| AMERICAN AUTOBIOGRAPHY | AMSA3L07 | 30 |
| This module examines the fascination of American literature with questions of selfhood, identity and autobiography. Opening sessions of the module will look at ways in which the very idea of America and its literature emerges from early-national attempts to 'write the self' and discuss changing theories of selfhood, identity and individuality as they are played out in America's historical development from colony, to nation, to postmodern superpower. Subsequent sessions will focus on specific texts of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries which engage questions of selfhood in order to define, maintain and develop an idea of what being an American might mean. |
| AMERICAN AUTOBIOGRAPHY | AMSA3L13 | 20 |
| This is a 20 credit version of AMSA3L07 AMERICAN AUTOBIOGRAPHY and is available only to Visiting Students. This module examines the fascination of American literature with questions of selfhood, identity and autobiography. Opening sessions of the module will look at ways in which the very idea of America and its literature emerges from early-national attempts to 'write the self' and discuss changing theories of selfhood, identity and individuality as they are played out in America's historical development from colony, to nation, to postmodern superpower. Subsequent sessions will focus on specific texts of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries which engage questions of selfhood in order to define, maintain and develop an idea of what being an American might mean. |
| AMERICAN DRAMA 1970-PRESENT | AMSA3L19 | 30 |
| This module will be concerned with exploring the work of American dramatists in the context of the social, political and cultural life of the country. In particular, it will give attention to the work of new women and African-American writers as well as to that of established dramatists. |
| AMERICAN DRAMA 1970-PRESENT | AMSA3L21 | 20 |
| This is a 20-credit version of AMSA3L19 AMERICAN DRAMA 1970-PRESENT and is available only to Visiting Students. This module will be concerned with exploring the work of American dramatists in the context of the social, political and cultural life of the country. In particular, it will give attention to the work of new women and African-American writers as well as to that of established dramatists. |
| AMERICAN GOTHIC | AMSA3L62 | 30 |
| American fiction began in the period of the European Gothic novel, which thus marked the American tradition from the first. In this seminar module we will establish the meaning of gothic conventions and consider their persisting effects in American fiction. |
| AMERICAN GOTHIC | AMSA3L68 | 20 |
| This module is a 20-credit version of AMSA3L62 AMERICAN GOTHIC and is available only to Visiting Students. American fiction began in the period of the European Gothic novel, which thus marked the American tradition from the first. In this seminar module we will establish the meaning of gothic conventions and consider their persisting effects in American fiction |
| AMERICAN STUDIES YEAR ABROAD DISSERTATION | AMSA3Y05 | 30 |
| Final year dissertation involving research into a specific issue or topic in American culture, society, history or literature. Restricted to students on the 4 year programmes. Topics will already have been approved on the basis of dissertation proposals submitted during the year abroad. |
| ANIMALS IN AMERICAN HISTORY | AMSA3H3Y | 60 |
| This two-semester, 60 credit module familiarizes students with the wide range of approaches that have been taken toward the study of animals in American history. We will begin with early modern understandings of the place of animals in the natural order, and proceed through the introduction of domestic livestock into North America, controversies between colonists and Native Americans over hunting, cattle and fencing, wolf-eradication campaigns, wilderness preservation, the role of horses in the development of modern cities, the invention of the zoo, pet-keeping, factory hog-raising, and ideological battles over animal rights. By evaluating the developing historiography, students will learn about changing issues and concepts under debate. Primary sources will be used throughout both semesters. A range of different types of texts will be analysed and students will learn techniques appropriate for interrogating them. On their own and in groups, students in this module will work with an increasing level of independence. In the second semester, they will work in groups to introduce different weekly topics and everyone will be given the opportunity to write a research project on a topic of his/her own choosing. |
| ASIAN CINEMA | FTMF3F68 | 30 |
| 'Asian Cinema' is a category of films increasingly in evidence in diverse places ranging from cinemas to high street shops. Recent years have seen a variety of Asian cinema incursions into global film culture, from Bollywood in UK multiplexes to Hong Kong action styles used in the Hollywood blockbuster. Inherent within the label are debates of resistance, industry, art, technology and aesthetics that have held sway since the dawn of cinema worldwide. In this module we break down these discourses and address the significant cultural, economic and political influences that Asian cinemas have had, and indeed still have, within world culture. |
| CELEBRITY | FTMF3F64 | 30 |
| The module will explore the phenomenon of celebrity and fame from its origins to the present day, moving across a range of different media, including film, television, print media and the internet. In the process, it will examine key approaches to the study of celebrity, paying particular attention to the cultural formation of celebrity and how it is bound up with structures of power (e.g gender, class, ethnicity). It will feature a range of case studies that will include Classical Hollywood cinema, the coming of television, the supposed 'tabloidization' of print media, the birth of Reality TV, the growth of the celebrity scandal and the relationship between celebrity and the internet. |
| CREATIVE WORK IN THE MEDIA INDUSTRIES | FTMF3F57 | 30 |
| This module offers students the opportunity to gain an understanding of the industries that many of them may well wish to work in. The media industries are those that produce culture, and so they naturally include television, film, music, publishing (books, newspapers and magazines) and so on. People often want to work in the media since this kind of work offers opportunities to be ‘creative’, to think independently and engage in activities which interest them already. But what does ‘creativity’ mean in different kinds of media work and what kind of conditions do those working in the media typically face? To explore such questions, we reflect on changes in the nature of work itself in modern societies. That is, when so much modern work is either temporary and precarious, with many in advanced industrial countries working longer hours than ever before, is there a danger that work is detracting from the quality of our lives rather than enhancing it? The module explores the potential to find pleasure, fulfilment (and a steady income), as well as pressure, frustration and precariousness in media work. It also looks at the extent to which it is feasible to do ‘good work’ in the media industries, as they become seemingly ever more commercial and competitive. How possible is it to produce challenging, innovative, groundbreaking, thoughtful or just genuinely entertaining media products? This means engaging with academic research and other writing, both historical and contemporary in nature. The above issues cannot be addressed through simple description. They raise important theoretical and historical issues about the place of artistic and professional creativity in modern societies. |
| CREATIVE WRITING-FICTION | AMSA3L66 | 30 |
| In this course you will write original works of fiction and present them to your peers for feedback in a workshop environment. The instructor will guide you in critiquing your peers' writing, and advise you as you work your way through the drafting process. |
| CRIME TELEVISION | FTMF3F92 | 30 |
| This module explores crime and investigation in recent US television, encompassing formal developments such as the use of group formats, specialist teams and genre hybrids. It considers theoretical/critical issues that may include the value and limits of approaching television via genre, representations of urban US life, the (lack of) engagement with questions of race, gender and the female investigator, gender and sex crimes, the statement and transgression of social/cultural taboos to do with sex, violence and identity and the increasing significance - post 9/11 - of paranoid narration, the investigation of terrorism as crime and the policing of US civil society. This module is taught by seminar and screening. |
| FIRST PEOPLES, COLONIZERS AND THE USA | AMSA3H7Y | 60 |
| A two-semester special subject, this module situates the study of Indian history within the broad sweep of America's past, from colonial times to the present day. White settlement and expansion are the back-drop to the story, but native experiences and interpretations, which do not fit comfortably into the traditional narrative of nation-building, are given equal importance. In addition to studying such topics as federal Indian policy, missionary activities and reservation casinos, students will choose a specific tribe for individual study. |
| GENDER AND GENRE IN CONTEMPORARY CINEMA | FTMF3F10 | 30 |
| This module offers an overview of critical and theoretical approaches to gender and genre in contemporary cinema, focusing particularly on North American cinema. Topics explored may include: new women and new men - the articulation of gender in popular and 'independent' American cinema since 2000; feminism and authorship; the response of mainstream and independent cinema to the political and cultural contexts of postfeminism; race and the limits of feminist representation; masculinity, homosociality and Hollywood genre. The module is taught by seminar, tutorial and screening. |
| GENDER IN AMERICAN CULTURE | AMSA3S22 | 30 |
| The aim of this module is to think about democracy in the United States through a gendered lens. The Declaration of Independence declared that "all men were created free and equal", but throughout the history of the United States certain social groups have been denied their rights to citizenship and democracy. Therefore this module will be focusing upon the ways in which gender has been central to the construction of citizenship and democracy in the US. These concepts are critical elements in the formation of a modern American identity, and this module will provide a broader understanding of this distinctive feature of American history and society. |
| GENDER IN AMERICAN CULTURE | AMSA3S24 | 20 |
| This is a 20 credit version of AMSA3S22 GENDER IN AMERICAN CULTURE and is available only to Visiting students. |
| MARK TWAIN AND THE GILDED AGE | AMSA3L20 | 30 |
| According to William Faulkner, Mark Twain was “the first truly American writer […] the father of American literature.” This module will test such paternity claims and examine their wider ramifications. We will explore Twain’s writing, his relationship to the Gilded Age, his contemporaries, and his influence on later American writers. As both author and man, Twain contained multitudes. Few writers have straddled so many genres and styles, and few Americans have embodied so many of the nation’s animating forces and tensions. He was, as his friend William Dean Howells felt, “incomparable”, and this module is an opportunity for significant reading and research into his life, work and beyond. |
| MARK TWAIN AND THE GILDED AGE | AMSA3L22 | 20 |
| This is a 20 credit version of AMSA3L20 MARK TWAIN AND THE GILDED AGE and is available only to Visiting students. |
| MULTI-ETHNIC AMERICAN WRITING | AMSA3L12 | 30 |
| America has long been interpreted as the location of social possibility founded upon a desire to assimilate and negate ethnic 'others'. This module traces the literary responses of four distinct 'American' cultures: Native American; African American; Asian American; and Mexican American. Each group of texts engage with the specific historical, cultural and political relationships between the US and each author's country of origin or national/cultural history, across the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Topics will include race and racism, colonisation, imperialism, slavery, segregation, immigration, and illegality/invisibility, with an emphasis upon contemporary experiences. |
| MULTI-ETHNIC AMERICAN WRITING | AMSA3L16 | 20 |
| This is a 20-credit version of AMSA3L12 MULTI-ETHNIC AMERICAN WRITING and is available only to Visiting Students. America has long been interpreted as the location of social possibility founded upon a desire to assimilate and negate ethnic 'others'. This module traces the literary responses of four distinct 'American' cultures: Native American; African American; Asian American; and Mexican American. Each group of texts engage with the specific historical, cultural and political relationships between the US and each author's country of origin or national/cultural history, across the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Topics will include race and racism, colonisation, imperialism, slavery, segregation, immigration, and illegality/invisibility, with an emphasis upon contemporary experiences |
| NATIVE AMERICAN WRITING AND FILM | AMSA3S02 | 30 |
| This module considers Native American writing and film as sites of cultural and political resistance, analysing the ways in which a diverse range of Native authors, screenwriters and directors within the United States respond to contemporary tribal socio-economic and political conditions. Taking popular ideas of 'the Indian', this module considers the ways in which stereotypes and audience expectations are subverted and challenged. Topics include race and racism, indigeneity, identity, culture, gender, genre, land and notions of 'home', community, dialogue, postcolonial theory in its application to those who remain colonised, and political issues such as human rights and environmental racism. |
| NATIVE AMERICAN WRITING AND FILM | AMSA3S04 | 20 |
| This is a 20-credit version of AMSA3S02: NATIVE AMERICAN WRITING AND FILM and is available only to Visiting Students. This module considers Native American writing and film as sites of cultural and political resistance, analysing the ways in which a diverse range of Native authors, screenwriters and directors within the United States respond to contemporary tribal socio-economic and political conditions. Taking popular ideas of 'the Indian', this module considers the ways in which stereotypes and audience expectations are subverted and challenged. Topics include race and racism, indigeneity, identity, culture, gender, genre, land and notions of 'home', community, dialogue, postcolonial theory in its application to those who remain colonised, and political issues such as human rights and environmental racism. |
| NEW AMERICAN CENTURY: CULTURE AND CRISIS | AMSA3S1Y | 60 |
| A two semester special subject American Studies module that reads contemporary American culture through the lens of crisis. On the eve of the twenty-first century it appeared that the United States of America was indeed entering into a new American Century with its role as global leader as strongly defined as it was a century earlier. However, the last decade has been witness to a nation in turmoil and crisis, from the conflict between a universalising (Americanising) globalisation and an introspective nationalism; the war on terror and the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq; environmental crisis and disaster; the conflict surrounding immigration and national identity, to the present financial crisis. The renewed and vigorous return to rhetoric of national ‘unity’ that characterised the campaign and election of Barack Obama as President of the United States in 2008 highlighted the historical divisions and crises of American society and underscored that contemporary America is in crisis geopolitically, economically, democratically, environmentally, and culturally. Indeed, Obama’s presidency has witnessed further polarisation of American politics and culture with the birth of the Tea Party Movement and the very recent Occupy Wall Street (now global) movement. Through a variety of cultural texts, from literature, film and documentary, political speeches and letters, to historical texts and pop culture, this course examines the ways in which these crises have been culturally and politically constructed and given particular sets of meaning and the ways in which these ‘meanings’ have been utilised and mobilised to further create ‘Fortress America’ and its particular brand of nationalism at the expense of all ‘others’, whether outside or inside the United States. The way culture has engaged with, coproduced, and resisted these sets of meanings will be the main focus of this module. |
| PLACE, RACE AND SPACE: AMERICAN MIGRATION AND CITIZENSHIP | AMSA3S11 | 30 |
| This module will examine the contradictions of place-making, spatial mobility, and citizenship in the Americas by looking at the movement and settlement of immigrants and migrants since the 1870s. Although the concepts of place-making and spatial mobility appear to be contradictory, immigrants and migrants in their quest to find a home, move across regions, borders, and continents. Their ability to settle in certain places, depends on the economic and cultural conditions that prevail in the host locality and on the political-economic structure of the host society. Citizenship becomes an important variable in this process, because non-citizens are more vulnerable to social, political, and economic changes. |
| PLACE, RACE AND SPACE: AMERICAN MIGRATION AND CITIZENSHIP | AMSA3S13 | 20 |
| This is a 20 credit version of AMSA3S11 PLACE, RACE AND SPACE: AMERICAN MIGRATION AND CITIZENSHIP and is available only to Visiting students. |
| PROFESSIONAL VIDEO PRODUCTION | FTMF3P81 | 30 |
| This module gives students the opportunity to produce digital video projects to specifications set down by the university and a range of external bodies. The briefs might include events such as conferences, study days and exhibitions or might involve students working with community groups to produce video based material. Students will benefit from a holistic experience, working in groups to take projects from brief to realisation and will gain a professional experience in producing viable yet creative production solutions to the specifications of their ‘clients’. This module will provide experience of working in a ‘real life’ style production scenario and as such will be a valuable addition to the CV of any student wishing to pursue a career within the demanding and competitive production company environment. |
| PROFESSIONAL VIDEO PRODUCTION | FTMF3P82 | 30 |
| This module gives students the opportunity to produce digital video projects to specifications set down by the university and a range of external bodies. The briefs might include events such as conferences, study days and exhibitions or might involve students working with community groups to produce video based material. Students will benefit from a holistic experience, working in groups to take projects from brief to realisation and will gain a professional experience in producing viable yet creative production solutions to the specifications of their ‘clients’. This module will provide experience of working in a ‘real life’ style production scenario and as such will be a valuable addition to the CV of any student wishing to pursue a career within the demanding and competitive production company environment. |
| SCIENCE FICTION CINEMA | FTMF3F07 | 30 |
| Science Fiction is currently a key genre in popular cinema, providing a significant focus for addressing social, cultural and political issues. This module follows the historical development of the genre and looks at changes in the way both mainstream and alternative films have addressed such issues. Films we look at range from silent classics such as 'Le Voyage dans la Lune' and 'Metropolis' to the more recent 'Independence Day', 'The Fifth Element', and 'The Matrix'. Other screenings might include 'Things to Come', 'The Day the Earth Stood Still', 'Demon Seed', 'Alien', 'The Brother from Another Planet', 'Robocop' and 'Akira'. Separate screenings. |
| SELLING SPECTACLE | FTMF3F45 | 30 |
| Spectacle is the cornerstone of the modern film industry, in Hollywood and in other national cinemas around the world. Blockbusters and other films are produced, marketed and exhibited using epic language, hyperbolic visuals and overblown promotional materials. Yet despite these excessive claims, the world of selling spectacle and epic marketing techniques are often overlooked in academic or critical discussions. This module will explore the history of spectacle within the global film industries, the cinematic technologies that have been created to enhance that spectacle, and the advertising and promotional techniques that were utilised to emphasise and display it. Following the work of theorists such as Tom Gunning, Geoff King, Janet Staiger and Barbara Klinger, the module will demonstrate the historical development of spectacle and selling that lies behind the modern system of film production, distribution and exhibition. Understanding the theory and methodologically distinct approaches needed to analyse posters, press books, trailers, websites, interviews, and critical reviews will be an essential component to this module. Students will be expected to engage with both theories of film advertising and analysis of marketing materials and other related epiphenomena. While the module will consider some films that may be described as belonging to the ‘epic’ genre ('The Ten Commandments', 1956; or 'Gladiator', 2000) this module is not concerned with generic traits so much as spectacular production practices throughout film history, and the industrial practices that were invented to educate audiences in such new, spectacular, images and concepts. Using specific case studies, the module will trace the historical development of spectacle within filmmaking, and its role in redefining the function of film advertising and promotion. |
| STANLEY KUBRICK: FILMS IN CONTEXT | FTMF3F52 | 30 |
| Stanley Kubrick is regarded as one of the most important filmmakers of the 20th century, with '2001: A Space Odyssey' (1968) and 'Dr Strangelove' (1964) being listed in critics' polls as two of the best films ever made. Kubrick also was one of the most commercially successful directors of the 1960s and 1970s. This module concentrates on the 11 full-length films he made from 1956 to 1999, but also considers his early career as a photo-journalist and maker of documentary shorts and short features. The module examines the production, themes, style and reception of Kubrick's films, and situates them in the context of broader developments in American cinema, culture and politics. |
| TALES OF THE JAZZ AGE | AMSA3L31 | 30 |
| This module examines American prose of the 1920s in the context of the Jazz Age. American literature of the 20s is often conflated with modernism, or the expatriate experience, or the Harlem Renaissance; this module will consider 1920s writing in the context of the market and the rise of professional authorship, anxieties about imitation and the middlebrow and conformism, and the pressures of commercial success on fiction. It will draw on reception studies and the influence of publication formats (mass-market magazines, serial publication, the burgeoning market for film adaptations). Texts will be drawn from a mix of “high” and “low.” After considering the pressures of commercialism on the publication of The Waste Land, texts could include the short stories of Fitzgerald, This Side of Paradise, The Sun Also Rises, The Great Gatsby, Babbitt, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Winesburg, Ohio, Glimpses of the Moon, and Manhattan Transfer. Students will also be expected to research journalism of the day, such as The New Yorker and the New York Times, which have accessible online archives. |
| TALES OF THE JAZZ AGE | AMSA3L33 | 20 |
| This is a 20 credit version of AMSA3L31 TALES OF THE JAZZ AGE and is available only to Visiting students. |
| TEENAGE KICKS: MEDIA, YOUTH AND SUBCULTURE | FTMF3F61 | 30 |
| This module will address the historical development of the commercial youth market and introduce key debates relating to young people and their uses of mainstream and underground media. It will examine a range of theoretical approaches to youth culture, subculture and post-subculture, employing case studies of popular and alternative music, club culture, film, television, subcultural style and new digital technologies. It will address questions of ideology, identity and representation, most significantly issues of class, gender, race and ethnicity, and encourage students to discuss how cultural interests and practices are used to construct individual and group identities. It will focus primarily on the British post-war context – highlighting the influence of American popular culture, Black Diaspora and technological transformation on British youth – but will also examine young people’s media use and subcultures in other national and transnational contexts. The emphasis will be on analysing the extent to which cultural power is negotiated and resisted through shared media consumption and subculture formation |
| THE AMERICAN BODY | AMSA3S30 | 30 |
| This module reads the changing values, presentations and representations of the body that move through and construct American culture. This module will involve pairing theoretical perspectives with current and historical ideas of the body to allow us to interrogate intellectual and popular meanings assigned to and played out through the body, reading particular moments in American writing, art, photography and popular forms for the things they might tell us about corporality and self presentation, but also about the wider structures of the social and cultural environment. We will engage with canonical debates about race, gender, sexuality and ideas of ‘representation’, but also with categories that cut across and through these modes of reading – with the normal and the ideal, ideas of illness and wellness, ability and disability, of the organic and the machine, of the body under servitude, or under punishment, and with the whole idea of embodiment in itself. This module – like all other modules at this level - requires a substantial, regular, reading commitment. |
| THE AMERICAN BODY | AMSA3S32 | 20 |
| This is a 20 credit version of AMSA3S30 THE AMERICAN BODY and is available only to Visiting students. |
| THE GREAT SOCIETY: AMERICA FROM JFK & LBJ TO NIXON, 1960-74 | AMSA3H01 | 30 |
| This module follows the American story from 1960-1974, from the promise and tragedy of JFK’s Camelot, through the achievements and frustrations of LBJ’s Great Society, to the period of adjustment – and disillusionment – during the Presidency of Richard Nixon and the era of Watergate. The work covers the key political events of a period that saw a defining struggle between liberalism and conservatism – one which continues to resonate to this day. In part it focuses upon the politicians who helped define the era – such as Bobby Kennedy, Barry Goldwater, and George Wallace as well as the Presidents. But consideration is not confined to Washington politics: we will look at popular protest, from the Civil Rights movement and Black Power to the New Left, the peace movement, women’s liberation, and Stonewall. We consider the war on poverty, the politics of race, the emergence of a new environmental awareness, the questioning of gender, and the sexual revolution. In addition, the unit includes discussion of the continuing significance of the Cold War, not least in respect of Vietnam and the Space Race. Students are also invited to consider the ways in which the dramatic changes and conflicts of the era shaped American culture, especially movies, music, art, and literature |
| THE GREAT SOCIETY: AMERICA FROM JFK & LBJ TO NIXON, 1960-74 | AMSA3H03 | 20 |
| This is a 20 credit version of AMSA3H01 THE GREAT SOCIETY: AMERICA FROM JFK & LBJ TO NIXON, 1960-1974 and is available only to Visiting students. This module follows the American story from 1960-1974, from the promise and tragedy of JFK’s Camelot, through the achievements and frustrations of LBJ’s Great Society, to the period of adjustment – and disillusionment – during the Presidency of Richard Nixon and the era of Watergate. The work covers the key political events of a period that saw a defining struggle between liberalism and conservatism – one which continues to resonate to this day. In part it focuses upon the politicians who helped define the era – such as Bobby Kennedy, Barry Goldwater, and George Wallace as well as the Presidents. But consideration is not confined to Washington politics: we will look at popular protest, from the Civil Rights movement and Black Power to the New Left, the peace movement, women’s liberation, and Stonewall. We consider the war on poverty, the politics of race, the emergence of a new environmental awareness, the questioning of gender, and the sexual revolution. In addition, the unit includes discussion of the continuing significance of the Cold War, not least in respect of Vietnam and the Space Race. Students are also invited to consider the ways in which the dramatic changes and conflicts of the era shaped American culture, especially movies, music, art, and literature |
| THE LITERARY 1960s | AMSA3L23 | 30 |
| When thinking of the sixties, literature, in general, is not what immediately springs to mind - pushed, as it is, to the background of music and the counterculture. Yet the decade brought about many profound changes in the paradigms of literature. Amongst such changes was the proliferation of metafiction as a narrative response to both the 'exhaustion' of literature in the light of the period's dramatic events, and to the new literary and philosophical developments in critical theory (poststructuralism). There was also the emergence of two 'new' genres: new journalism, and the non-fiction novel. This module is an examination of literary responses to the many changes and challenges brought about in this decade. It will discuss whether literature simply recoiled into solipsistic abstraction or whether it was a motivating force in the general struggle to conceptualize a ‘new’ or countercultural American consciousness. |
| THE LITERARY 1960s | AMSA3L25 | 20 |
| This is a 20 credit version of AMSA3L23 THE LITERARY 1960s and is available only to Visiting students. |
| THE POETICS OF PLACE: POST 1945 AMERICAN POETRY AND ENVIRONMENT | AMSA3L24 | 30 |
| The American poet Charles Olson famously declared: ‘I take SPACE to be the central fact to man born in America, from Folsom cave to now. I spell it large because it comes large here. Large, and without mercy.’ This module explores how a range of linguistically innovative American poets, from 1945 to the present, have engaged this question of space and environment in their writings. There will be a particular focus on how scientific literature, natural history writing, field guides, and eco-criticism have contributed to poets’ theories of poetry and poetics as well as an emphasis on the role environmental notions of place and space play in forming and critiquing ideas of American identity. |
| THE POETICS OF PLACE: POST 1945 AMERICAN POETRY AND ENVIRONMENT | AMSA3L26 | 20 |
| This is a 20 credit version of AMSA3L26 THE POETICS OF PLACE: POST 1945 AMERICAN POETRY AND ENVIRONMENT and is available only to Visiting students. |
| THE RISING TIDE OF THE TRANSPACIFIC | AMSA3L35 | |
| This module considers the ways in which American literature has engaged with the opening up of Pacific space from the early nineteenth century to the present. From Melville’s adventures on whaling vessels throughout the Pacific, to Pearl Harbour and anxieties about Japanese presence in and beyond the borders of the United States, to writing by contemporary Asian-American authors whose work evinces influences from China, Korea and India, the texts on this course chart the ways in which the Pacific Ocean and its peoples have contributed to, created, and contested American national narratives. The module will develop students’ insights into issues of U.S. national history and cultural geography, and deepen their engagement with current theories of nationalism and transnationalism either in preparation for, or as a frame for reflection on, their studies abroad. |
| THE RISING TIDE OF THE TRANSPACIFIC | AMSA3L37 | 20 |
| This is a 20 credit version of AMSA3L35 THE RISING TIDE OF THE TRANSPACIFIC and is available only to Visiting students. |
| US INTERVENTIONISM, THE CIA AND COVERT ACTION | AMSA3H26 | 30 |
| The covert activities of the CIA represent arguably the most notorious face of US foreign relations. Yet to what extent is clandestine American interventionism consistent with official overt policies? And how do we come to understand covert action campaigns? This module will introduce the main conceptual and historic debates relevant to the analysis of covert action as a tool of US foreign relations. In so doing it will consider the institutions and processes behind covert action, especially the role of the CIA. It also considers the mediums that narrate and explain American covert action. This will provide a fuller and richer understanding of the United States’ place in the international system since World War II, its relationship to other states and non-state actors, and discussions about American identity and the nation’s role in the world. |
| US INTERVENTIONISM, THE CIA AND COVERT ACTION | AMSA3H28 | 20 |
| This is the 20 credit version of AMSA3H26 US INTERVENTIONISM, THE CIA AND COVERT ACTION and is available only to Visiting students. |
| WOMEN, ISLAM AND MEDIA | FTMF3F83 | 30 |
| BEFORE TAKING THIS MODULE YOU MUST TAKE EITHER FTVF1F09 OR TAKE PSI-1A05 OR TAKE PSI-1A06 This module intends to explore the relationship between women and Islam in contemporary media; particularly in film and television. The module is interdisciplinary in scope with readings and theoretical underpinnings from film and television studies as well as media, cultural and gender studies. The module is arranged thematically and focuses on different aspects of the relationship between women and Islam. Some of the themes and topics that will be studied in the module are: the political and religious resonance of the veil; Orientalism and Occidentalism’s significance to media studies; representations of consequences of arranged marriage in television; honour killings; trauma, terror and Islam and the representation of women as terrorists in films; the representation of silence, women and Islam in television adverts; international women’s film festivals. |
Film and American Studies is an interdisciplinary degree course, involving film studies, television studies, American literature, American history and cultural studies.
UEA was one of the first British universities to develop the study of cinema and television.