Keele University Prospectus Undergraduate | 2016 | Page 46

HUMANITIES

American Studies
Overview

Love it or hate it, the United States is a superpower
which impacts on all our daily lives. US popular
culture is everywhere, from jazz to Hollywood films,
McDonald’s to Coca Cola. Further, as the largest
industrialised nation, the US plays a key role in
international politics and the world economy.
So if you want to understand current events,
you must understand America.
American Studies at Keele explores the development
and diversity of the US from various perspectives,
teaching in not just one discipline but many: history,
literature, politics, and film. With this div ersity comes
module choice, so after a multidisciplinary grounding
in US society and culture in the first year, you can
combine different approaches or specialise according
to your interests.

All these modules are also available as electives, as are:
• Transatlantic Gothic – Studies in 19th century
English and American Literature
• Literature and the Unreliable Truth – Studies in
20th century English and American Literature
Second year
More specialised study begins in the second year,
when, through a choice of modules, you can
consolidate your studies and spread further into the
other subject areas within American Studies. Dual
honours students take one core module per semester,
single honours two, while all students can choose
more modules as programme electives. Current
modules include:
• The Romance of Fiction: History and Society
in 19th Century American Literature

An important part of the Keele programme is
the chance to study at a partner university in the
US or Canada and actually live in the culture you
are studying. Dual honours students can spend
semester one of the second year in the US, while
single honours students can go for the whole year.
The exchange programme provides huge personal,
academic and career development opportunities.

• Approaches to American Film

Keele pioneered the development of American
studies in the UK and, as one of the country’s
leading programmes, has earned a reputation
for combining world-class research with dedicated
teaching to provide a challenging but very
supportive environment.

• The Detective and the American City

Course content

First year
A Beginner’s Guide to Contemporary America
is a wide-ranging survey of key topics in modern
American society, from immigration to foreign
policy, as well as an introduction to key methods for
studying the US. It is a core module for dual honours
and single honours students.
Single honours students take a second core module,
Starting Out: An Introduction to American Literature
looks at key 19th and 20th century narratives, and
develops skills of literary critical reading.
New York, New York: An Introduction to American
Culture, another multidisciplinary module ranging
from film to literature, painting to music that also
develops key research skills. It is a core module
for dual honours and single honours students.
Single honours students take a second core module:
either The American Past: Explorations in US History
or Introduction to American Politics.

• Burning Crosses: Religion and American Culture
• History of the US in the 20th Century
• Atlantic Frontiers: From Empires to Independence
• From Modernity to Counterculture: American
Literature and Social Criticism in the 20th Century
• Alfred Hitchcock’s America
• The Presidency of the United States
• The New World in Chains: Slavery and the
Bonds of Race in America, 1619-1877
• Discovering America: From Empires
to Revolutions.
Third year
In the third and final year you are able to specialise
further and explore specific areas of interest to the
highest level, through a choice of modules – one for
dual honours, two for single honours students – in
each semester, plus a year-long dissertation based on
individual research.
Modules currently offered include:
• Film Noir: The Dark Side of America
• High Culture: Drink, Drugs, and the American Dream
• Silence, Strength and Sentiment: Gender and
Sexuality in 19th Century American Literature
• Environmental Politics in the US
• Contemporary American Fiction
• Under God: Religion and Society in the US
since World War II
• Words and Pictures: the Contemporary
American Graphic Novel
• Writing Slavery
• Electoral Behaviour in the United States
• Eyes on the Prize: The Struggle for Civil Rights
in America

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• Wild Woods and Wide Worlds: British and
American Children’s Fiction, 1857-1932