-level American studies, enabling students to survey and critically review the range of perspectives adopted and questions raised by American Studies in the Twentieth Century; explore the complex issues and methodological challenges demanded by Researching Contemporary America; and develop the Research Management and Personal Development Skills vital to postgraduate work.
Small group teaching with a focus on student-led discussion fosters a collegiate MA cohort – encouraging intellectual exchange amongst a group of students with shared interests but with a broad range of backgrounds and perspectives.
A suite of core modules taken by all MA students is the centrepiece of the degree. Offered in the first semester is Researching Contemporary America, which will introduce postgraduate-level American Studies through a study of key controversies in the study of the recent United States. Offered in the second semester is Approaches to American Studies, which will acquaint students with the development of scholarly methods, theories, and approaches in American Studies. Students will also develop the Research Management and Personal Development Skills vital to postgraduate work.
In each term students will select from a range of optional modules offered within the School and by related subject areas within the University. Recent option modules include American Enlightenment and American Gothic; Darwinism and Creationism in America; Fictions of America; Representing the South; Asian American Literature; the Civil War and its Origins; American Labor History; and Recent Queer Writing. For more details on our level 4 Modules,
see the Module Catalogue.
Completed over the summer period, the Dissertation provides the capstone of the degree and involves in-depth research into a topic in the field of American Literature supervised by a specialist tutor.
Dissertation supervision and core and optional module teaching are research-led. In line with the most recent work in the field, research and teaching in the School of American and Canadian Studies is informed by consideration of North America in transatlantic and hemispheric contexts and transnational and global perspective; by close attention to the production, circulation and reception of a broad range of ‘texts’; and by a commitment to self-reflexive interdisciplinarity.
Part-time students complete the same components, but spread over two or more years.
Download the MA American Studies leaflet for more information.