- UCAS course code
- T701
- UCAS institution code
- M20
Course description
"The opportunity to study abroad was really invaluable. For my job, I sometimes have to throw myself into situations that are unfamiliar to get the best out of a story, often in countries and places I've never been.
"This can be quite daunting, so without the experience of living and studying abroad in America, I think I would have found the nature of this job much more intimidating!"
Mariana Des Forges / Radio Producer/Documentary Maker & 2015 graduate
At Manchester, we train our students to be attentive to the counter-currents of US history and literature, and our course places a particular emphasis on the themes of race, capitalism, sexuality, the cultures of labour and political protest.
You will master the approaches and tools found in several academic disciplines, including cultural theory, history, visual studies, literature, and politics. You will also learn how to analyse and discuss a wide variety of materials.
Years 1 and 2 will give you a wide knowledge of US politics and history, and American literature and film, and will familiarise you with concepts such as:
- mass incarceration;
- inequality;
- racial stratification;
- poverty;
- the logics of policing;
- the changing nature of work and leisure;
- radical organising;
- military power;
- cultural imperialism;
- climate change;
- urban politics;
- conspiracy theories;
- gender and sexuality;
- literature and film analysis.
You will also have the option to study abroad for a period in Year 2.
In Year 3, you will be able to choose from one of the richest selections of American Studies units in the country while completing a substantial piece of independent research.
Special features
Apply your subject-specific knowledge in a real-world context through an optional placement year in your third year of study (making this a four year programme), enabling you to enhance your employment prospects, clarify your career goals and build your external networks.
Teaching and learning
In Year 1 and 2, you will learn through a combination of lectures and seminars.
Lectures are used to sketch an outline of the major themes and questions, and often to underscore the wider significance certain topics have had in society or among scholars.
Seminars usually involve groups of around 10 to 15 students, enabling you to discuss in detail a body of reading, or to advance inquiry into a specific subject area.
This will help you to hone your ability to express and defend your ideas.
To benefit from lectures and seminars you will spend a significant amount of time preparing through reading, taking notes, preparing presentations, and drafting and writing essays.
On some units, students are also taught in regular tutorials, which may be used to discuss a draft of an essay or provide feedback on one already submitted.
Several final-year course units are also taught through a weekly workshop model, in which students work collaboratively with each other on a research project, assignment, or presentation.
Your degree is completed by your final-year dissertation, which is undertaken under the supervision of a specialist, and will allow you to carry out independent research and produce an extended piece of writing.
Coursework and assessment
Our assessment methods for this course are designed to improve your ability to work and think independently, to express your ideas with clarity, and to allow you to produce imaginative and incisive interpretations of the subject.
We are keen for our students to learn to write for different audiences.
To do this you will produce varied written work, including essays, journals, gobbet responses and your final-year dissertation.
Most units are assessed through a combination of an essays and final examinations.
American Studies modules also allow you to undertake more creative forms of assessment, such as producing visual essays, films, historical map-making, and short radio-style oral essays.
All modules encourage you to work collaboratively with other students.
Course content for year 1
Receive an introduction to the field of American Studies, the development of American literature, and US history from the period of colonisation to the end of the Cold War.
You will also examine more recent social, political, and cultural issues, and be able to take an optional course unit of your choice.
Course units for year 1
The course unit details given below are subject to change, and are the latest example of the curriculum available on this course of study.
| Title | Code | Credit rating | Mandatory/optional |
|---|---|---|---|
| From Reconstruction to Reagan: American History, 1877-1988 | AMER10002 | 20 | Mandatory |
| Introduction to American Literature to 1900 | AMER10021 | 20 | Mandatory |
| American History to 1877: Columbus to Civil War | AMER10211 | 20 | Mandatory |
| Twentieth Century American Literature | AMER10312 | 20 | Mandatory |
| Introduction to American Studies | AMER10501 | 20 | Mandatory |
Course content for year 2
Receive an advanced training in interdisciplinary ways of working through a module on African-American history and culture, `From Jamestown to James Brown', and select from a range of units covering 20th century US history, literature, film and politics. You can also apply to spend some of your second year abroad in the US.
Course units for year 2
The course unit details given below are subject to change, and are the latest example of the curriculum available on this course of study.
| Title | Code | Credit rating | Mandatory/optional |
|---|---|---|---|
| From Jamestown to James Brown: African-American History and Culture | AMER20141 | 20 | Mandatory |
| American Cultural Studies | AMER20331 | 20 | Mandatory |
| American Film Studies | AMER20072 | 20 | Optional |
| Southern Crossings: Race, Gender and Sexuality | AMER20412 | 20 | Optional |
| American Literature and Social Criticism, 1900-Present | AMER20481 | 20 | Optional |
| The American Civil War | AMER21001 | 20 | Optional |
| Uncle Tom's Cabin as Global Media Event | AMER22662 | 20 | Optional |
Course content for year 3
Complete a long essay or dissertation on a subject of your choice and under individual supervision.
You will also select five other course units from a range of specialised modules in American Studies.
Course units for year 3
The course unit details given below are subject to change, and are the latest example of the curriculum available on this course of study.
| Title | Code | Credit rating | Mandatory/optional |
|---|---|---|---|
| Long Essay | AMER30002 | 20 | Mandatory |
| Slavery & the Old South | AMER30022 | 20 | Optional |
| Love American Style | AMER30161 | 20 | Optional |
| Occupy Everything | AMER30422 | 20 | Optional |
| Harlem and the State of Urban America | AMER30511 | 20 | Optional |
| The Visual Culture of US Empire | AMER30522 | 20 | Optional |
| Climate Change & Culture Wars | AMER30571 | 20 | Optional |
| American Hauntings | AMER30811 | 20 | Optional |
| Novel Democracy | AMER33132 | 20 | Optional |
What our students say
Facilities
The University of Manchester has one of the strongest collections of archival, printed, and digitised materials relating to the Americas anywhere in the UK.
Some of these materials, such as those relating to the transatlantic abolitionist movement, civil rights and race relations and 19th century American popular culture are housed at the University's John Rylands Library, the Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Centre, and the University Special Collections Library.
The University Library, which has benefited from Manchester's long history of scholarship in this field, has one of the largest collections of electronic databases relating to the US, providing access to important newspapers, literary works and movements, entertainment, and popular culture journals, as well as unique materials relating to US politics, civil rights and black power groups, and the cultural industries.
Further details on these resources can be found on the subject's Facilities page.