BA (Hons) American Studies

UCAS code: T700

Start date: January and September

Course length: full time: three years, part time: four-six years

Campus: Kedleston Road site, Derby Campus

This course is available to international students

You can also study American Studies (Joint Honours) as part of a Joint Honours degree.

The programme will help you deepen your understanding and knowledge of the culture, history and society of the USA while providing a range of skills crucial to success, both in university and in the world of work.

We will create a friendly and supportive academic culture in which our enthusiasm, knowledge and active involvement with the subject as teachers and researchers foster an awareness of various issues - such as ethnicity, identity, class, gender, representation and power - that are relevant to both the study of America and your own wider experience of life.

Through a multi-disciplinary exploration of cultural,historical and socio-political themes and issues, an understanding of the different ways in which the American nation defines and represents itself to the world will be developed. Over the duration of your degree, and across a range of stimulating modules, this work will develop and build your own skills, knowledge and ability.

We're particularly strong in literature, film, and history and we also look at a range of different aspects of culture in the United States to give you a comprehensive view of this subject.

You can study US film, television, literature, history, politics and music as part of the programme, with plenty of opportunity to work on independent projects as you grow in confidence throughout the course. Our course has a modern emphasis, examining the USA from the nineteenth century onwards. In the early stages of your course you'll get a good grounding in the major elements of the subject and move on to more focused, thematic modules as you progress.

You'll be taught by our experienced and research-active staff. Many of us have written key books on these subjects including: American Cultural Studies (Routledge, 2006), American Visual Cultures (2006), The Cultures of the American New West (Edinburgh, 2000), Issues in Americanisation and Culture (2004), American Youth Cultures (Edinburgh, 2004). So you're being taught by people who are really passionate and active in these subjects.

You'll study a total of 120 credits per year. This will be made up of single or double modules.

Stage one

You'll study these modules:

• American Cultural Studies: An Introduction     
• Freedom's Conflicts: An Introduction to American History
• Introduction to Hollywood Cinema   
• American Democracy       
• Reading American Literature      
• Introduction to American Television

Stage two

You will study these four modules:

• Research Project
• American Popular Music
• Cultures of the American West
• Radiant Hour: Versions of Youth in American Literature  

And you'll choose two of these modules:

• United States Foreign Policy      
• American Television in the 1950s and 1960s
• American Youth Cinema
• Work-Based Learning in the Cultural and Creative Industries

Stage three

You will study one of these modules:

• American Studies Independent Study (double module)
• Work-based Learning (double module)

And choose four of these modules:

• Contesting Cultures: American Popular Culture in the Contemporary World 
• Culture and Counter-Culture     
• America Noir: Dark Tendencies in American Culture
• Cultures of the War on Terror
• Contemporary American Cinema

Our entry requirements are usually 260 UCAS points, of which at least 220 will be from your core A2s (full A levels) or equivalent qualifications such as BTEC Diploma, International Baccalaureate, Scottish Highers etc.

We'll accept up to 40 points towards the total from level 3 qualifications such as AS levels (where those AS levels are not taken on to A2 level), the Extended Project or Music qualifications.

We don't accept points from Key Skills Level 3. If you have any questions about what is or isn't accepted, please contact our Admissions team.

We also accept the Access to HE Diploma.

Your points at level 3 will be in addition to 5 GCSEs at grade C or equivalent level 2 qualifications.

The UCAS tariff points are a guide - we'll also consider all the information that you've included in your application. We'll also want to see that you're enthusiastic and motivated to take this course and that you have the potential to benefit from coming to university.

General undergraduate entry requirements

Fees for 2013/14

This is a classroom based course.

UK/EU students

• Full time: £7,700 (each year)

We'll be announcing our part time and international fees for 2013/14 later in the year.

*These fees apply if you're starting this course between September 2013 and August 2014. We recommend you check fee details with us though, as they can change. Costs can increase each year.

You can undertake part of your study at an American University.

How you'll learn

Lectures, seminars, tutorials, workshops, film screenings.

How you're assessed

By coursework and examinations.

Fieldtrips

You can take part in organised visits and events (see below).

Our graduates get jobs in teaching, journalism and the media, advertising and marketing, and retail management, both in the UK and abroad.

You'll also develop transferable skills that are highly prized by employers, including the ability to work to deadlines, effectively communicate and carry out independent research.

Our course will require you to work both within and across different academic disciplines, making you more adaptable, flexible, and critically insightful.

Graduate Melody Banner is now working at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London. And graduate Aimee Feenan is working for a publishing company as an assistant desk editor.

"American Studies allows you to incorporate different areas of study such as history, literature, music and politics. This shows potential employers that you've got a good understanding of a variety of subjects"

- Melody Banner, graduate in American Studies