American Studies Modules

The American Studies modules listed below will be offered in academic year 2012-2013. Please note that the modules listed may be subject to change and that final module selection will depend on academic approval of your module choice at both the point of application and the academic advising session before Matriculation.

Level 3

EN31006 - Other Americas

30 credits, Semester 1
The aims of the module are to explore issues of difference and community in contemporary American society and to examine ways in which oppositional voices are represented. Materials for discussion include film as well as literary texts.

EN32001 - American Literature

30 credits, Semester 2
This course introduces students to key examples of fiction, poetry and didactic prose from the American Renaissance and subsequent decades. It will also acquaint students with current research in the field and build on students' work by initiating skills of literary analysis and independent thought.

EN42010 - American Modernist Poetry

30 credits, Semester 1
This course will introduce students to the main currents in American modernist poetry, focusing on those movements and poets coming to prominence in the first two decades of the twentieth century as well as the trajectory of poetic careers from that period.

EN41015 - Crime and Detection in American Fiction

30 credits, Semester 2
This module examines a range of 19th and 20th century American fiction dealing with the themes of crime and detection. Students will study issues of race, gender, technological progress and urban living as they manifest themselves in crime fiction.

HY32023 - Race and Region: The American South, 1865 - 1965

30 credits, Semester 1
Race and Region traces the social, political, cultural and economic development of the South from the aftermath of the Civil War, through to the civil rights struggles of the 1960s. Central to the course will be the question of the meaning of being 'Southern'. There will be an opportunity to study a variety of sources, including music and film.

AM40001 - Dissertation

60 credits, year long
This may take the form of a dissertation based upon independent research into a specialised topic, or a programme of directed individual study within a specialised subject area. Dissertation topics have ranged widely in recent years, including US Foreign Policy and the Spectre of Bolshevism, The Significance of the Forest in 'Twin Peaks', Poetry of the Beat Generation, Hollywood and History, Witchcraft in Old and New England.