BA Film Studies and English Literature

This interdisciplinary module explores the place of the supernatural in American history and culture from the beginnings of English settlement in North America through the current era. It explores the ways in which the “original sins” of American history, such as the enslavement of African-Americans and the dispossession of Native Americans, have been understood through the figures of ghosts, monsters, and spirits, and how the recurrence of such figures over centuries reflects the novelist William Faulkner’s claim that “the past is never dead; it’s not even past.” We will explore the haunted history of the United States by discovering how fictions and folk beliefs can illuminate the past in ways unavailable through standard historical sources, and whether these cultural artefacts can be a form of resistance against past and present injustices.

• To understand the concept of haunting as a way through which to understand obscured histories of the United States;
   
• To appreciate the ways in which non-traditional sources can expand our understanding of historical events and processes;
   
• To appreciate the incomplete nature of various aspects of U.S. history and culture

• Expanded knowledge of a variety of events and processes in the history of the United States, from the beginnings of European settlement through the present;
   
• Understanding of the concept of haunting and its usefulness in the study of history

• Ability to use non-traditional sources, such as fiction and folk belief, as sources of historical understanding

• Understanding of history as an incomplete and unstable process

• Combination of traditional and non-traditional sources in historical research;
   
• Presentation of ideas in a variety of assessment contexts

• Participation in group discussions;
   
• Research, analysis, and expression of ideas in written and verbal contexts
   
• Organisation of time in relation to module meetings and assessments

Charles L. Crow, American Gothic (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2009)  

Charles L. Crow, ed., A Companion to American Gothic (Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2014)  

Joel Faflak and Jason W. Haslam, eds., American Gothic Culture: An Edinburgh Companion (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2016)  

Teresa A. Goddu, Gothic America: Narrative, History, and Nation (New York: Columbia University Press, 1997)

Zachary Michael Jack, The Haunt of Home: A Journey through America’s Heartland (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2020)  

Marko Lukic, Geography of Horror: Spaces, Hauntings, and the American Imagination (Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2022)  

Tuition fees for home students commencing their studies in September 2027 will be £10,050 per annum. Tuition fees for international students will be £29,200 per annum.

For general information please see the undergraduate finance pages.

All students should normally be able to complete their programme of study without incurring additional study costs over and above the tuition fee for that programme. Any unavoidable additional compulsory costs totalling more than 1% of the annual home undergraduate fee per annum, regardless of whether the programme in question is undergraduate or postgraduate taught, will be made clear to you at the point of application. Further information can be found in the University's Policy on additional costs incurred by students on undergraduate and postgraduate taught programmes (PDF document, 91KB).

We know that student finance can be complicated. The links below provide further information to help guide you.

Learn more about student finance options for UK students .

Learn more about f ees and finance for international students .

As an international student you may be eligible for our Global Futures Scholarships . This is open to students starting their studies in September 2026.