American Studies (Joint Honours)

UCAS code: Y002

Start date: 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 combine American Studies with many subjects but the most popular ones include: English, History, Film and Television Studies and Sociology.

American Studies 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'll 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, across a range of stimulating modules, this work will develop and build your own skills, knowledge and ability.

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.

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.

• BA (Hons) in American Studies and Education Studies
• BA (Hons) in American Studies and English
• BA (Hons) in American Studies and Film & Television Studies
• BA (Hons) in American Studies and Geography
• BA (Hons) in American Studies and Geology
• BA (Hons) in American Studies and History
• BA (Hons) in American Studies and Human Resource Management
• BA (Hons) in American Studies and International Relations & Global Development
• BA (Hons) in American Studies and Law
• BA (Hons) in American Studies and Marketing
• BA (Hons) in American Studies and Mathematics
• BA (Hons) in American Studies and Popular Music Production
• BA (Hons) in American Studies and Property Development
• BA (Hons) in American Studies and Sociology
• BA (Hons) in American Studies and Sport & Exercise Studies
• BA (Hons) in American Studies and Theatre Studies
• BA (Hons) in American Studies and Third World Development
• BA (Hons) in Early Childhood Studies and American Studies
• BA (Hons) in Professional Writing and American Studies

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

Stage one

You'll choose from these modules:

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

Stage two

You'll choose from these modules:

• American Popular Music
• Cultures of the American West
• Radiant Hour: Versions of Youth in American Literature
• Research Project
• American Youth Cinema
• American Television in the 1950s and 1960s
• United States Foreign Policy
• 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 you'll choose from 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
• American Studies Independent Study (double module) or Work-based Learning (PDP) (double module)

Our entry requirements are usually 220-300 UCAS points, of which at least 200-240 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 60 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:

• If you combine this subject with another classroom based subject or a resource intensive subject it will cost £7,700 per year.
• If you combine this subject with a specialist subject it will cost £8,250 per 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.

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

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

On our course, you'll need to work both within and across different disciplines, making you more adaptable, flexible and critically insightful - skills that will make you more employable.