American Studies
School of Humanities
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
Last Updated 18 December 2012

Principal Course Timetable Blocks 1


American Studies Dual Honours - Level 1 Modules

Semester 1 C/O TYP ECTSCATS
AMS-10022 A Beginner's Guide to Contemporary America C C 7.5 15
What is the United States really like? American's like to think of their country as exceptional. How might the U.S. be considered exceptional, and does it live up to that reputation? This course will explore American Society and the many complex aspects of the country and culture that make it distinctive. You will consider and critique its founding as a country based, not upon history or a homogeneous population, but upon the political principles of freedom and democracy. You will also examine its history as a nation of immigrants, as depicted by the words on the base of the Statue of Liberty. Race, religion, class, politics: all of these aspects of society appear to clearly set the U.S. apart from Europe, but how and to what extent? The social and historical differences have also led to a very distinctive culture, which we will examine from the standpoint of music and sport. How did that culture arise and what is its future in a globalised world? We will explore this influential culture and nation from the perspective of historical documents, written texts, audio, and video to give a full flavour of this nation and its culture.
AMS-10025 Starting Out: An Introduction to American Literature EP C 7.5 15
`Starting Out' introduces students to a number of important nineteenth- and twentieth-century literary texts, to major themes in American literature (the Gothic, the city, commodity culture, the `American Adam', constructions of gender, class and race) and to relevant historical contexts (the Revolution, slavery and the Civil War, the Great Depression, Vietnam). The module is designed to introduce students to the standards and conventions of university-level work and to develop appropriate writing and research skills. Works studied include: `The Fall of the House of Usher', the slave narrative, `The Yellow Wallpaper' and `The Great Gatsby'.
FIL-10001 Reading Film EA C 7.5 15
Of all forms of communication, film often seems the most obvious, pleasurable and self-explanatory. With an emphasis on variety of film practice, this module aims to introduce students to the essential elements of film narrative and engage them in thinking critically about the choices made by film-makers in constructing the look and sound of their films. We will be asking, therefore, how meaning is created in the cinema, as well as what ideas and arguments such meanings may generate among critically aware spectators of it. In doing so we will be exploring the richness and complexity of cinema's potential to communicate with its spectators through a carefully selected variety of films. Represented amongst these will not only be the classic Hollywood model with which we are all most familiar, but also films from other national and artistic traditions. These will be examined in the context of both fortnightly lecture/workshops and weekly small group classes.
HIS-10030 Historical Research and Writing EA C 7.5 15
This course introduces first-year students to the study of History at university. It will provide you with the particular skills you will need to study History and which you will apply throughout your degree course. Your tutor will devise a historical topic or debate through which to identify and apply the skills needed to undertake historical research and writing. The lecture programme provides an introduction to the practises expected of and the resources available to a History student at Keele. It also introduces you to the range of historical research undertaken by History staff at Keele - the questions asked; the techniques used; the range of historical writing produced and its relevance to today. Small group seminars supported by a series of exercises will provide the means to locate the acquisition and development of skills within the study of a specific historical debate or topic. The course is assessed by a number of written exercises and an essay. Although primarily designed for History students, this course will also appeal to students of other Humanities and Social Science subjects.
PIR-10048 Mass Media in America: If it Bleeds, It Leads EA M 7.5 15
This module explores the different types of media in the United States, focusing on newspapers, TV, radio and the internet. Students will learn to analyse the structure and content of these media. How does America differ from Britain? For a start, most people read local papers. Similarly, most people watch local, not national, news. Does local versus national matter? One difference is a heavy emphasis upon crime and violence, prompting the saying "if it bleeds, it leads." Interestingly, while there is lots of violence, Americans are much more prudish about sex. This course encourages you to analyse the form and content of the media to understand why it looks the way it does. The issues raised in the course will give you better insight into British, as well as American, media
Semester 2 C/O TYP ECTSCATS
AMS-10023 The Unreliable Truth: Studies in Twentieth-Century English and American Literatures EP C 7.5 15
"The Unreliable Truth" looks at the ways twentieth-century British and American writers - including Virginia Woolf, George Orwell, Kurt Vonnegut and Maxine Hong Kingston - experiment with different types of narration to challenge the idea of reliablility in storytelling. Various techniques are studied, including first-person narration, stream of consciousness and metafictional strategies, and throughout the module students are encouraged to compare and contrast texts through open discussion and close textual reading, as well as looking at the historical and cultural contexts in which the texts were written in order to speculate on why different techniques were adopted. This module is intended to build on level 1 literature modules taken in the first semester, and makes a natural pair with AMS-10027 Transatlantic Gothic: Studies in 19thC English and American Literatures.
AMS-10024 New York, New York: An Introduction to American Culture C M 7.5 15
New York City holds a special place in the popular imagination. Immortalised in cinema, literature, visual art and song, it continues to symbolise much that is iconic about the United States, but also to maintain a unique identity as somewhere diverse, inclusive, democratic and edgy. This module offers Level I students a chance to explore and discuss the icons, the myths and the realities of this infamous urban space, and at the same time, through a range of texts which includes literature, film, visual art and journalism, demonstrate the unique cross-disciplinary approach of American Studies as a degree programme.
AMS-10026 The American Past: Explorations in U.S. History EP C 7.5 15
The American Past module is designed to equip students with a basic grounding in U.S. history from the colonial period to the present day. It stresses the multifaceted character of American development, interweaving such issues as nationalism, race, gender, and class in a broad narrative and thematic synthesis. Students will be particularly encouraged to develop specific insights into the American historical experience through investigation of documentary evidence which will provide the the basis for seminar discussion.
AMS-10027 Transatlantic Gothic: Studies in Nineteenth-Century English and American Literature EP C 7.5 15
`Transatlantic Gothic' is an exciting and innovative course which introduces students to one of the most important of nineteenth-century literary genres, both in England and the United States. Students study the prominent texts of this period both individually and comparatively, and are given training in key critical and theoretical concepts (for example, psychoanalytical, deconstructionist and Marxist approaches to Gothic literature). The module is designed to develop intermediate writing and research skills; a formative assessment and individual feedback is also provided. Authors studied may include: Bram Stoker, Mary Shelley, Edgar Allan Poe, Charles Brockden Brown and Henry James. The course combines a variety of traditional learning activities (lectures and seminars) with small group work carried out in workshops. A balance of shorter and longer reading assignments makes the workload manageable.
FIL-10002 Approaches to Film EA C 7.5 15
Who is the author of a film? How do we categorize and make sense of films in relation to each other? How is the meaning of a film shaped by the historical period or national culture that produced it? What sorts of ideas and ideologies about gender and race do films include or exclude? This module provides an introduction to all these questions addressed within film theory. Like any other discipline of enquiry, Film Studies has generated a set of debates about value and meaning that revolve around some key questions, concepts and terms. Through a series of fortnightly two hour workshop lectures and weekly small group classes, this module will examine the development of critical thinking on the cinema and will invite students to debate, question and apply ideas on: film authorship; film genre; history; film politics. Each of these critical areas will be investigated with reference to an exciting range of films, chosen for the way they have shaped film history and challenged cinema's potential as a form of art and entertainment. Indicative study texts may include: 'The Rocky Horror Picture Show' (Dir. Sharman, 1975), 'Modern Times' (Dir. Chaplin, 1936) and 'Breathless' (Dir. Godard, 1960).
PIR-10039 Debates in American Politics EA C 7.5 15
American Politics is driven by debate. Americans are divided over their foreign policy. Over social issues such as race and abortion, the U.S. has embarked upon debates so heated that they're sometimes referred to as the "culture wars". Then there are ongoing contests over areas such as education and environmental policy. This module will introduce to many of these debates. Each week, we look at a new policy area and get you to debate the rights and wrongs of current U.S. policy and where it should go next. The module also serves to introduce you to the subject of American Politics - it's all pitched at those new to the topic. Much of the module depends on your presentations, advocating one side or the other of a debate in a key policy area. Over the semester, you should learn about a series of policy debates, who's advocating what and develop your skills in presentation and argument.

American Studies Dual Honours - Level 2 Modules

Semester 1 C/O TYP ECTSCATS
AMS-20027 AMS - Study Abroad I (dble) EP C 15 30
This is a module that is automatically allocated to the records our Keele level II students who are going to Study Abroad at a partner University for a semester of their second year and cannot be selected by any other level II students.
AMS-20028 AMS - Study Abroad II (dble) EP C 15 30
This is a module that is automatically allocated to the records our Keele level II students who are going to Study Abroad at a partner University for a semester of their second year and cannot be selected by any other level II students.
AMS-20058 The Detective and the American City O C 7.5 15
Students are invited to analyse and discuss the relationship between the detective and the city across a number of cultural fields - primarily literature, but also visual art and film. Throughout, the detective is taken as a figure which reflects economic, demographic, cultural and political changes in American cities, and anxieties about identity and status attending those changes. Attention is also paid to the detective as a peculiarly reflexive figure - someone who, in his or her quest to reconstruct plot and deliver explanation, reflects the processes both of the reader and the writer. The module looks not only at traditional detectives, but also at broader theoretical issues of reading, spectatorship and criticism which will be of value to students in their further literary studies.
AMS-20058 The Detective and the American City EP C 7.5 15
Students are invited to analyse and discuss the relationship between the detective and the city across a number of cultural fields - primarily literature, but also visual art and film. Throughout, the detective is taken as a figure which reflects economic, demographic, cultural and political changes in American cities, and anxieties about identity and status attending those changes. Attention is also paid to the detective as a peculiarly reflexive figure - someone who, in his or her quest to reconstruct plot and deliver explanation, reflects the processes both of the reader and the writer. The module looks not only at traditional detectives, but also at broader theoretical issues of reading, spectatorship and criticism which will be of value to students in their further literary studies.
AMS-20063 History of the United States in the Twentieth Century O M 7.5 15
The module seeks to engage students in a critical and analytical look at the central themes of America's domestic development in the twentieth century as a backdrop for understanding society and politics in the United States today. It offers a diversity of social, economic, political and cultural perspectives and will equip students with the basic historical tools for more detailed investigation. On the one hand the module examines the general political, social, and cultural undercurrents since 1900. On the other hand it takes a closer look at some of the key events and developments during the past century that left a long-term imprint on American society.
AMS-20063 History of the United States in the Twentieth Century EP M 7.5 15
The module seeks to engage students in a critical and analytical look at the central themes of America's domestic development in the twentieth century as a backdrop for understanding society and politics in the United States today. It offers a diversity of social, economic, political and cultural perspectives and will equip students with the basic historical tools for more detailed investigation. On the one hand the module examines the general political, social, and cultural undercurrents since 1900. On the other hand it takes a closer look at some of the key events and developments during the past century that left a long-term imprint on American society.
AMS-20064 The Romance of Fiction: History and Society in Nineteenth Century American Literature O M 7.5 15
This module analyses the major form of the American novel in the Nineteenth Century, defined as 'Romance' to distinguish it from the European novel which expresses itself predominantly in realistic form. Congruent with political and social ambitions for democracy, the 'Romance' suggests liberations of various kinds, principally a freedom from the constraints of too close an allegiance with the visible world, and as an alternative, proposes an arena of imaginative free-play which questions the seeming givens of that visibility. Here, the form is strongly bound up with providing alternative views and understandings of history.
AMS-20064 The Romance of Fiction: History and Society in Nineteenth Century American Literature EP M 7.5 15
This module analyses the major form of the American novel in the Nineteenth Century, defined as 'Romance' to distinguish it from the European novel which expresses itself predominantly in realistic form. Congruent with political and social ambitions for democracy, the 'Romance' suggests liberations of various kinds, principally a freedom from the constraints of too close an allegiance with the visible world, and as an alternative, proposes an arena of imaginative free-play which questions the seeming givens of that visibility. Here, the form is strongly bound up with providing alternative views and understandings of history.
ENG-20041 Aspects of the Novel 1740-1930 EA C 7.5 15
'Aspects of the Novel 1740-1930' is particularly appropriate for those students taking English or English and American Literatures, but can be taken by all students who have an interest in and enjoy reading novels. Students who enjoyed Telling Tales at Level 1 will find this module builds on their existing knowledge and takes them further in the study of the novel. Students who did not take Telling Tales are very welcome, but might need to spend a little more time preparing (i.e. reading the novels) before the module starts, to leave time to absorb some of the critical concepts the module discusses. The module looks at a key period in the development of the English novel, between 1740 and 1930. Five novels have been chosen- Samuel Richardon's Pamela (Vol 1), Maria Edgeworth's Castle Rackrent, Anthony Trollope's The Way We Live Now, Arnold Bennett's Anna of the Five Towns, and Dorothy Richardson's Pilgrimage (Vol. 2). Each novel is exemplary of a certain moment in the novel's development as a genre. In order to analyse these developments, the module introduces some of the key theories of the novel as presented by historical, Marxist, feminist, formalist, and poststructuralist criticism. Theories of the novel will be introduced in the form of exemplary essays, which will be made available on WebCT, and then contextualised and explained in dedicated lectures which use the set novels as examples. The module is taught through one lecture and one tutorial per week. It is assessed by one short essay (1500 words, 20% of the overall assessment) and one longer essay (2500 words, 80% of the overall assessment).
HIS-20066 Imperialism and Empire EA M 7.5 15
This module examines the dynamics of the `imperial age' of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. What were the motives for the expansion of the imperial power? What tools and methods did the imperial powers use to govern huge empires? How did imperial ideas contribute to the creation of new racial, ethnic, sexual and religious identities amongst the subject peoples of Empire? How did Empire reshape the identities of European societies? These questions are considered from the perspective of both the colonizer and the colonized within British and German Empires, drawing on case studies from Africa and India. Topics include: Sex and Empire; Hunting and Empire; Disease, Medicine and Empire; Colonialism and the Camera; Christianity and Empire; the German Occupation of Namibia, and Post-colonialism.
PIR-20070 The UN in world politics EA M 7.5 15
The United Nations has shaped international relations in multiple, complex and significant ways, but has not had the kind of impact for which many people hoped. Students taking this course will be able to explain why. They will analyse the interplay between world politics and international organisation by reference to the background to the creation of the United Nations; the lessons learned from the failure (and successes) of the UN's predecessor, the League of Nations; the policies of member states; and the international environment. Students will have the opportunity to work in teams as well as study topics that particulary interest them. In so doing they will further develop their ability to conduct research using a variety of sources to analyse the role of the UN in world politics. Assessment will be by means of one 2,000-word essay (50 per cent) and one two-hour unseen examination (50 per cent).
PIR-20071 U.S Government and Politics EA C 7.5 15
Through a detailed examination and analysis of the US governmental institutions, political parties, voting behaviour, interest groups, and public opinion, students will gain an understanding how the mass public can influence the making of public policy. This approach will enable students to identify, research, analyse and comment on the key issues facing the US political system developing their understanding of the interactivity of its component parts. An analysis of the literature will introduce students to the different conceptual frameworks and methodologies that have been adopted by leading US political scientists providing an intellectually rigorous training for the further study of the US political system.
Semester 2 C/O TYP ECTSCATS
AMS-20039 AMS - Study Abroad III (dble) EP C 15 30
This is a module that is automatically allocated to the records our Keele level II students who are going to Study Abroad at a partner University for a semester of their second year and cannot be selected by any other level II students.
AMS-20040 AMS - Study Abroad IV (dble) EP C 15 30
This is a module that is automatically allocated to the records our Keele level II students who are going to Study Abroad at a partner University for a semester of their second year and cannot be selected by any other level II students.
# AMS-20056 Burning Crosses: Religion and American Culture EP M 7.5 15
This module offers a broadly chronological look at religion&©s importance in American cultural movements. It aims to raise students&© awareness of the complex interactions between religious faith and cultural production through readings of a wide variety of stimulating and challenging texts, from literature, cinema and visual art. These diverse texts, which deal with equally diverse belief systems, show how in both celebration of and violent reaction to organised religion, culture is inextricably bound up with belief. One of the questions the module will address is: in an era when the death of religion has been widely cited, how does one account for the apparent resurgence and centrality of religious belief in American life?
# AMS-20056 Burning Crosses: Religion and American Culture O M 7.5 15
This module offers a broadly chronological look at religion&©s importance in American cultural movements. It aims to raise students&© awareness of the complex interactions between religious faith and cultural production through readings of a wide variety of stimulating and challenging texts, from literature, cinema and visual art. These diverse texts, which deal with equally diverse belief systems, show how in both celebration of and violent reaction to organised religion, culture is inextricably bound up with belief. One of the questions the module will address is: in an era when the death of religion has been widely cited, how does one account for the apparent resurgence and centrality of religious belief in American life?
AMS-20061 Alfred Hitchcock's America O C 7.5 15
Alfred Hitchcock was an historian, critic, and analyst of American culture, as becomes clear by focusing on some of the greatest films he made in Hollywood from the early 1940s until the late $ù50s. We will pursue cultural and politicised readings, while also attending in detail to both the production histories of his films $ú the stars, studios, and collaborators he worked with - and, through close attention to detail, their paramount formal features. Themes considered include the relation between national security and sexual identity, the complicity of cinema in a surveillance culture, fashion and the politics of gender construction. This module is designed for students who have already taken a film module, and is not recommended for those without some relevant previous experience.
AMS-20061 Alfred Hitchcock's America EP C 7.5 15
Alfred Hitchcock was an historian, critic, and analyst of American culture, as becomes clear by focusing on some of the greatest films he made in Hollywood from the early 1940s until the late $ù50s. We will pursue cultural and politicised readings, while also attending in detail to both the production histories of his films $ú the stars, studios, and collaborators he worked with - and, through close attention to detail, their paramount formal features. Themes considered include the relation between national security and sexual identity, the complicity of cinema in a surveillance culture, fashion and the politics of gender construction. This module is designed for students who have already taken a film module, and is not recommended for those without some relevant previous experience.
AMS-20065 From Modernity to Counter-Culture: American Literature and Social Criticism in the Twentieth Century O C 7.5 15
The transformations within American society during the Twentieth Century have been amongst the most far-reaching of any western culture. It is the purpose of this module to address the literary responses to this period of radical change, taking its examples from both poetry and prose. These examples will be shown to register and confront social, political and cultural issues both directly and indirectly in order to develop a knowledge of literature's alterability within the modern and postmodern eras, its responsiveness to changing material and ideological conditions, and the varying shapes of that responsiveness. A key question will be the extent to which any literary text critiques or colludes with its social occasion.
AMS-20065 From Modernity to Counter-Culture: American Literature and Social Criticism in the Twentieth Century EP C 7.5 15
The transformations within American society during the Twentieth Century have been amongst the most far-reaching of any western culture. It is the purpose of this module to address the literary responses to this period of radical change, taking its examples from both poetry and prose. These examples will be shown to register and confront social, political and cultural issues both directly and indirectly in order to develop a knowledge of literature's alterability within the modern and postmodern eras, its responsiveness to changing material and ideological conditions, and the varying shapes of that responsiveness. A key question will be the extent to which any literary text critiques or colludes with its social occasion.
AMS-20074 Discovering America: From Empires to Revolutions EP M 7.5 15
This module is suitable for students who have already taken history modules and acquired a solid grounding in the methods of historical research, analysis, and writing. This module looks in detail at the development of the Atlantic world from exploration through imperial settlement, the growth of European empires in North and South America, revolutions and American independence. It covers a wide range of topics; exploration and the age of enlightenment, the growth of empires and colonisation in the early modern period, migration patterns, the development of international trade networks, changing notions of race, class and gender, the age of revolutions and the struggle for independence in the Americas. Learners will gain an in-depth familiarity of a variety of case-studies related to the role and place of Europe in the wider Atlantic world between the fifteenth and eighteenth centuries. It will explore the impact and influence of Europe on the development and growth of the New World and, equally, the impact and influence of the New World on the political, economic, and cultural development of the Old World. Furthermore, it will look at the Atlantic as part of the new global order including Africa. It will also look at the political and intellectual links between the social orders which evolved in the New and Old Worlds, in both slave and free societies. By the application of advanced historiographical methods of research students will be able to to piece together the narrative of the Atlantic world and debate issues surrounding discovery, peopling and de-peopling of the Americas, migration and labour, the slave trade and Africa, the growth of European ports and cities, and the development of colonial rule and the 'Revolutionary Atlantic' including the American and Haitian revolutions. Furthermore, they will gain a conceptual understanding that enables them to apply critically paradigms generated by historians and social scientists, some of which are at the forefront of debates over the development of world and comparative histories of empire. Students taking this module will obtain the ability to evaluate the differing value of conflicting approaches, a process that throws into relief the uncertainty, ambiguity and limits of knowledge but also the possibility of achieving methodological objectivity. They will also learn or improve their time management skills and be able to manage their own learning by generating essay topics themselves, and make use of scholarly articles and primary sources relating to Atlantic histories in a way that goes beyond the insights available from secondary sources alone.
AMS-20074 Discovering America: From Empires to Revolutions O M 7.5 15
This module is suitable for students who have already taken history modules and acquired a solid grounding in the methods of historical research, analysis, and writing. This module looks in detail at the development of the Atlantic world from exploration through imperial settlement, the growth of European empires in North and South America, revolutions and American independence. It covers a wide range of topics; exploration and the age of enlightenment, the growth of empires and colonisation in the early modern period, migration patterns, the development of international trade networks, changing notions of race, class and gender, the age of revolutions and the struggle for independence in the Americas. Learners will gain an in-depth familiarity of a variety of case-studies related to the role and place of Europe in the wider Atlantic world between the fifteenth and eighteenth centuries. It will explore the impact and influence of Europe on the development and growth of the New World and, equally, the impact and influence of the New World on the political, economic, and cultural development of the Old World. Furthermore, it will look at the Atlantic as part of the new global order including Africa. It will also look at the political and intellectual links between the social orders which evolved in the New and Old Worlds, in both slave and free societies. By the application of advanced historiographical methods of research students will be able to to piece together the narrative of the Atlantic world and debate issues surrounding discovery, peopling and de-peopling of the Americas, migration and labour, the slave trade and Africa, the growth of European ports and cities, and the development of colonial rule and the 'Revolutionary Atlantic' including the American and Haitian revolutions. Furthermore, they will gain a conceptual understanding that enables them to apply critically paradigms generated by historians and social scientists, some of which are at the forefront of debates over the development of world and comparative histories of empire. Students taking this module will obtain the ability to evaluate the differing value of conflicting approaches, a process that throws into relief the uncertainty, ambiguity and limits of knowledge but also the possibility of achieving methodological objectivity. They will also learn or improve their time management skills and be able to manage their own learning by generating essay topics themselves, and make use of scholarly articles and primary sources relating to Atlantic histories in a way that goes beyond the insights available from secondary sources alone.
ENG-20036 Twentieth Century Novels into Films EA C 7.5 15
Film has always had a close relationship to the novel through both literary adaptation and novelists who have also been screenplay writers. It has, nonetheless, frequently been framed as the poor relation of the two in terms of cultural value. By examining the distinctiveness and complexity of film language and the relative parameters of literary and film modes of narration, this module will examine some of the key but distinctive questions that need to be addressed when thinking about how film and literature make meaning. The module is specifically focused on the construction of history within narrative and will investigate how the categories of personal and collective memory, political conflict, change, national identity and gender are articulated in three novels and their film adaptations.
HIS-20067 Sources and Debates EA C 7.5 15
Most students who read history as undergraduates tend to read one book (at most) concerned with the question 'What is History?', and they usually do this before they have done any real historical research. Thereafter, their training tends to be conducted 'on the job'. If they reflect on the nature, theory or ideology which underpins what they practice, they tend to focus on issues which surface in assessments, learning that writing which is merely descriptive is not rewarded but that writing which is analytical gains good marks. Via the electives website you are asked to choose between medieval and modern history, or between political and social history, where the nature of the historian's work in each case is left as self-evident. But ask yourself the following questions: On what basis do historians claim to 'know' about the past? Why do historians disagree? What exactly is history which is 'out of date'? What is historical evidence? Aside from the area of their interest, can I tell the difference between any two of the historians who have taught me? If you can't think how to respond to these questions, should you be able to call yourself a graduate in history? This module has been designed to help you to reflect on the nature of the subject in which you are being trained. We believe that history is a distinctive discipline and that you will acquire a deeper understanding of how it is (and has been) practised, partly by listening and reading, partly by practical experience.
HIS-20078 Power in the Modern World EA M 7.5 15
What is power? How is it attained, maintained, and relinquished? Who has power, and for what reasons? Is it located in individuals, groups, classes, or nations? How does it change? This course covers models, theories, and themes that address the question of power since the French Revolution. The module seeks to examine the impact of specific historical forces, including nationalism, fascism, state building and imperialism. It also endeavours to assess different explanations for power in the past two hundred years, including gender, Marxism, and post-structuralist approaches (Foucault, Bourdieu). The course will provide students with the analytical tools to study the nature of power as it emerged in the modern period.
MDS-20017 Politics and Cinema EA M 7.5 15
This module seeks to introduce students to some of the great works of world cinema and to investigate the major ideological tendencies of the twentieth-century and key moments in modern and contemporary politics as these have been reflected in film. Topics central to this module include revolution, totalitarianism, nationalism and terrorism. The scope is international and settings include North and South America, Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Films studied on the course are likely to include: Alan J. Pakula&©s All the President&©s Men; Francis Ford Coppola&©s Apocalypse Now; Michael Moore&©s Fahrenheit 9/11; Eisenstein&©s Battleship Potemkin; Askoldov&©s Commissar; Mikhalkov&©s Burnt by the Sun; The Lives of Others; Goodbye Lenin!; Ken Loach&©s The Wind that Shakes the Barley; Neil Jordan&©s Michael Collins; Richard Attenborough&©s Cry Freedom; Pontecorvo&©s The Battle of Algiers; Kevin Macdonald&©s One Day in September; Spielberg&©s Munich (2005). The module will not presume any knowledge of film, but will nevertheless regard the films as cinematic works. The main focus will be on events, ideas and political developments, and how they are reflected cinematically. A general background knowledge of the twentieth century will be important although this module will not require deep specialist knowledge of any given country.
MDS-20019 Analysing Culture EA C 7.5 15
In Analysing Culture we consider how culture enables people to make sense of their personal and social lives. The first session of the course refers to Geertz&©s classic paper on Balinese society to introduce the concept of culture. The key question we want to ask through our study of Geertz essay is $ùwhat is culture?&© Following this example of an anthropologically strange culture we move on to think about the construction of national identity through a consideration of Hall&©s work on western identity, Said&©s essay on orientalism, Anderson&©s notion of imaginary communities, and various representations of contemporary nationality. Although the nation has provided a strong cultural map for people since the middle of the 17th century, the rise of modern urbanism has challenged this cultural form through its embrace of privacy and a culture of alienation. In week 3 we consider urban culture, read Simmel&©s classic essay on the metropolitan mind, and think about the ways in which the city is represented today. In the next session we show how people have sought to relate culture to the problem of alienation in modern culture. In week 4 we think about the notion of consumer culture through Adorno and Horkheimer&©s idea of mass culture and Klein's theory of branding and consider how commodities might work like narcotics that numb our senses to the impoverished reality of our one-dimensional society. Our key cultural texts here is Danny Boyle&©s film Trainspotting. In the second part of the course we begin by thinking about cultural politics. In week 5 we focus on Bourdieu&©s idea of distinction and think about how far his theory reflects popular uses of culture in the contemporary world. For Bourdieu culture is not simply a form of deception, but rather a tool that people use in order to try to distinguish themselves from other people in the endless struggle that is competitive capitalism. Although Bourdieu suggests that people use culture for their own purposes, he thinks that they use it unimaginatively and strictly within the confines of capitalist ideology. Thus we may say that Bourdieu is essentially a Marxist. In week 6 we try to extend the Marxist theory of culture through an exploration of the works on the key writers on everyday life. In particular we refer to the idea of contested culture expressed in the works of the French theorists of constructed space and everyday life, Lefebvre and de Certeau. The purpose of this exercise is to suggest that culture may be a space of negotiation, contestation, and confrontation, rather than simply a mechanism of deception or distinction. In week 7 we extend our exploration of this idea of cultural resistance through a discussion of the theory of sub-culture. This theory shows how new communities are able to emerge through consumer relations and cultural performance. We address this theory through a consideration of the classic example of punk, the more contemporary case of gangsta rap, and a reading of the works of the cultural sociologists of performance, Goffman, Garfinkel, and Mead. In the final three weeks of the course we move on to focus on theories of post-modernism, the culturally constructed body, and globalisation. In week 8 we explore the idea of post-modern culture through Dominic Strinati&©s essay on the topic, David Lynch&©s cinema, and Fredric Jameson&©s influential paper, Post-modernism, Or, The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism. For Jameson culture is the dominant form of identification in post-modern society. He thinks that people no longer worry about economics or politics, but rather understand these categories through culture. What does this mean? We will try to find out week 10 when we consider the ideas of global culture and anti-capitalism. But before we consider global culture, we examine the post-modern concern for the body and in particular Bordo's theory of the economic body. In week 9 we approach Bordo's theory through a cultural history of thinking about and imaging the body, taking in the Greek God body, the modern super-hero body, and the post-modern techno body, represented by both Haraway's cyborg, Bordo's metabolic body, and various science fiction bodies. Our study of the body, and body image, allows us to think about the ways that politics and economics are subsumed in culture in global society. Shifting from a study of the microcosm of the body to the macrocosm of the globalised world, in week 10 we refer to the works of contemporary writers, such as Giddens and Beck, who dispute the claims of the conflict theorists, such as Adorno and Horkheimer, by arguing that there is no monolithic centre of power that imposes meaning upon people&©s lives in global society. Rather Giddens and Beck argue that contemporary culture is characterised by risk, chance, and freedom of choice. In this session we think about their suggestion that traditional power structures no longer hold in post-modern / global society through an exploration of the idea of the new social movement and in particular anti-capitalist cultural politics. Our core text for this session is the recent film, Fight Club, which connects visions of the body and globalised consumer capitalism to issues of revolutionary cultural politics.
PIR-20061 Peace, Conflict and Security: Theories and Practice EA M 7.5 15
This module introduces students to the problem of security as it is addressed in the academic discipline of International Relations and as it is understood by practicioners of international politics at the level of governments and other kinds of actors in world politics. The study of security is still the single most influential sub-discipline within International Relations and the search for security in its various forms is at the heart of many activities and policies at the international level. Through this module students become familiar with the key conceptual debates in the literature on international security and come to appreciate the implications of these debates for events in the real world of international politics. They develop the ability to apply a range of relevant ideas about the nature of conflict and conflict resolution to gain a critical understanding of how security questions develop and how the security agenda is shaped, looking especially at the elements of continuity and change in the security agenda since the Cold War began to wane in the mid-1980s through to the 2010s. In addition to learning how to analyse key aspects of the security problematique - a set of problems, concepts, and theoretical debates that still lie near the heart of the discipline of International Relations - students refine their ability to conduct independent research, to evaluate and employ abstract concepts and theories in making sense of and evaluating potential solutions to real-world problems, and effectively to communicate complex arguments supported by appropriate evidence. The final module mark is based upon the following: 750-word annotated bibliography (15%); 2,000 word essay (45%); 2-hour unseen written exam (40%).
PIR-20068 Why Policy Changes EA C 7.5 15
Why do some policies change while others stay the same? Ultimately, most politics is about what governments do, or don't do. While many scholars of politics work in specific fields (e.g. legislatures, transport policy), those working in the field of public policy try to explain the whole: how does the system fit together to produce change or continuity in the way the government acts? That questions raises further issues: how do agendas work?, how do people in a policy area work together or compete with one another?, how does policy reflect people's political interests? This module introduces you to the work and methods of these scholars. There are three assessments for the module: two short written pieces which ask you to consider two particular areas of public policy scholarship (each of 1200 words and each worth 25% of your final module mark) and a policy analysis essay examining a policy area of your choice (2000 words, worth 50% of your final module mark). If you're after some indicative reading, try John Kingdon's Agendas, Alternatives and Public Policies or Michael Hill's The Public Policy Process. If you've ever wondered about questions of policy, such as why the trains don't run on time, or why you're paying fees to study at university, this module might help you understand.

American Studies Dual Honours - Level 3 Modules

Semester 1 C/O TYP ECTSCATS
AMS-30029 Social Thought and Social Movements in the US O M 7.5 15
For a nation conceived in revolution, radical social thought has always had a special cultural and political significance, in spite of the apparent dominance of liberal capitalism as the main mode of ordering political, socio-economic, and cultural relations. This module explores selected critical social movements and intellectual traditions in the US, using both primary and secondary sources. This will serve both as an introduction to the field of the history of ideas and as a means of understanding the main contributions American culture has made to traditions of Western social thought.
AMS-30029 Social Thought and Social Movements in the US EP M 7.5 15
For a nation conceived in revolution, radical social thought has always had a special cultural and political significance, in spite of the apparent dominance of liberal capitalism as the main mode of ordering political, socio-economic, and cultural relations. This module explores selected critical social movements and intellectual traditions in the US, using both primary and secondary sources. This will serve both as an introduction to the field of the history of ideas and as a means of understanding the main contributions American culture has made to traditions of Western social thought.
AMS-30031 Silence, Strength and Sentiment: Gender and Sexuality in Nineteenth-Century American Writing O C 7.5 15
The nineteenth century saw great changes in American society. Rapid urbanisation and industrialisation, shifts in economic structure, the movement away from a hard, masculine, Puritan Christianity toward more domesticated and sociable forms of worship: these trends and more had profound effects on the way gender roles were defined and perceived. This module looks at a number of major literary works by canonical U.S. authors and explores the ways in which anxieties about changing gender roles and relationships were dramatised and narrativised. It also explores the relationship between authorship, gender and sexuality and how the demands of the literary marketplace may have placed particular demands on both male and female authors of the time.
AMS-30031 Silence, Strength and Sentiment: Gender and Sexuality in Nineteenth-Century American Writing EP C 7.5 15
The nineteenth century saw great changes in American society. Rapid urbanisation and industrialisation, shifts in economic structure, the movement away from a hard, masculine, Puritan Christianity toward more domesticated and sociable forms of worship: these trends and more had profound effects on the way gender roles were defined and perceived. This module looks at a number of major literary works by canonical U.S. authors and explores the ways in which anxieties about changing gender roles and relationships were dramatised and narrativised. It also explores the relationship between authorship, gender and sexuality and how the demands of the literary marketplace may have placed particular demands on both male and female authors of the time.
ENG-30067 The Writer As Psychologist - the Great Russian Realists EA M 7.5 15
The Russian realists - Turgenev, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy and Chekhov - number among Russia&©s most profound influences on European culture. In the hands of such writers realism became a potent medium for social criticism and also for psychological analysis. This module concentrates particularly on the latter function. As early as the 1840s we can see the contours of the psychological novel developing in Lermontov&©s idiosyncratically structured A Hero of Our Time, with its alienated hero or $ùsuperfluous man&©. By the 1860s Turgenev is able to elaborate this literary type into a proto-revolutionary hero in his novel Fathers and Children. Dostoevsky&©s celebrated Crime and Punishment explores the relationship between crime and guilt, a theme also central to Tolstoy&©s The Kreutzer Sonata. The Death of Ivan Ilyich, also by Tolstoy, revolves around an existential crisis precipitated by terminal illness. The Cherry Orchard, probably Chekhov&©s best known play, explores the tragedy of nostalgic self-delusion. All of these works anticipate and lay the foundations for the Freudian and existentialist revolutions which were to transform twentieth-century thought. Russian realism was also radically concerned with female psychology. This module features remarkable gynocentric works which powerfully document women&©s varied reactions to their social predicament in nineteenth-century Russia: the assertive heroines of Turgenev&©s On the Eve and Khvoshchinskaya&©s Boarding-School Girl and, as the new century opens, Chekhov&©s Three Sisters dreaming of Moscow in their provincial backwater.
PIR-30117 The U.S. Presidency EP M 7.5 15
The high profile of the U.S. presidency is undeniable. Whether occupied by a Bush or an Obama, the office is also perceived as one of the most powerful institutions in the world. Yet, in a political system designed around a separation of powers, the capacity to lead is not guaranteed. This module allows you to consider the different techniques presidents use to lead and whether those techniques work. The module is taught in two-hour seminars and is assessed by a three-section portfolio (60%) and examination (40%). The portfolio is an opportunity for you to examine presidential leadership in a series of policy areas of your choice, while the examination asks you to consider the strengths and weaknesses of scholarship on the presidency. The set text (and so, pretty good indicative reading) is George Edwards and Stephen Wayne's Presidential Leadership.
SOC-30025 Streets, Skyscrapers, and Slums: The City in Social, Cultural, and Historical Context EA C 7.5 15
In this module we trace the cultural politics of the city from Ancient Athens to contemporary mega-cities, such as Los Angeles, Tokyo, and Lagos. Following the introductory lecture, which examines the meaning of the original cities of the ancient world, the first part of the module, modern cities, offers a consideration of the late 19th century / early 20th century European metropolises. After an exploration of the ideas of metropolitan psychology, fashion, and the department store in the works of Georg Simmel and Walter Benjamin, we move on to think about the city in the late 20th century. Here we think about the situationist city, the spectacular city, and the surveillance city and consider the ideas of Guy Debord, Henri Lefebvre, and Michel Foucault. In the second part of the module, post-modern cities, we study the American mega-city. For writers such as Fredric Jameson, Jean Baudrillard, and Mike Davis cities such as Los Angeles and Las Vegas are strange surreal places. In this section of the course we explore the post-modern city through the ideas of simulation, informationalism, urban violence, the ghetto, and the obsession with security. After our exploration of the post-modern city, the final section of the module examines contemporary third world mega-cities. We begin with a consideration of Mike Davis&©s recent study of the third world slum and then move on to think about the ideas of pollution and danger in mega-cities. Other topics in this section of the course include the situation of the occultism in the African city, corruption and crime in South Africa, and the mythology of the werewolf in one of Africa&©s most populous cities, Lagos. The aim of the module is to explore the cultural politics of the city in history.
Semester 1-2 C/O TYP ECTSCATS
AMS-30036 Dissertation in American Studies - ISP EP C 15 30
The dissertation offers students the opportunity to research in detail a subject of their own choosing and interest, and to write a substantial piece of work that explores any aspect of American Studies through one or more of its disciplines. Work on this 30-credit module takes place over both semesters of the final year in a structured way, with supporting lectures, group and individual meetings, and targets for production of draft materials. The module offers students the opportunity to produce an extended piece of research as the culminating assessment of their degree programme. Staff in American Studies strongly recommend students to take the dissertation option for reasons both of academic and personal development. The opportunity to work on a subject of the student's choosing, together with individual written and oral feedback and the opportunity to revise work means that marks for this module have historically been significantly higher than for other final year modules.
AMS-30036 Dissertation in American Studies - ISP O C 15 30
The dissertation offers students the opportunity to research in detail a subject of their own choosing and interest, and to write a substantial piece of work that explores any aspect of American Studies through one or more of its disciplines. Work on this 30-credit module takes place over both semesters of the final year in a structured way, with supporting lectures, group and individual meetings, and targets for production of draft materials. The module offers students the opportunity to produce an extended piece of research as the culminating assessment of their degree programme. Staff in American Studies strongly recommend students to take the dissertation option for reasons both of academic and personal development. The opportunity to work on a subject of the student's choosing, together with individual written and oral feedback and the opportunity to revise work means that marks for this module have historically been significantly higher than for other final year modules.
Semester 2 C/O TYP ECTSCATS
AMS-30035 'Eyes on the Prize': The Struggle for Civil Rights in America EP M 7.5 15
This module is suitable for students who have already taken history modules and acquired a solid grounding in the methods of historical research, analysis, and writing. This module allows students to study one of the most dramatic processes to shape contemporary America: the African-American struggle for civil rights. From a South blighted by $ùJim Crow&© segregation, and lynching to today&©s America, where equality before the law has been achieved but fissures of race still divide society, we will assess the aims and achievements of black leadership; the contribution of $ùmainstream protest&© by ordinary men and women, black and white, Northern and Southern, to re-shaping American society and the broader African-American contribution to American culture. The rise of more radical strategies will also be addressed and placed within the larger context of this, the most significant dilemma to confront American democracy over the last century. This module gives students an in-depth familiarity with a case-study of a mass movement for civil rights, with some attention to other kinds of campaigns and freedom struggles, particularly before the emergence of mass activism. The module will be informed by the latest stage in the scholarly debate concerning the nature of mass activism and protest by African-Americans in an effort to gain full citizenship rights and economic opportunities. This module will give students the ability to the application of advanced historiographical methods of research to piece together the narrative of the Civil Rights movement and how scholarly debate reflects contemporary race related issues. Furthermore students will gain the ability to evaluate the differing value of conflicting approaches, a process that throws into relief the uncertainty, ambiguity and limits of knowledge but also the possibility of achieving methodological objectivity. Students taking this module will also gain the abiltiy to manage their own learning by generating essay topics themselves, and make use of scholarly articles and primary sources relating to Civil Rights in a way that goes beyond the insights available from secondary sources alone.
AMS-30035 'Eyes on the Prize': The Struggle for Civil Rights in America O M 7.5 15
This module is suitable for students who have already taken history modules and acquired a solid grounding in the methods of historical research, analysis, and writing. This module allows students to study one of the most dramatic processes to shape contemporary America: the African-American struggle for civil rights. From a South blighted by $ùJim Crow&© segregation, and lynching to today&©s America, where equality before the law has been achieved but fissures of race still divide society, we will assess the aims and achievements of black leadership; the contribution of $ùmainstream protest&© by ordinary men and women, black and white, Northern and Southern, to re-shaping American society and the broader African-American contribution to American culture. The rise of more radical strategies will also be addressed and placed within the larger context of this, the most significant dilemma to confront American democracy over the last century. This module gives students an in-depth familiarity with a case-study of a mass movement for civil rights, with some attention to other kinds of campaigns and freedom struggles, particularly before the emergence of mass activism. The module will be informed by the latest stage in the scholarly debate concerning the nature of mass activism and protest by African-Americans in an effort to gain full citizenship rights and economic opportunities. This module will give students the ability to the application of advanced historiographical methods of research to piece together the narrative of the Civil Rights movement and how scholarly debate reflects contemporary race related issues. Furthermore students will gain the ability to evaluate the differing value of conflicting approaches, a process that throws into relief the uncertainty, ambiguity and limits of knowledge but also the possibility of achieving methodological objectivity. Students taking this module will also gain the abiltiy to manage their own learning by generating essay topics themselves, and make use of scholarly articles and primary sources relating to Civil Rights in a way that goes beyond the insights available from secondary sources alone.
AMS-30038 High Culture: Drink, Drugs, and the American Dream O M 7.5 15
The module aims to study the social, cultural, psychological, medical, philosophical, and aesthetic dimensions of works dealing with three decades of American history that are concerned with a range of intoxicants - alcohol, heroin, LSD, and peyote. Rather than taking a biographical approach (which might, for example, focus on the role of drink in the writing of the Lost Generation), the module focuses on representations of individuals or groups involved in sub- and counter-cultural use of mind-altering and/or addictive substances. The emphasis on studying formal features of texts also includes comparative analysis of Hollywood adaptations and films. The module is suitable for those who have already studied literature in Y1 or Y2, although experience of studying film would be an advantage.
AMS-30038 High Culture: Drink, Drugs, and the American Dream EP M 7.5 15
The module aims to study the social, cultural, psychological, medical, philosophical, and aesthetic dimensions of works dealing with three decades of American history that are concerned with a range of intoxicants - alcohol, heroin, LSD, and peyote. Rather than taking a biographical approach (which might, for example, focus on the role of drink in the writing of the Lost Generation), the module focuses on representations of individuals or groups involved in sub- and counter-cultural use of mind-altering and/or addictive substances. The emphasis on studying formal features of texts also includes comparative analysis of Hollywood adaptations and films. The module is suitable for those who have already studied literature in Y1 or Y2, although experience of studying film would be an advantage.
CRI-30041 The politics and cultures of the death penalty in the 21st Century EA C 7.5 15
This option is intended for students with an interest in punishment and penality in general and in the death penalty in particular. Through a combination of lectures and seminar activities students will be encouraged to develop a critical understanding of the philosophical, political, legal and cultural contexts within which the death penalty either survives or is abolished. The course is organized around the exploration of four themes: 1) The place of the death penalty in the philosophy and sociology of punishment. 2) The current state of play on the death penalty worldwide and the rise of abolitionist politics (especially in the European context). 3) Current debates/controversies surrounding the application of the death penalty in the US through relevant criminological/legal literature and cases of established or suspected miscarriages of justice. 4) Key cultural sensibilities relating to executions, pain and suffering. Students will be encouraged to use internet resources to locate information relating to case studies on specific death row prisoners/miscarriages of justice and the arguments of anti-death penalty/pro-death penalty groups. Seminars will aim to help students evaluate, summarize and synthesize the information gathered. A number of the seminar activities are designed to assist students with their essays and students will be encouraged to bring to the seminars case studies relevant to their case study assessment.
ENG-30053 Postmodernism: Fiction, Film and Theory EA C 7.5 15
Postmodernism represents an important body of critical theory that developed in the second half of the twentieth century, and continues to have relevance in the twenty-first. It crosses a range of disciplines, but emphasizes an interrogative, reflexive and eclectic challenge to many philosophical and aesthetic values and practices. On this module, you will explore the relevance and meaning of some of the ideas associated with postmodernism with respect to selected novels and films. You will assess the influence of key ideas on writers and directors and you will study the main themes and techniques used in postmodern fiction and film. The module also encourages a critically-informed assessment of the implications of postmodern thinking for contemporary notions of history, identity, sexuality, politics and consumer society. Fiction and film likely to be studied on the module include Julian Barnes, A History of the World in 10½ Chapters; Jeanette Winterson, Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit; Martin Amis, Money; J. G. Ballard, Kingdom Come; The Hours (dir. Stephen Daldry); The Company of Wolves (dir. Neil Jordan); The Matrix (dir. Andy Wachowski and Larry Wachowski); and Mulholland Drive (dir. David Lynch).
ENG-30056 Postcolonial and World Literature in English EA C 7.5 15
This module aims to introduce students to the diversity of literature produced in postcolonial contexts since the end of World War II. We will compare material from a number of formerly colonised regions $ú including Africa, the Caribbean, India, and Australasia $ú and explore how postcolonial texts relate to local cultural and historical experiences. The module is structured around some of the most highly charged issues tackled by postcolonial artists: cultural identity and nationhood; race, gender, and the body; globalisation; economic development; environmental disaster; and war. As we address these, we will look at ways of applying the exciting and challenging ideas raised by postcolonial theory, and consider how world literature is consumed in a global marketplace. The module covers a wide range of texts including prose, poetry, drama, and film, and will examine postcolonial writers&© innovative reconfigurations of form and genre.
ENG-30063 The Canadian Metropolis EA C 7.5 15
What comes to mind when you think of Canada? From the outside, many see it as a safe, civilised country that is, perhaps, not terribly exciting. This is far removed from reality. The country is wrought with tensions, including over Quebec separatism, clashes between francophones, anglophones and immigrants whose first language is neither French nor English, and land claims by aboriginal groups. Although the image of Canada is often one of forests and lakes, populated by the odd Mountie, most Canadians actually live in urban settings. Cities in general are sites where social tensions crystallise. Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver are the largest and most culturally and economically important ones in Canada. Therefore, it is not surprising that they find themselves time and again in Canadian and Québécois literature and other forms of cultural production. This module looks at a range of Canadian and Quebecois urban fiction, examining how this contributes to discourses around national and other identities.
PIR-30128 Protest and social movements EA M 7.5 15
This course is about social movements and their role as vehicles of political protest and political and social change. Social movements are a universal phenomenon in modern societies and they have provoked controversy because they are generally critical of important features of the political or social system. Their critics might see them as extremists or hopelessly utopian while their supporters see in them the hope of more democracy or a better kind of society. The academic analysis of social movements does not escape these controversies, so one task that we will face in assessing different approaches to the study of social movements will be to disentangle the different views of the social world that underlie conflicting theories of protest and social movements. You will be expected to be able to comment on the strengths and weaknesses of explanatory theories of social movements, to place movements in a wider context and to assess the power relations and social forces that shape the political environment of social movements. The cases that we examine include: recent protests in Britain, protest against authoritarian regimes such as those in China, Burma and Eastern Europe pre-1989; protest movements in the global South such as the Zapatistas in Mexico, and feminist and environmental movements in Europe and North America. The themes that we cover include the place of protest in democracy, the evidence about how participates in protest and why, the kinds of protest action that social movement groups choose to pursue, the influence of the state and policing on protest, how radical activists organise and create alternative communities, and the different theoretical approaches to social movements.
PIR-30129 Environmental Politics in the USA EA M 7.5 15
The United States has a complex record of addressing environmental problems. Between 1965 and 1980 the country experienced a "golden age" of environmental policymaking when numerous laws were enacted to tackle problems such as air pollution, water pollution, and waste. Few new laws have been enacted in recent decades, however, leading some commentators to talk about "environmental gridlock" and describing the United States as a climate change "laggard". This module will examine the factors that drive environmental policymaking. Attention will be given to the nature of environmental problems, the role of interest groups and public opinion, and the way that political institutions and systems effect policymaking. Students will be required to write a position paper and a short research paper as part of their assessment, and will also be required to sit a two-hour examination.
PIR-30131 Education Politics and Policy EA C 7.5 15
Education has been the battleground for many competing policy ideas of the left and right. What ideologies and values drive policies in education? How do policy specialists analyse and compare these different approaches? This module will develop your skills in evaluating education policies. You will research and present answers to questions such as &«do religious schools teach more effectively and drive up overall test scores,&ª &«what effect do league tables have on teaching and the curriculum in schools and universities,&ª and &«do higher fees drive down student access to universities?&ª The module will identify frameworks that analysts use to study policies and practice using them on case studies. The content will consist of a comparison of education systems in the United Kingdom and United States, focusing on secondary and higher education. The two systems copy each other's policies, but have many stark differences in approach. Some key themes include the separation of church and state, local versus national control over schools and universities. Some previous study of public policy would be helpful, but is not required.

American Studies Minor - Level 1 Modules

Semester 1 C/O TYP ECTSCATS
AMS-10022 A Beginner's Guide to Contemporary America C C 7.5 15
What is the United States really like? American's like to think of their country as exceptional. How might the U.S. be considered exceptional, and does it live up to that reputation? This course will explore American Society and the many complex aspects of the country and culture that make it distinctive. You will consider and critique its founding as a country based, not upon history or a homogeneous population, but upon the political principles of freedom and democracy. You will also examine its history as a nation of immigrants, as depicted by the words on the base of the Statue of Liberty. Race, religion, class, politics: all of these aspects of society appear to clearly set the U.S. apart from Europe, but how and to what extent? The social and historical differences have also led to a very distinctive culture, which we will examine from the standpoint of music and sport. How did that culture arise and what is its future in a globalised world? We will explore this influential culture and nation from the perspective of historical documents, written texts, audio, and video to give a full flavour of this nation and its culture.
AMS-10025 Starting Out: An Introduction to American Literature EP C 7.5 15
`Starting Out' introduces students to a number of important nineteenth- and twentieth-century literary texts, to major themes in American literature (the Gothic, the city, commodity culture, the `American Adam', constructions of gender, class and race) and to relevant historical contexts (the Revolution, slavery and the Civil War, the Great Depression, Vietnam). The module is designed to introduce students to the standards and conventions of university-level work and to develop appropriate writing and research skills. Works studied include: `The Fall of the House of Usher', the slave narrative, `The Yellow Wallpaper' and `The Great Gatsby'.
FIL-10001 Reading Film EA C 7.5 15
Of all forms of communication, film often seems the most obvious, pleasurable and self-explanatory. With an emphasis on variety of film practice, this module aims to introduce students to the essential elements of film narrative and engage them in thinking critically about the choices made by film-makers in constructing the look and sound of their films. We will be asking, therefore, how meaning is created in the cinema, as well as what ideas and arguments such meanings may generate among critically aware spectators of it. In doing so we will be exploring the richness and complexity of cinema's potential to communicate with its spectators through a carefully selected variety of films. Represented amongst these will not only be the classic Hollywood model with which we are all most familiar, but also films from other national and artistic traditions. These will be examined in the context of both fortnightly lecture/workshops and weekly small group classes.
HIS-10030 Historical Research and Writing EA C 7.5 15
This course introduces first-year students to the study of History at university. It will provide you with the particular skills you will need to study History and which you will apply throughout your degree course. Your tutor will devise a historical topic or debate through which to identify and apply the skills needed to undertake historical research and writing. The lecture programme provides an introduction to the practises expected of and the resources available to a History student at Keele. It also introduces you to the range of historical research undertaken by History staff at Keele - the questions asked; the techniques used; the range of historical writing produced and its relevance to today. Small group seminars supported by a series of exercises will provide the means to locate the acquisition and development of skills within the study of a specific historical debate or topic. The course is assessed by a number of written exercises and an essay. Although primarily designed for History students, this course will also appeal to students of other Humanities and Social Science subjects.
PIR-10048 Mass Media in America: If it Bleeds, It Leads EA M 7.5 15
This module explores the different types of media in the United States, focusing on newspapers, TV, radio and the internet. Students will learn to analyse the structure and content of these media. How does America differ from Britain? For a start, most people read local papers. Similarly, most people watch local, not national, news. Does local versus national matter? One difference is a heavy emphasis upon crime and violence, prompting the saying "if it bleeds, it leads." Interestingly, while there is lots of violence, Americans are much more prudish about sex. This course encourages you to analyse the form and content of the media to understand why it looks the way it does. The issues raised in the course will give you better insight into British, as well as American, media
Semester 2 C/O TYP ECTSCATS
AMS-10023 The Unreliable Truth: Studies in Twentieth-Century English and American Literatures EP C 7.5 15
"The Unreliable Truth" looks at the ways twentieth-century British and American writers - including Virginia Woolf, George Orwell, Kurt Vonnegut and Maxine Hong Kingston - experiment with different types of narration to challenge the idea of reliablility in storytelling. Various techniques are studied, including first-person narration, stream of consciousness and metafictional strategies, and throughout the module students are encouraged to compare and contrast texts through open discussion and close textual reading, as well as looking at the historical and cultural contexts in which the texts were written in order to speculate on why different techniques were adopted. This module is intended to build on level 1 literature modules taken in the first semester, and makes a natural pair with AMS-10027 Transatlantic Gothic: Studies in 19thC English and American Literatures.
AMS-10024 New York, New York: An Introduction to American Culture C M 7.5 15
New York City holds a special place in the popular imagination. Immortalised in cinema, literature, visual art and song, it continues to symbolise much that is iconic about the United States, but also to maintain a unique identity as somewhere diverse, inclusive, democratic and edgy. This module offers Level I students a chance to explore and discuss the icons, the myths and the realities of this infamous urban space, and at the same time, through a range of texts which includes literature, film, visual art and journalism, demonstrate the unique cross-disciplinary approach of American Studies as a degree programme.
AMS-10026 The American Past: Explorations in U.S. History EP C 7.5 15
The American Past module is designed to equip students with a basic grounding in U.S. history from the colonial period to the present day. It stresses the multifaceted character of American development, interweaving such issues as nationalism, race, gender, and class in a broad narrative and thematic synthesis. Students will be particularly encouraged to develop specific insights into the American historical experience through investigation of documentary evidence which will provide the the basis for seminar discussion.
AMS-10027 Transatlantic Gothic: Studies in Nineteenth-Century English and American Literature EP C 7.5 15
`Transatlantic Gothic' is an exciting and innovative course which introduces students to one of the most important of nineteenth-century literary genres, both in England and the United States. Students study the prominent texts of this period both individually and comparatively, and are given training in key critical and theoretical concepts (for example, psychoanalytical, deconstructionist and Marxist approaches to Gothic literature). The module is designed to develop intermediate writing and research skills; a formative assessment and individual feedback is also provided. Authors studied may include: Bram Stoker, Mary Shelley, Edgar Allan Poe, Charles Brockden Brown and Henry James. The course combines a variety of traditional learning activities (lectures and seminars) with small group work carried out in workshops. A balance of shorter and longer reading assignments makes the workload manageable.
FIL-10002 Approaches to Film EA C 7.5 15
Who is the author of a film? How do we categorize and make sense of films in relation to each other? How is the meaning of a film shaped by the historical period or national culture that produced it? What sorts of ideas and ideologies about gender and race do films include or exclude? This module provides an introduction to all these questions addressed within film theory. Like any other discipline of enquiry, Film Studies has generated a set of debates about value and meaning that revolve around some key questions, concepts and terms. Through a series of fortnightly two hour workshop lectures and weekly small group classes, this module will examine the development of critical thinking on the cinema and will invite students to debate, question and apply ideas on: film authorship; film genre; history; film politics. Each of these critical areas will be investigated with reference to an exciting range of films, chosen for the way they have shaped film history and challenged cinema's potential as a form of art and entertainment. Indicative study texts may include: 'The Rocky Horror Picture Show' (Dir. Sharman, 1975), 'Modern Times' (Dir. Chaplin, 1936) and 'Breathless' (Dir. Godard, 1960).
PIR-10039 Debates in American Politics EA C 7.5 15
American Politics is driven by debate. Americans are divided over their foreign policy. Over social issues such as race and abortion, the U.S. has embarked upon debates so heated that they're sometimes referred to as the "culture wars". Then there are ongoing contests over areas such as education and environmental policy. This module will introduce to many of these debates. Each week, we look at a new policy area and get you to debate the rights and wrongs of current U.S. policy and where it should go next. The module also serves to introduce you to the subject of American Politics - it's all pitched at those new to the topic. Much of the module depends on your presentations, advocating one side or the other of a debate in a key policy area. Over the semester, you should learn about a series of policy debates, who's advocating what and develop your skills in presentation and argument.

American Studies Minor - Level 2 Modules

Semester 1 C/O TYP ECTSCATS
AMS-20027 AMS - Study Abroad I (dble) EP C 15 30
This is a module that is automatically allocated to the records our Keele level II students who are going to Study Abroad at a partner University for a semester of their second year and cannot be selected by any other level II students.
AMS-20058 The Detective and the American City O C 7.5 15
Students are invited to analyse and discuss the relationship between the detective and the city across a number of cultural fields - primarily literature, but also visual art and film. Throughout, the detective is taken as a figure which reflects economic, demographic, cultural and political changes in American cities, and anxieties about identity and status attending those changes. Attention is also paid to the detective as a peculiarly reflexive figure - someone who, in his or her quest to reconstruct plot and deliver explanation, reflects the processes both of the reader and the writer. The module looks not only at traditional detectives, but also at broader theoretical issues of reading, spectatorship and criticism which will be of value to students in their further literary studies.
AMS-20058 The Detective and the American City EP C 7.5 15
Students are invited to analyse and discuss the relationship between the detective and the city across a number of cultural fields - primarily literature, but also visual art and film. Throughout, the detective is taken as a figure which reflects economic, demographic, cultural and political changes in American cities, and anxieties about identity and status attending those changes. Attention is also paid to the detective as a peculiarly reflexive figure - someone who, in his or her quest to reconstruct plot and deliver explanation, reflects the processes both of the reader and the writer. The module looks not only at traditional detectives, but also at broader theoretical issues of reading, spectatorship and criticism which will be of value to students in their further literary studies.
AMS-20063 History of the United States in the Twentieth Century O M 7.5 15
The module seeks to engage students in a critical and analytical look at the central themes of America's domestic development in the twentieth century as a backdrop for understanding society and politics in the United States today. It offers a diversity of social, economic, political and cultural perspectives and will equip students with the basic historical tools for more detailed investigation. On the one hand the module examines the general political, social, and cultural undercurrents since 1900. On the other hand it takes a closer look at some of the key events and developments during the past century that left a long-term imprint on American society.
AMS-20063 History of the United States in the Twentieth Century EP M 7.5 15
The module seeks to engage students in a critical and analytical look at the central themes of America's domestic development in the twentieth century as a backdrop for understanding society and politics in the United States today. It offers a diversity of social, economic, political and cultural perspectives and will equip students with the basic historical tools for more detailed investigation. On the one hand the module examines the general political, social, and cultural undercurrents since 1900. On the other hand it takes a closer look at some of the key events and developments during the past century that left a long-term imprint on American society.
AMS-20064 The Romance of Fiction: History and Society in Nineteenth Century American Literature O M 7.5 15
This module analyses the major form of the American novel in the Nineteenth Century, defined as 'Romance' to distinguish it from the European novel which expresses itself predominantly in realistic form. Congruent with political and social ambitions for democracy, the 'Romance' suggests liberations of various kinds, principally a freedom from the constraints of too close an allegiance with the visible world, and as an alternative, proposes an arena of imaginative free-play which questions the seeming givens of that visibility. Here, the form is strongly bound up with providing alternative views and understandings of history.
AMS-20064 The Romance of Fiction: History and Society in Nineteenth Century American Literature EP M 7.5 15
This module analyses the major form of the American novel in the Nineteenth Century, defined as 'Romance' to distinguish it from the European novel which expresses itself predominantly in realistic form. Congruent with political and social ambitions for democracy, the 'Romance' suggests liberations of various kinds, principally a freedom from the constraints of too close an allegiance with the visible world, and as an alternative, proposes an arena of imaginative free-play which questions the seeming givens of that visibility. Here, the form is strongly bound up with providing alternative views and understandings of history.
ENG-20041 Aspects of the Novel 1740-1930 EA C 7.5 15
'Aspects of the Novel 1740-1930' is particularly appropriate for those students taking English or English and American Literatures, but can be taken by all students who have an interest in and enjoy reading novels. Students who enjoyed Telling Tales at Level 1 will find this module builds on their existing knowledge and takes them further in the study of the novel. Students who did not take Telling Tales are very welcome, but might need to spend a little more time preparing (i.e. reading the novels) before the module starts, to leave time to absorb some of the critical concepts the module discusses. The module looks at a key period in the development of the English novel, between 1740 and 1930. Five novels have been chosen- Samuel Richardon's Pamela (Vol 1), Maria Edgeworth's Castle Rackrent, Anthony Trollope's The Way We Live Now, Arnold Bennett's Anna of the Five Towns, and Dorothy Richardson's Pilgrimage (Vol. 2). Each novel is exemplary of a certain moment in the novel's development as a genre. In order to analyse these developments, the module introduces some of the key theories of the novel as presented by historical, Marxist, feminist, formalist, and poststructuralist criticism. Theories of the novel will be introduced in the form of exemplary essays, which will be made available on WebCT, and then contextualised and explained in dedicated lectures which use the set novels as examples. The module is taught through one lecture and one tutorial per week. It is assessed by one short essay (1500 words, 20% of the overall assessment) and one longer essay (2500 words, 80% of the overall assessment).
HIS-20066 Imperialism and Empire EA M 7.5 15
This module examines the dynamics of the `imperial age' of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. What were the motives for the expansion of the imperial power? What tools and methods did the imperial powers use to govern huge empires? How did imperial ideas contribute to the creation of new racial, ethnic, sexual and religious identities amongst the subject peoples of Empire? How did Empire reshape the identities of European societies? These questions are considered from the perspective of both the colonizer and the colonized within British and German Empires, drawing on case studies from Africa and India. Topics include: Sex and Empire; Hunting and Empire; Disease, Medicine and Empire; Colonialism and the Camera; Christianity and Empire; the German Occupation of Namibia, and Post-colonialism.
PIR-20070 The UN in world politics EA M 7.5 15
The United Nations has shaped international relations in multiple, complex and significant ways, but has not had the kind of impact for which many people hoped. Students taking this course will be able to explain why. They will analyse the interplay between world politics and international organisation by reference to the background to the creation of the United Nations; the lessons learned from the failure (and successes) of the UN's predecessor, the League of Nations; the policies of member states; and the international environment. Students will have the opportunity to work in teams as well as study topics that particulary interest them. In so doing they will further develop their ability to conduct research using a variety of sources to analyse the role of the UN in world politics. Assessment will be by means of one 2,000-word essay (50 per cent) and one two-hour unseen examination (50 per cent).
PIR-20071 U.S Government and Politics EA C 7.5 15
Through a detailed examination and analysis of the US governmental institutions, political parties, voting behaviour, interest groups, and public opinion, students will gain an understanding how the mass public can influence the making of public policy. This approach will enable students to identify, research, analyse and comment on the key issues facing the US political system developing their understanding of the interactivity of its component parts. An analysis of the literature will introduce students to the different conceptual frameworks and methodologies that have been adopted by leading US political scientists providing an intellectually rigorous training for the further study of the US political system.
Semester 2 C/O TYP ECTSCATS
AMS-20039 AMS - Study Abroad III (dble) EP C 15 30
This is a module that is automatically allocated to the records our Keele level II students who are going to Study Abroad at a partner University for a semester of their second year and cannot be selected by any other level II students.
# AMS-20056 Burning Crosses: Religion and American Culture EP M 7.5 15
This module offers a broadly chronological look at religion&©s importance in American cultural movements. It aims to raise students&© awareness of the complex interactions between religious faith and cultural production through readings of a wide variety of stimulating and challenging texts, from literature, cinema and visual art. These diverse texts, which deal with equally diverse belief systems, show how in both celebration of and violent reaction to organised religion, culture is inextricably bound up with belief. One of the questions the module will address is: in an era when the death of religion has been widely cited, how does one account for the apparent resurgence and centrality of religious belief in American life?
# AMS-20056 Burning Crosses: Religion and American Culture O M 7.5 15
This module offers a broadly chronological look at religion&©s importance in American cultural movements. It aims to raise students&© awareness of the complex interactions between religious faith and cultural production through readings of a wide variety of stimulating and challenging texts, from literature, cinema and visual art. These diverse texts, which deal with equally diverse belief systems, show how in both celebration of and violent reaction to organised religion, culture is inextricably bound up with belief. One of the questions the module will address is: in an era when the death of religion has been widely cited, how does one account for the apparent resurgence and centrality of religious belief in American life?
AMS-20061 Alfred Hitchcock's America O C 7.5 15
Alfred Hitchcock was an historian, critic, and analyst of American culture, as becomes clear by focusing on some of the greatest films he made in Hollywood from the early 1940s until the late $ù50s. We will pursue cultural and politicised readings, while also attending in detail to both the production histories of his films $ú the stars, studios, and collaborators he worked with - and, through close attention to detail, their paramount formal features. Themes considered include the relation between national security and sexual identity, the complicity of cinema in a surveillance culture, fashion and the politics of gender construction. This module is designed for students who have already taken a film module, and is not recommended for those without some relevant previous experience.
AMS-20061 Alfred Hitchcock's America EP C 7.5 15
Alfred Hitchcock was an historian, critic, and analyst of American culture, as becomes clear by focusing on some of the greatest films he made in Hollywood from the early 1940s until the late $ù50s. We will pursue cultural and politicised readings, while also attending in detail to both the production histories of his films $ú the stars, studios, and collaborators he worked with - and, through close attention to detail, their paramount formal features. Themes considered include the relation between national security and sexual identity, the complicity of cinema in a surveillance culture, fashion and the politics of gender construction. This module is designed for students who have already taken a film module, and is not recommended for those without some relevant previous experience.
AMS-20065 From Modernity to Counter-Culture: American Literature and Social Criticism in the Twentieth Century O C 7.5 15
The transformations within American society during the Twentieth Century have been amongst the most far-reaching of any western culture. It is the purpose of this module to address the literary responses to this period of radical change, taking its examples from both poetry and prose. These examples will be shown to register and confront social, political and cultural issues both directly and indirectly in order to develop a knowledge of literature's alterability within the modern and postmodern eras, its responsiveness to changing material and ideological conditions, and the varying shapes of that responsiveness. A key question will be the extent to which any literary text critiques or colludes with its social occasion.
AMS-20065 From Modernity to Counter-Culture: American Literature and Social Criticism in the Twentieth Century EP C 7.5 15
The transformations within American society during the Twentieth Century have been amongst the most far-reaching of any western culture. It is the purpose of this module to address the literary responses to this period of radical change, taking its examples from both poetry and prose. These examples will be shown to register and confront social, political and cultural issues both directly and indirectly in order to develop a knowledge of literature's alterability within the modern and postmodern eras, its responsiveness to changing material and ideological conditions, and the varying shapes of that responsiveness. A key question will be the extent to which any literary text critiques or colludes with its social occasion.
AMS-20074 Discovering America: From Empires to Revolutions O M 7.5 15
This module is suitable for students who have already taken history modules and acquired a solid grounding in the methods of historical research, analysis, and writing. This module looks in detail at the development of the Atlantic world from exploration through imperial settlement, the growth of European empires in North and South America, revolutions and American independence. It covers a wide range of topics; exploration and the age of enlightenment, the growth of empires and colonisation in the early modern period, migration patterns, the development of international trade networks, changing notions of race, class and gender, the age of revolutions and the struggle for independence in the Americas. Learners will gain an in-depth familiarity of a variety of case-studies related to the role and place of Europe in the wider Atlantic world between the fifteenth and eighteenth centuries. It will explore the impact and influence of Europe on the development and growth of the New World and, equally, the impact and influence of the New World on the political, economic, and cultural development of the Old World. Furthermore, it will look at the Atlantic as part of the new global order including Africa. It will also look at the political and intellectual links between the social orders which evolved in the New and Old Worlds, in both slave and free societies. By the application of advanced historiographical methods of research students will be able to to piece together the narrative of the Atlantic world and debate issues surrounding discovery, peopling and de-peopling of the Americas, migration and labour, the slave trade and Africa, the growth of European ports and cities, and the development of colonial rule and the 'Revolutionary Atlantic' including the American and Haitian revolutions. Furthermore, they will gain a conceptual understanding that enables them to apply critically paradigms generated by historians and social scientists, some of which are at the forefront of debates over the development of world and comparative histories of empire. Students taking this module will obtain the ability to evaluate the differing value of conflicting approaches, a process that throws into relief the uncertainty, ambiguity and limits of knowledge but also the possibility of achieving methodological objectivity. They will also learn or improve their time management skills and be able to manage their own learning by generating essay topics themselves, and make use of scholarly articles and primary sources relating to Atlantic histories in a way that goes beyond the insights available from secondary sources alone.
AMS-20074 Discovering America: From Empires to Revolutions EP M 7.5 15
This module is suitable for students who have already taken history modules and acquired a solid grounding in the methods of historical research, analysis, and writing. This module looks in detail at the development of the Atlantic world from exploration through imperial settlement, the growth of European empires in North and South America, revolutions and American independence. It covers a wide range of topics; exploration and the age of enlightenment, the growth of empires and colonisation in the early modern period, migration patterns, the development of international trade networks, changing notions of race, class and gender, the age of revolutions and the struggle for independence in the Americas. Learners will gain an in-depth familiarity of a variety of case-studies related to the role and place of Europe in the wider Atlantic world between the fifteenth and eighteenth centuries. It will explore the impact and influence of Europe on the development and growth of the New World and, equally, the impact and influence of the New World on the political, economic, and cultural development of the Old World. Furthermore, it will look at the Atlantic as part of the new global order including Africa. It will also look at the political and intellectual links between the social orders which evolved in the New and Old Worlds, in both slave and free societies. By the application of advanced historiographical methods of research students will be able to to piece together the narrative of the Atlantic world and debate issues surrounding discovery, peopling and de-peopling of the Americas, migration and labour, the slave trade and Africa, the growth of European ports and cities, and the development of colonial rule and the 'Revolutionary Atlantic' including the American and Haitian revolutions. Furthermore, they will gain a conceptual understanding that enables them to apply critically paradigms generated by historians and social scientists, some of which are at the forefront of debates over the development of world and comparative histories of empire. Students taking this module will obtain the ability to evaluate the differing value of conflicting approaches, a process that throws into relief the uncertainty, ambiguity and limits of knowledge but also the possibility of achieving methodological objectivity. They will also learn or improve their time management skills and be able to manage their own learning by generating essay topics themselves, and make use of scholarly articles and primary sources relating to Atlantic histories in a way that goes beyond the insights available from secondary sources alone.
ENG-20036 Twentieth Century Novels into Films EA C 7.5 15
Film has always had a close relationship to the novel through both literary adaptation and novelists who have also been screenplay writers. It has, nonetheless, frequently been framed as the poor relation of the two in terms of cultural value. By examining the distinctiveness and complexity of film language and the relative parameters of literary and film modes of narration, this module will examine some of the key but distinctive questions that need to be addressed when thinking about how film and literature make meaning. The module is specifically focused on the construction of history within narrative and will investigate how the categories of personal and collective memory, political conflict, change, national identity and gender are articulated in three novels and their film adaptations.
HIS-20067 Sources and Debates EA C 7.5 15
Most students who read history as undergraduates tend to read one book (at most) concerned with the question 'What is History?', and they usually do this before they have done any real historical research. Thereafter, their training tends to be conducted 'on the job'. If they reflect on the nature, theory or ideology which underpins what they practice, they tend to focus on issues which surface in assessments, learning that writing which is merely descriptive is not rewarded but that writing which is analytical gains good marks. Via the electives website you are asked to choose between medieval and modern history, or between political and social history, where the nature of the historian's work in each case is left as self-evident. But ask yourself the following questions: On what basis do historians claim to 'know' about the past? Why do historians disagree? What exactly is history which is 'out of date'? What is historical evidence? Aside from the area of their interest, can I tell the difference between any two of the historians who have taught me? If you can't think how to respond to these questions, should you be able to call yourself a graduate in history? This module has been designed to help you to reflect on the nature of the subject in which you are being trained. We believe that history is a distinctive discipline and that you will acquire a deeper understanding of how it is (and has been) practised, partly by listening and reading, partly by practical experience.
HIS-20078 Power in the Modern World EA M 7.5 15
What is power? How is it attained, maintained, and relinquished? Who has power, and for what reasons? Is it located in individuals, groups, classes, or nations? How does it change? This course covers models, theories, and themes that address the question of power since the French Revolution. The module seeks to examine the impact of specific historical forces, including nationalism, fascism, state building and imperialism. It also endeavours to assess different explanations for power in the past two hundred years, including gender, Marxism, and post-structuralist approaches (Foucault, Bourdieu). The course will provide students with the analytical tools to study the nature of power as it emerged in the modern period.
MDS-20017 Politics and Cinema EA M 7.5 15
This module seeks to introduce students to some of the great works of world cinema and to investigate the major ideological tendencies of the twentieth-century and key moments in modern and contemporary politics as these have been reflected in film. Topics central to this module include revolution, totalitarianism, nationalism and terrorism. The scope is international and settings include North and South America, Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Films studied on the course are likely to include: Alan J. Pakula&©s All the President&©s Men; Francis Ford Coppola&©s Apocalypse Now; Michael Moore&©s Fahrenheit 9/11; Eisenstein&©s Battleship Potemkin; Askoldov&©s Commissar; Mikhalkov&©s Burnt by the Sun; The Lives of Others; Goodbye Lenin!; Ken Loach&©s The Wind that Shakes the Barley; Neil Jordan&©s Michael Collins; Richard Attenborough&©s Cry Freedom; Pontecorvo&©s The Battle of Algiers; Kevin Macdonald&©s One Day in September; Spielberg&©s Munich (2005). The module will not presume any knowledge of film, but will nevertheless regard the films as cinematic works. The main focus will be on events, ideas and political developments, and how they are reflected cinematically. A general background knowledge of the twentieth century will be important although this module will not require deep specialist knowledge of any given country.
MDS-20019 Analysing Culture EA C 7.5 15
In Analysing Culture we consider how culture enables people to make sense of their personal and social lives. The first session of the course refers to Geertz&©s classic paper on Balinese society to introduce the concept of culture. The key question we want to ask through our study of Geertz essay is $ùwhat is culture?&© Following this example of an anthropologically strange culture we move on to think about the construction of national identity through a consideration of Hall&©s work on western identity, Said&©s essay on orientalism, Anderson&©s notion of imaginary communities, and various representations of contemporary nationality. Although the nation has provided a strong cultural map for people since the middle of the 17th century, the rise of modern urbanism has challenged this cultural form through its embrace of privacy and a culture of alienation. In week 3 we consider urban culture, read Simmel&©s classic essay on the metropolitan mind, and think about the ways in which the city is represented today. In the next session we show how people have sought to relate culture to the problem of alienation in modern culture. In week 4 we think about the notion of consumer culture through Adorno and Horkheimer&©s idea of mass culture and Klein's theory of branding and consider how commodities might work like narcotics that numb our senses to the impoverished reality of our one-dimensional society. Our key cultural texts here is Danny Boyle&©s film Trainspotting. In the second part of the course we begin by thinking about cultural politics. In week 5 we focus on Bourdieu&©s idea of distinction and think about how far his theory reflects popular uses of culture in the contemporary world. For Bourdieu culture is not simply a form of deception, but rather a tool that people use in order to try to distinguish themselves from other people in the endless struggle that is competitive capitalism. Although Bourdieu suggests that people use culture for their own purposes, he thinks that they use it unimaginatively and strictly within the confines of capitalist ideology. Thus we may say that Bourdieu is essentially a Marxist. In week 6 we try to extend the Marxist theory of culture through an exploration of the works on the key writers on everyday life. In particular we refer to the idea of contested culture expressed in the works of the French theorists of constructed space and everyday life, Lefebvre and de Certeau. The purpose of this exercise is to suggest that culture may be a space of negotiation, contestation, and confrontation, rather than simply a mechanism of deception or distinction. In week 7 we extend our exploration of this idea of cultural resistance through a discussion of the theory of sub-culture. This theory shows how new communities are able to emerge through consumer relations and cultural performance. We address this theory through a consideration of the classic example of punk, the more contemporary case of gangsta rap, and a reading of the works of the cultural sociologists of performance, Goffman, Garfinkel, and Mead. In the final three weeks of the course we move on to focus on theories of post-modernism, the culturally constructed body, and globalisation. In week 8 we explore the idea of post-modern culture through Dominic Strinati&©s essay on the topic, David Lynch&©s cinema, and Fredric Jameson&©s influential paper, Post-modernism, Or, The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism. For Jameson culture is the dominant form of identification in post-modern society. He thinks that people no longer worry about economics or politics, but rather understand these categories through culture. What does this mean? We will try to find out week 10 when we consider the ideas of global culture and anti-capitalism. But before we consider global culture, we examine the post-modern concern for the body and in particular Bordo's theory of the economic body. In week 9 we approach Bordo's theory through a cultural history of thinking about and imaging the body, taking in the Greek God body, the modern super-hero body, and the post-modern techno body, represented by both Haraway's cyborg, Bordo's metabolic body, and various science fiction bodies. Our study of the body, and body image, allows us to think about the ways that politics and economics are subsumed in culture in global society. Shifting from a study of the microcosm of the body to the macrocosm of the globalised world, in week 10 we refer to the works of contemporary writers, such as Giddens and Beck, who dispute the claims of the conflict theorists, such as Adorno and Horkheimer, by arguing that there is no monolithic centre of power that imposes meaning upon people&©s lives in global society. Rather Giddens and Beck argue that contemporary culture is characterised by risk, chance, and freedom of choice. In this session we think about their suggestion that traditional power structures no longer hold in post-modern / global society through an exploration of the idea of the new social movement and in particular anti-capitalist cultural politics. Our core text for this session is the recent film, Fight Club, which connects visions of the body and globalised consumer capitalism to issues of revolutionary cultural politics.
PIR-20061 Peace, Conflict and Security: Theories and Practice EA M 7.5 15
This module introduces students to the problem of security as it is addressed in the academic discipline of International Relations and as it is understood by practicioners of international politics at the level of governments and other kinds of actors in world politics. The study of security is still the single most influential sub-discipline within International Relations and the search for security in its various forms is at the heart of many activities and policies at the international level. Through this module students become familiar with the key conceptual debates in the literature on international security and come to appreciate the implications of these debates for events in the real world of international politics. They develop the ability to apply a range of relevant ideas about the nature of conflict and conflict resolution to gain a critical understanding of how security questions develop and how the security agenda is shaped, looking especially at the elements of continuity and change in the security agenda since the Cold War began to wane in the mid-1980s through to the 2010s. In addition to learning how to analyse key aspects of the security problematique - a set of problems, concepts, and theoretical debates that still lie near the heart of the discipline of International Relations - students refine their ability to conduct independent research, to evaluate and employ abstract concepts and theories in making sense of and evaluating potential solutions to real-world problems, and effectively to communicate complex arguments supported by appropriate evidence. The final module mark is based upon the following: 750-word annotated bibliography (15%); 2,000 word essay (45%); 2-hour unseen written exam (40%).
PIR-20068 Why Policy Changes EA C 7.5 15
Why do some policies change while others stay the same? Ultimately, most politics is about what governments do, or don't do. While many scholars of politics work in specific fields (e.g. legislatures, transport policy), those working in the field of public policy try to explain the whole: how does the system fit together to produce change or continuity in the way the government acts? That questions raises further issues: how do agendas work?, how do people in a policy area work together or compete with one another?, how does policy reflect people's political interests? This module introduces you to the work and methods of these scholars. There are three assessments for the module: two short written pieces which ask you to consider two particular areas of public policy scholarship (each of 1200 words and each worth 25% of your final module mark) and a policy analysis essay examining a policy area of your choice (2000 words, worth 50% of your final module mark). If you're after some indicative reading, try John Kingdon's Agendas, Alternatives and Public Policies or Michael Hill's The Public Policy Process. If you've ever wondered about questions of policy, such as why the trains don't run on time, or why you're paying fees to study at university, this module might help you understand.

American Studies Minor - Level 3 Modules

Semester 1 C/O TYP ECTSCATS
AMS-30029 Social Thought and Social Movements in the US EP M 7.5 15
For a nation conceived in revolution, radical social thought has always had a special cultural and political significance, in spite of the apparent dominance of liberal capitalism as the main mode of ordering political, socio-economic, and cultural relations. This module explores selected critical social movements and intellectual traditions in the US, using both primary and secondary sources. This will serve both as an introduction to the field of the history of ideas and as a means of understanding the main contributions American culture has made to traditions of Western social thought.
AMS-30031 Silence, Strength and Sentiment: Gender and Sexuality in Nineteenth-Century American Writing EP C 7.5 15
The nineteenth century saw great changes in American society. Rapid urbanisation and industrialisation, shifts in economic structure, the movement away from a hard, masculine, Puritan Christianity toward more domesticated and sociable forms of worship: these trends and more had profound effects on the way gender roles were defined and perceived. This module looks at a number of major literary works by canonical U.S. authors and explores the ways in which anxieties about changing gender roles and relationships were dramatised and narrativised. It also explores the relationship between authorship, gender and sexuality and how the demands of the literary marketplace may have placed particular demands on both male and female authors of the time.
ENG-30067 The Writer As Psychologist - the Great Russian Realists EP M 7.5 15
The Russian realists - Turgenev, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy and Chekhov - number among Russia&©s most profound influences on European culture. In the hands of such writers realism became a potent medium for social criticism and also for psychological analysis. This module concentrates particularly on the latter function. As early as the 1840s we can see the contours of the psychological novel developing in Lermontov&©s idiosyncratically structured A Hero of Our Time, with its alienated hero or $ùsuperfluous man&©. By the 1860s Turgenev is able to elaborate this literary type into a proto-revolutionary hero in his novel Fathers and Children. Dostoevsky&©s celebrated Crime and Punishment explores the relationship between crime and guilt, a theme also central to Tolstoy&©s The Kreutzer Sonata. The Death of Ivan Ilyich, also by Tolstoy, revolves around an existential crisis precipitated by terminal illness. The Cherry Orchard, probably Chekhov&©s best known play, explores the tragedy of nostalgic self-delusion. All of these works anticipate and lay the foundations for the Freudian and existentialist revolutions which were to transform twentieth-century thought. Russian realism was also radically concerned with female psychology. This module features remarkable gynocentric works which powerfully document women&©s varied reactions to their social predicament in nineteenth-century Russia: the assertive heroines of Turgenev&©s On the Eve and Khvoshchinskaya&©s Boarding-School Girl and, as the new century opens, Chekhov&©s Three Sisters dreaming of Moscow in their provincial backwater.
PIR-30117 The U.S. Presidency EP M 7.5 15
The high profile of the U.S. presidency is undeniable. Whether occupied by a Bush or an Obama, the office is also perceived as one of the most powerful institutions in the world. Yet, in a political system designed around a separation of powers, the capacity to lead is not guaranteed. This module allows you to consider the different techniques presidents use to lead and whether those techniques work. The module is taught in two-hour seminars and is assessed by a three-section portfolio (60%) and examination (40%). The portfolio is an opportunity for you to examine presidential leadership in a series of policy areas of your choice, while the examination asks you to consider the strengths and weaknesses of scholarship on the presidency. The set text (and so, pretty good indicative reading) is George Edwards and Stephen Wayne's Presidential Leadership.
SOC-30025 Streets, Skyscrapers, and Slums: The City in Social, Cultural, and Historical Context EA C 7.5 15
In this module we trace the cultural politics of the city from Ancient Athens to contemporary mega-cities, such as Los Angeles, Tokyo, and Lagos. Following the introductory lecture, which examines the meaning of the original cities of the ancient world, the first part of the module, modern cities, offers a consideration of the late 19th century / early 20th century European metropolises. After an exploration of the ideas of metropolitan psychology, fashion, and the department store in the works of Georg Simmel and Walter Benjamin, we move on to think about the city in the late 20th century. Here we think about the situationist city, the spectacular city, and the surveillance city and consider the ideas of Guy Debord, Henri Lefebvre, and Michel Foucault. In the second part of the module, post-modern cities, we study the American mega-city. For writers such as Fredric Jameson, Jean Baudrillard, and Mike Davis cities such as Los Angeles and Las Vegas are strange surreal places. In this section of the course we explore the post-modern city through the ideas of simulation, informationalism, urban violence, the ghetto, and the obsession with security. After our exploration of the post-modern city, the final section of the module examines contemporary third world mega-cities. We begin with a consideration of Mike Davis&©s recent study of the third world slum and then move on to think about the ideas of pollution and danger in mega-cities. Other topics in this section of the course include the situation of the occultism in the African city, corruption and crime in South Africa, and the mythology of the werewolf in one of Africa&©s most populous cities, Lagos. The aim of the module is to explore the cultural politics of the city in history.
Semester 2 C/O TYP ECTSCATS
AMS-30035 'Eyes on the Prize': The Struggle for Civil Rights in America EP M 7.5 15
This module is suitable for students who have already taken history modules and acquired a solid grounding in the methods of historical research, analysis, and writing. This module allows students to study one of the most dramatic processes to shape contemporary America: the African-American struggle for civil rights. From a South blighted by $ùJim Crow&© segregation, and lynching to today&©s America, where equality before the law has been achieved but fissures of race still divide society, we will assess the aims and achievements of black leadership; the contribution of $ùmainstream protest&© by ordinary men and women, black and white, Northern and Southern, to re-shaping American society and the broader African-American contribution to American culture. The rise of more radical strategies will also be addressed and placed within the larger context of this, the most significant dilemma to confront American democracy over the last century. This module gives students an in-depth familiarity with a case-study of a mass movement for civil rights, with some attention to other kinds of campaigns and freedom struggles, particularly before the emergence of mass activism. The module will be informed by the latest stage in the scholarly debate concerning the nature of mass activism and protest by African-Americans in an effort to gain full citizenship rights and economic opportunities. This module will give students the ability to the application of advanced historiographical methods of research to piece together the narrative of the Civil Rights movement and how scholarly debate reflects contemporary race related issues. Furthermore students will gain the ability to evaluate the differing value of conflicting approaches, a process that throws into relief the uncertainty, ambiguity and limits of knowledge but also the possibility of achieving methodological objectivity. Students taking this module will also gain the abiltiy to manage their own learning by generating essay topics themselves, and make use of scholarly articles and primary sources relating to Civil Rights in a way that goes beyond the insights available from secondary sources alone.
AMS-30038 High Culture: Drink, Drugs, and the American Dream EP M 7.5 15
The module aims to study the social, cultural, psychological, medical, philosophical, and aesthetic dimensions of works dealing with three decades of American history that are concerned with a range of intoxicants - alcohol, heroin, LSD, and peyote. Rather than taking a biographical approach (which might, for example, focus on the role of drink in the writing of the Lost Generation), the module focuses on representations of individuals or groups involved in sub- and counter-cultural use of mind-altering and/or addictive substances. The emphasis on studying formal features of texts also includes comparative analysis of Hollywood adaptations and films. The module is suitable for those who have already studied literature in Y1 or Y2, although experience of studying film would be an advantage.
ENG-30053 Postmodernism: Fiction, Film and Theory EA C 7.5 15
Postmodernism represents an important body of critical theory that developed in the second half of the twentieth century, and continues to have relevance in the twenty-first. It crosses a range of disciplines, but emphasizes an interrogative, reflexive and eclectic challenge to many philosophical and aesthetic values and practices. On this module, you will explore the relevance and meaning of some of the ideas associated with postmodernism with respect to selected novels and films. You will assess the influence of key ideas on writers and directors and you will study the main themes and techniques used in postmodern fiction and film. The module also encourages a critically-informed assessment of the implications of postmodern thinking for contemporary notions of history, identity, sexuality, politics and consumer society. Fiction and film likely to be studied on the module include Julian Barnes, A History of the World in 10½ Chapters; Jeanette Winterson, Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit; Martin Amis, Money; J. G. Ballard, Kingdom Come; The Hours (dir. Stephen Daldry); The Company of Wolves (dir. Neil Jordan); The Matrix (dir. Andy Wachowski and Larry Wachowski); and Mulholland Drive (dir. David Lynch).
ENG-30056 Postcolonial and World Literature in English EA C 7.5 15
This module aims to introduce students to the diversity of literature produced in postcolonial contexts since the end of World War II. We will compare material from a number of formerly colonised regions $ú including Africa, the Caribbean, India, and Australasia $ú and explore how postcolonial texts relate to local cultural and historical experiences. The module is structured around some of the most highly charged issues tackled by postcolonial artists: cultural identity and nationhood; race, gender, and the body; globalisation; economic development; environmental disaster; and war. As we address these, we will look at ways of applying the exciting and challenging ideas raised by postcolonial theory, and consider how world literature is consumed in a global marketplace. The module covers a wide range of texts including prose, poetry, drama, and film, and will examine postcolonial writers&© innovative reconfigurations of form and genre.
ENG-30063 The Canadian Metropolis EP C 7.5 15
What comes to mind when you think of Canada? From the outside, many see it as a safe, civilised country that is, perhaps, not terribly exciting. This is far removed from reality. The country is wrought with tensions, including over Quebec separatism, clashes between francophones, anglophones and immigrants whose first language is neither French nor English, and land claims by aboriginal groups. Although the image of Canada is often one of forests and lakes, populated by the odd Mountie, most Canadians actually live in urban settings. Cities in general are sites where social tensions crystallise. Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver are the largest and most culturally and economically important ones in Canada. Therefore, it is not surprising that they find themselves time and again in Canadian and Québécois literature and other forms of cultural production. This module looks at a range of Canadian and Quebecois urban fiction, examining how this contributes to discourses around national and other identities.
PIR-30128 Protest and social movements EA M 7.5 15
This course is about social movements and their role as vehicles of political protest and political and social change. Social movements are a universal phenomenon in modern societies and they have provoked controversy because they are generally critical of important features of the political or social system. Their critics might see them as extremists or hopelessly utopian while their supporters see in them the hope of more democracy or a better kind of society. The academic analysis of social movements does not escape these controversies, so one task that we will face in assessing different approaches to the study of social movements will be to disentangle the different views of the social world that underlie conflicting theories of protest and social movements. You will be expected to be able to comment on the strengths and weaknesses of explanatory theories of social movements, to place movements in a wider context and to assess the power relations and social forces that shape the political environment of social movements. The cases that we examine include: recent protests in Britain, protest against authoritarian regimes such as those in China, Burma and Eastern Europe pre-1989; protest movements in the global South such as the Zapatistas in Mexico, and feminist and environmental movements in Europe and North America. The themes that we cover include the place of protest in democracy, the evidence about how participates in protest and why, the kinds of protest action that social movement groups choose to pursue, the influence of the state and policing on protest, how radical activists organise and create alternative communities, and the different theoretical approaches to social movements.
PIR-30129 Environmental Politics in the USA EA M 7.5 15
The United States has a complex record of addressing environmental problems. Between 1965 and 1980 the country experienced a "golden age" of environmental policymaking when numerous laws were enacted to tackle problems such as air pollution, water pollution, and waste. Few new laws have been enacted in recent decades, however, leading some commentators to talk about "environmental gridlock" and describing the United States as a climate change "laggard". This module will examine the factors that drive environmental policymaking. Attention will be given to the nature of environmental problems, the role of interest groups and public opinion, and the way that political institutions and systems effect policymaking. Students will be required to write a position paper and a short research paper as part of their assessment, and will also be required to sit a two-hour examination.
PIR-30131 Education Politics and Policy EA C 7.5 15
Education has been the battleground for many competing policy ideas of the left and right. What ideologies and values drive policies in education? How do policy specialists analyse and compare these different approaches? This module will develop your skills in evaluating education policies. You will research and present answers to questions such as &«do religious schools teach more effectively and drive up overall test scores,&ª &«what effect do league tables have on teaching and the curriculum in schools and universities,&ª and &«do higher fees drive down student access to universities?&ª The module will identify frameworks that analysts use to study policies and practice using them on case studies. The content will consist of a comparison of education systems in the United Kingdom and United States, focusing on secondary and higher education. The two systems copy each other's policies, but have many stark differences in approach. Some key themes include the separation of church and state, local versus national control over schools and universities. Some previous study of public policy would be helpful, but is not required.

American Studies Single Honours - Level 1 Modules

Semester 1 C/O TYP ECTSCATS
AMS-10022 A Beginner's Guide to Contemporary America C C 7.5 15
What is the United States really like? American's like to think of their country as exceptional. How might the U.S. be considered exceptional, and does it live up to that reputation? This course will explore American Society and the many complex aspects of the country and culture that make it distinctive. You will consider and critique its founding as a country based, not upon history or a homogeneous population, but upon the political principles of freedom and democracy. You will also examine its history as a nation of immigrants, as depicted by the words on the base of the Statue of Liberty. Race, religion, class, politics: all of these aspects of society appear to clearly set the U.S. apart from Europe, but how and to what extent? The social and historical differences have also led to a very distinctive culture, which we will examine from the standpoint of music and sport. How did that culture arise and what is its future in a globalised world? We will explore this influential culture and nation from the perspective of historical documents, written texts, audio, and video to give a full flavour of this nation and its culture.
AMS-10025 Starting Out: An Introduction to American Literature C C 7.5 15
`Starting Out' introduces students to a number of important nineteenth- and twentieth-century literary texts, to major themes in American literature (the Gothic, the city, commodity culture, the `American Adam', constructions of gender, class and race) and to relevant historical contexts (the Revolution, slavery and the Civil War, the Great Depression, Vietnam). The module is designed to introduce students to the standards and conventions of university-level work and to develop appropriate writing and research skills. Works studied include: `The Fall of the House of Usher', the slave narrative, `The Yellow Wallpaper' and `The Great Gatsby'.
FIL-10001 Reading Film EA C 7.5 15
Of all forms of communication, film often seems the most obvious, pleasurable and self-explanatory. With an emphasis on variety of film practice, this module aims to introduce students to the essential elements of film narrative and engage them in thinking critically about the choices made by film-makers in constructing the look and sound of their films. We will be asking, therefore, how meaning is created in the cinema, as well as what ideas and arguments such meanings may generate among critically aware spectators of it. In doing so we will be exploring the richness and complexity of cinema's potential to communicate with its spectators through a carefully selected variety of films. Represented amongst these will not only be the classic Hollywood model with which we are all most familiar, but also films from other national and artistic traditions. These will be examined in the context of both fortnightly lecture/workshops and weekly small group classes.
HIS-10030 Historical Research and Writing EA C 7.5 15
This course introduces first-year students to the study of History at university. It will provide you with the particular skills you will need to study History and which you will apply throughout your degree course. Your tutor will devise a historical topic or debate through which to identify and apply the skills needed to undertake historical research and writing. The lecture programme provides an introduction to the practises expected of and the resources available to a History student at Keele. It also introduces you to the range of historical research undertaken by History staff at Keele - the questions asked; the techniques used; the range of historical writing produced and its relevance to today. Small group seminars supported by a series of exercises will provide the means to locate the acquisition and development of skills within the study of a specific historical debate or topic. The course is assessed by a number of written exercises and an essay. Although primarily designed for History students, this course will also appeal to students of other Humanities and Social Science subjects.
PIR-10048 Mass Media in America: If it Bleeds, It Leads EA M 7.5 15
This module explores the different types of media in the United States, focusing on newspapers, TV, radio and the internet. Students will learn to analyse the structure and content of these media. How does America differ from Britain? For a start, most people read local papers. Similarly, most people watch local, not national, news. Does local versus national matter? One difference is a heavy emphasis upon crime and violence, prompting the saying "if it bleeds, it leads." Interestingly, while there is lots of violence, Americans are much more prudish about sex. This course encourages you to analyse the form and content of the media to understand why it looks the way it does. The issues raised in the course will give you better insight into British, as well as American, media
Semester 2 C/O TYP ECTSCATS
AMS-10023 The Unreliable Truth: Studies in Twentieth-Century English and American Literatures EP C 7.5 15
"The Unreliable Truth" looks at the ways twentieth-century British and American writers - including Virginia Woolf, George Orwell, Kurt Vonnegut and Maxine Hong Kingston - experiment with different types of narration to challenge the idea of reliablility in storytelling. Various techniques are studied, including first-person narration, stream of consciousness and metafictional strategies, and throughout the module students are encouraged to compare and contrast texts through open discussion and close textual reading, as well as looking at the historical and cultural contexts in which the texts were written in order to speculate on why different techniques were adopted. This module is intended to build on level 1 literature modules taken in the first semester, and makes a natural pair with AMS-10027 Transatlantic Gothic: Studies in 19thC English and American Literatures.
AMS-10024 New York, New York: An Introduction to American Culture C M 7.5 15
New York City holds a special place in the popular imagination. Immortalised in cinema, literature, visual art and song, it continues to symbolise much that is iconic about the United States, but also to maintain a unique identity as somewhere diverse, inclusive, democratic and edgy. This module offers Level I students a chance to explore and discuss the icons, the myths and the realities of this infamous urban space, and at the same time, through a range of texts which includes literature, film, visual art and journalism, demonstrate the unique cross-disciplinary approach of American Studies as a degree programme.
AMS-10026 The American Past: Explorations in U.S. History O C 7.5 15
The American Past module is designed to equip students with a basic grounding in U.S. history from the colonial period to the present day. It stresses the multifaceted character of American development, interweaving such issues as nationalism, race, gender, and class in a broad narrative and thematic synthesis. Students will be particularly encouraged to develop specific insights into the American historical experience through investigation of documentary evidence which will provide the the basis for seminar discussion.
AMS-10026 The American Past: Explorations in U.S. History EP C 7.5 15
The American Past module is designed to equip students with a basic grounding in U.S. history from the colonial period to the present day. It stresses the multifaceted character of American development, interweaving such issues as nationalism, race, gender, and class in a broad narrative and thematic synthesis. Students will be particularly encouraged to develop specific insights into the American historical experience through investigation of documentary evidence which will provide the the basis for seminar discussion.
AMS-10027 Transatlantic Gothic: Studies in Nineteenth-Century English and American Literature EP C 7.5 15
`Transatlantic Gothic' is an exciting and innovative course which introduces students to one of the most important of nineteenth-century literary genres, both in England and the United States. Students study the prominent texts of this period both individually and comparatively, and are given training in key critical and theoretical concepts (for example, psychoanalytical, deconstructionist and Marxist approaches to Gothic literature). The module is designed to develop intermediate writing and research skills; a formative assessment and individual feedback is also provided. Authors studied may include: Bram Stoker, Mary Shelley, Edgar Allan Poe, Charles Brockden Brown and Henry James. The course combines a variety of traditional learning activities (lectures and seminars) with small group work carried out in workshops. A balance of shorter and longer reading assignments makes the workload manageable.
FIL-10002 Approaches to Film EA C 7.5 15
Who is the author of a film? How do we categorize and make sense of films in relation to each other? How is the meaning of a film shaped by the historical period or national culture that produced it? What sorts of ideas and ideologies about gender and race do films include or exclude? This module provides an introduction to all these questions addressed within film theory. Like any other discipline of enquiry, Film Studies has generated a set of debates about value and meaning that revolve around some key questions, concepts and terms. Through a series of fortnightly two hour workshop lectures and weekly small group classes, this module will examine the development of critical thinking on the cinema and will invite students to debate, question and apply ideas on: film authorship; film genre; history; film politics. Each of these critical areas will be investigated with reference to an exciting range of films, chosen for the way they have shaped film history and challenged cinema's potential as a form of art and entertainment. Indicative study texts may include: 'The Rocky Horror Picture Show' (Dir. Sharman, 1975), 'Modern Times' (Dir. Chaplin, 1936) and 'Breathless' (Dir. Godard, 1960).
PIR-10039 Debates in American Politics O C 7.5 15
American Politics is driven by debate. Americans are divided over their foreign policy. Over social issues such as race and abortion, the U.S. has embarked upon debates so heated that they're sometimes referred to as the "culture wars". Then there are ongoing contests over areas such as education and environmental policy. This module will introduce to many of these debates. Each week, we look at a new policy area and get you to debate the rights and wrongs of current U.S. policy and where it should go next. The module also serves to introduce you to the subject of American Politics - it's all pitched at those new to the topic. Much of the module depends on your presentations, advocating one side or the other of a debate in a key policy area. Over the semester, you should learn about a series of policy debates, who's advocating what and develop your skills in presentation and argument.
PIR-10039 Debates in American Politics EA C 7.5 15
American Politics is driven by debate. Americans are divided over their foreign policy. Over social issues such as race and abortion, the U.S. has embarked upon debates so heated that they're sometimes referred to as the "culture wars". Then there are ongoing contests over areas such as education and environmental policy. This module will introduce to many of these debates. Each week, we look at a new policy area and get you to debate the rights and wrongs of current U.S. policy and where it should go next. The module also serves to introduce you to the subject of American Politics - it's all pitched at those new to the topic. Much of the module depends on your presentations, advocating one side or the other of a debate in a key policy area. Over the semester, you should learn about a series of policy debates, who's advocating what and develop your skills in presentation and argument.

American Studies Single Honours - Level 2 Modules

Semester 1 C/O TYP ECTSCATS
AMS-20027 AMS - Study Abroad I (dble) EP C 15 30
This is a module that is automatically allocated to the records our Keele level II students who are going to Study Abroad at a partner University for a semester of their second year and cannot be selected by any other level II students.
AMS-20028 AMS - Study Abroad II (dble) EP C 15 30
This is a module that is automatically allocated to the records our Keele level II students who are going to Study Abroad at a partner University for a semester of their second year and cannot be selected by any other level II students.
AMS-20058 The Detective and the American City O C 7.5 15
Students are invited to analyse and discuss the relationship between the detective and the city across a number of cultural fields - primarily literature, but also visual art and film. Throughout, the detective is taken as a figure which reflects economic, demographic, cultural and political changes in American cities, and anxieties about identity and status attending those changes. Attention is also paid to the detective as a peculiarly reflexive figure - someone who, in his or her quest to reconstruct plot and deliver explanation, reflects the processes both of the reader and the writer. The module looks not only at traditional detectives, but also at broader theoretical issues of reading, spectatorship and criticism which will be of value to students in their further literary studies.
AMS-20058 The Detective and the American City EP C 7.5 15
Students are invited to analyse and discuss the relationship between the detective and the city across a number of cultural fields - primarily literature, but also visual art and film. Throughout, the detective is taken as a figure which reflects economic, demographic, cultural and political changes in American cities, and anxieties about identity and status attending those changes. Attention is also paid to the detective as a peculiarly reflexive figure - someone who, in his or her quest to reconstruct plot and deliver explanation, reflects the processes both of the reader and the writer. The module looks not only at traditional detectives, but also at broader theoretical issues of reading, spectatorship and criticism which will be of value to students in their further literary studies.
AMS-20063 History of the United States in the Twentieth Century O M 7.5 15
The module seeks to engage students in a critical and analytical look at the central themes of America's domestic development in the twentieth century as a backdrop for understanding society and politics in the United States today. It offers a diversity of social, economic, political and cultural perspectives and will equip students with the basic historical tools for more detailed investigation. On the one hand the module examines the general political, social, and cultural undercurrents since 1900. On the other hand it takes a closer look at some of the key events and developments during the past century that left a long-term imprint on American society.
AMS-20063 History of the United States in the Twentieth Century EP M 7.5 15
The module seeks to engage students in a critical and analytical look at the central themes of America's domestic development in the twentieth century as a backdrop for understanding society and politics in the United States today. It offers a diversity of social, economic, political and cultural perspectives and will equip students with the basic historical tools for more detailed investigation. On the one hand the module examines the general political, social, and cultural undercurrents since 1900. On the other hand it takes a closer look at some of the key events and developments during the past century that left a long-term imprint on American society.
AMS-20064 The Romance of Fiction: History and Society in Nineteenth Century American Literature O M 7.5 15
This module analyses the major form of the American novel in the Nineteenth Century, defined as 'Romance' to distinguish it from the European novel which expresses itself predominantly in realistic form. Congruent with political and social ambitions for democracy, the 'Romance' suggests liberations of various kinds, principally a freedom from the constraints of too close an allegiance with the visible world, and as an alternative, proposes an arena of imaginative free-play which questions the seeming givens of that visibility. Here, the form is strongly bound up with providing alternative views and understandings of history.
AMS-20064 The Romance of Fiction: History and Society in Nineteenth Century American Literature EP M 7.5 15
This module analyses the major form of the American novel in the Nineteenth Century, defined as 'Romance' to distinguish it from the European novel which expresses itself predominantly in realistic form. Congruent with political and social ambitions for democracy, the 'Romance' suggests liberations of various kinds, principally a freedom from the constraints of too close an allegiance with the visible world, and as an alternative, proposes an arena of imaginative free-play which questions the seeming givens of that visibility. Here, the form is strongly bound up with providing alternative views and understandings of history.
ENG-20041 Aspects of the Novel 1740-1930 EA C 7.5 15
'Aspects of the Novel 1740-1930' is particularly appropriate for those students taking English or English and American Literatures, but can be taken by all students who have an interest in and enjoy reading novels. Students who enjoyed Telling Tales at Level 1 will find this module builds on their existing knowledge and takes them further in the study of the novel. Students who did not take Telling Tales are very welcome, but might need to spend a little more time preparing (i.e. reading the novels) before the module starts, to leave time to absorb some of the critical concepts the module discusses. The module looks at a key period in the development of the English novel, between 1740 and 1930. Five novels have been chosen- Samuel Richardon's Pamela (Vol 1), Maria Edgeworth's Castle Rackrent, Anthony Trollope's The Way We Live Now, Arnold Bennett's Anna of the Five Towns, and Dorothy Richardson's Pilgrimage (Vol. 2). Each novel is exemplary of a certain moment in the novel's development as a genre. In order to analyse these developments, the module introduces some of the key theories of the novel as presented by historical, Marxist, feminist, formalist, and poststructuralist criticism. Theories of the novel will be introduced in the form of exemplary essays, which will be made available on WebCT, and then contextualised and explained in dedicated lectures which use the set novels as examples. The module is taught through one lecture and one tutorial per week. It is assessed by one short essay (1500 words, 20% of the overall assessment) and one longer essay (2500 words, 80% of the overall assessment).
HIS-20066 Imperialism and Empire EA M 7.5 15
This module examines the dynamics of the `imperial age' of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. What were the motives for the expansion of the imperial power? What tools and methods did the imperial powers use to govern huge empires? How did imperial ideas contribute to the creation of new racial, ethnic, sexual and religious identities amongst the subject peoples of Empire? How did Empire reshape the identities of European societies? These questions are considered from the perspective of both the colonizer and the colonized within British and German Empires, drawing on case studies from Africa and India. Topics include: Sex and Empire; Hunting and Empire; Disease, Medicine and Empire; Colonialism and the Camera; Christianity and Empire; the German Occupation of Namibia, and Post-colonialism.
PIR-20070 The UN in world politics EA M 7.5 15
The United Nations has shaped international relations in multiple, complex and significant ways, but has not had the kind of impact for which many people hoped. Students taking this course will be able to explain why. They will analyse the interplay between world politics and international organisation by reference to the background to the creation of the United Nations; the lessons learned from the failure (and successes) of the UN's predecessor, the League of Nations; the policies of member states; and the international environment. Students will have the opportunity to work in teams as well as study topics that particulary interest them. In so doing they will further develop their ability to conduct research using a variety of sources to analyse the role of the UN in world politics. Assessment will be by means of one 2,000-word essay (50 per cent) and one two-hour unseen examination (50 per cent).
PIR-20071 U.S Government and Politics EA C 7.5 15
Through a detailed examination and analysis of the US governmental institutions, political parties, voting behaviour, interest groups, and public opinion, students will gain an understanding how the mass public can influence the making of public policy. This approach will enable students to identify, research, analyse and comment on the key issues facing the US political system developing their understanding of the interactivity of its component parts. An analysis of the literature will introduce students to the different conceptual frameworks and methodologies that have been adopted by leading US political scientists providing an intellectually rigorous training for the further study of the US political system.
Semester 2 C/O TYP ECTSCATS
AMS-20039 AMS - Study Abroad III (dble) EP C 15 30
This is a module that is automatically allocated to the records our Keele level II students who are going to Study Abroad at a partner University for a semester of their second year and cannot be selected by any other level II students.
AMS-20040 AMS - Study Abroad IV (dble) EP C 15 30
This is a module that is automatically allocated to the records our Keele level II students who are going to Study Abroad at a partner University for a semester of their second year and cannot be selected by any other level II students.
# AMS-20056 Burning Crosses: Religion and American Culture EP M 7.5 15
This module offers a broadly chronological look at religion&©s importance in American cultural movements. It aims to raise students&© awareness of the complex interactions between religious faith and cultural production through readings of a wide variety of stimulating and challenging texts, from literature, cinema and visual art. These diverse texts, which deal with equally diverse belief systems, show how in both celebration of and violent reaction to organised religion, culture is inextricably bound up with belief. One of the questions the module will address is: in an era when the death of religion has been widely cited, how does one account for the apparent resurgence and centrality of religious belief in American life?
# AMS-20056 Burning Crosses: Religion and American Culture O M 7.5 15
This module offers a broadly chronological look at religion&©s importance in American cultural movements. It aims to raise students&© awareness of the complex interactions between religious faith and cultural production through readings of a wide variety of stimulating and challenging texts, from literature, cinema and visual art. These diverse texts, which deal with equally diverse belief systems, show how in both celebration of and violent reaction to organised religion, culture is inextricably bound up with belief. One of the questions the module will address is: in an era when the death of religion has been widely cited, how does one account for the apparent resurgence and centrality of religious belief in American life?
AMS-20061 Alfred Hitchcock's America O C 7.5 15
Alfred Hitchcock was an historian, critic, and analyst of American culture, as becomes clear by focusing on some of the greatest films he made in Hollywood from the early 1940s until the late $ù50s. We will pursue cultural and politicised readings, while also attending in detail to both the production histories of his films $ú the stars, studios, and collaborators he worked with - and, through close attention to detail, their paramount formal features. Themes considered include the relation between national security and sexual identity, the complicity of cinema in a surveillance culture, fashion and the politics of gender construction. This module is designed for students who have already taken a film module, and is not recommended for those without some relevant previous experience.
AMS-20061 Alfred Hitchcock's America EP C 7.5 15
Alfred Hitchcock was an historian, critic, and analyst of American culture, as becomes clear by focusing on some of the greatest films he made in Hollywood from the early 1940s until the late $ù50s. We will pursue cultural and politicised readings, while also attending in detail to both the production histories of his films $ú the stars, studios, and collaborators he worked with - and, through close attention to detail, their paramount formal features. Themes considered include the relation between national security and sexual identity, the complicity of cinema in a surveillance culture, fashion and the politics of gender construction. This module is designed for students who have already taken a film module, and is not recommended for those without some relevant previous experience.
AMS-20065 From Modernity to Counter-Culture: American Literature and Social Criticism in the Twentieth Century O C 7.5 15
The transformations within American society during the Twentieth Century have been amongst the most far-reaching of any western culture. It is the purpose of this module to address the literary responses to this period of radical change, taking its examples from both poetry and prose. These examples will be shown to register and confront social, political and cultural issues both directly and indirectly in order to develop a knowledge of literature's alterability within the modern and postmodern eras, its responsiveness to changing material and ideological conditions, and the varying shapes of that responsiveness. A key question will be the extent to which any literary text critiques or colludes with its social occasion.
AMS-20065 From Modernity to Counter-Culture: American Literature and Social Criticism in the Twentieth Century EP C 7.5 15
The transformations within American society during the Twentieth Century have been amongst the most far-reaching of any western culture. It is the purpose of this module to address the literary responses to this period of radical change, taking its examples from both poetry and prose. These examples will be shown to register and confront social, political and cultural issues both directly and indirectly in order to develop a knowledge of literature's alterability within the modern and postmodern eras, its responsiveness to changing material and ideological conditions, and the varying shapes of that responsiveness. A key question will be the extent to which any literary text critiques or colludes with its social occasion.
AMS-20074 Discovering America: From Empires to Revolutions EP M 7.5 15
This module is suitable for students who have already taken history modules and acquired a solid grounding in the methods of historical research, analysis, and writing. This module looks in detail at the development of the Atlantic world from exploration through imperial settlement, the growth of European empires in North and South America, revolutions and American independence. It covers a wide range of topics; exploration and the age of enlightenment, the growth of empires and colonisation in the early modern period, migration patterns, the development of international trade networks, changing notions of race, class and gender, the age of revolutions and the struggle for independence in the Americas. Learners will gain an in-depth familiarity of a variety of case-studies related to the role and place of Europe in the wider Atlantic world between the fifteenth and eighteenth centuries. It will explore the impact and influence of Europe on the development and growth of the New World and, equally, the impact and influence of the New World on the political, economic, and cultural development of the Old World. Furthermore, it will look at the Atlantic as part of the new global order including Africa. It will also look at the political and intellectual links between the social orders which evolved in the New and Old Worlds, in both slave and free societies. By the application of advanced historiographical methods of research students will be able to to piece together the narrative of the Atlantic world and debate issues surrounding discovery, peopling and de-peopling of the Americas, migration and labour, the slave trade and Africa, the growth of European ports and cities, and the development of colonial rule and the 'Revolutionary Atlantic' including the American and Haitian revolutions. Furthermore, they will gain a conceptual understanding that enables them to apply critically paradigms generated by historians and social scientists, some of which are at the forefront of debates over the development of world and comparative histories of empire. Students taking this module will obtain the ability to evaluate the differing value of conflicting approaches, a process that throws into relief the uncertainty, ambiguity and limits of knowledge but also the possibility of achieving methodological objectivity. They will also learn or improve their time management skills and be able to manage their own learning by generating essay topics themselves, and make use of scholarly articles and primary sources relating to Atlantic histories in a way that goes beyond the insights available from secondary sources alone.
AMS-20074 Discovering America: From Empires to Revolutions O M 7.5 15
This module is suitable for students who have already taken history modules and acquired a solid grounding in the methods of historical research, analysis, and writing. This module looks in detail at the development of the Atlantic world from exploration through imperial settlement, the growth of European empires in North and South America, revolutions and American independence. It covers a wide range of topics; exploration and the age of enlightenment, the growth of empires and colonisation in the early modern period, migration patterns, the development of international trade networks, changing notions of race, class and gender, the age of revolutions and the struggle for independence in the Americas. Learners will gain an in-depth familiarity of a variety of case-studies related to the role and place of Europe in the wider Atlantic world between the fifteenth and eighteenth centuries. It will explore the impact and influence of Europe on the development and growth of the New World and, equally, the impact and influence of the New World on the political, economic, and cultural development of the Old World. Furthermore, it will look at the Atlantic as part of the new global order including Africa. It will also look at the political and intellectual links between the social orders which evolved in the New and Old Worlds, in both slave and free societies. By the application of advanced historiographical methods of research students will be able to to piece together the narrative of the Atlantic world and debate issues surrounding discovery, peopling and de-peopling of the Americas, migration and labour, the slave trade and Africa, the growth of European ports and cities, and the development of colonial rule and the 'Revolutionary Atlantic' including the American and Haitian revolutions. Furthermore, they will gain a conceptual understanding that enables them to apply critically paradigms generated by historians and social scientists, some of which are at the forefront of debates over the development of world and comparative histories of empire. Students taking this module will obtain the ability to evaluate the differing value of conflicting approaches, a process that throws into relief the uncertainty, ambiguity and limits of knowledge but also the possibility of achieving methodological objectivity. They will also learn or improve their time management skills and be able to manage their own learning by generating essay topics themselves, and make use of scholarly articles and primary sources relating to Atlantic histories in a way that goes beyond the insights available from secondary sources alone.
ENG-20036 Twentieth Century Novels into Films EA C 7.5 15
Film has always had a close relationship to the novel through both literary adaptation and novelists who have also been screenplay writers. It has, nonetheless, frequently been framed as the poor relation of the two in terms of cultural value. By examining the distinctiveness and complexity of film language and the relative parameters of literary and film modes of narration, this module will examine some of the key but distinctive questions that need to be addressed when thinking about how film and literature make meaning. The module is specifically focused on the construction of history within narrative and will investigate how the categories of personal and collective memory, political conflict, change, national identity and gender are articulated in three novels and their film adaptations.
HIS-20067 Sources and Debates EA C 7.5 15
Most students who read history as undergraduates tend to read one book (at most) concerned with the question 'What is History?', and they usually do this before they have done any real historical research. Thereafter, their training tends to be conducted 'on the job'. If they reflect on the nature, theory or ideology which underpins what they practice, they tend to focus on issues which surface in assessments, learning that writing which is merely descriptive is not rewarded but that writing which is analytical gains good marks. Via the electives website you are asked to choose between medieval and modern history, or between political and social history, where the nature of the historian's work in each case is left as self-evident. But ask yourself the following questions: On what basis do historians claim to 'know' about the past? Why do historians disagree? What exactly is history which is 'out of date'? What is historical evidence? Aside from the area of their interest, can I tell the difference between any two of the historians who have taught me? If you can't think how to respond to these questions, should you be able to call yourself a graduate in history? This module has been designed to help you to reflect on the nature of the subject in which you are being trained. We believe that history is a distinctive discipline and that you will acquire a deeper understanding of how it is (and has been) practised, partly by listening and reading, partly by practical experience.
HIS-20078 Power in the Modern World EA M 7.5 15
What is power? How is it attained, maintained, and relinquished? Who has power, and for what reasons? Is it located in individuals, groups, classes, or nations? How does it change? This course covers models, theories, and themes that address the question of power since the French Revolution. The module seeks to examine the impact of specific historical forces, including nationalism, fascism, state building and imperialism. It also endeavours to assess different explanations for power in the past two hundred years, including gender, Marxism, and post-structuralist approaches (Foucault, Bourdieu). The course will provide students with the analytical tools to study the nature of power as it emerged in the modern period.
MDS-20017 Politics and Cinema EA M 7.5 15
This module seeks to introduce students to some of the great works of world cinema and to investigate the major ideological tendencies of the twentieth-century and key moments in modern and contemporary politics as these have been reflected in film. Topics central to this module include revolution, totalitarianism, nationalism and terrorism. The scope is international and settings include North and South America, Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Films studied on the course are likely to include: Alan J. Pakula&©s All the President&©s Men; Francis Ford Coppola&©s Apocalypse Now; Michael Moore&©s Fahrenheit 9/11; Eisenstein&©s Battleship Potemkin; Askoldov&©s Commissar; Mikhalkov&©s Burnt by the Sun; The Lives of Others; Goodbye Lenin!; Ken Loach&©s The Wind that Shakes the Barley; Neil Jordan&©s Michael Collins; Richard Attenborough&©s Cry Freedom; Pontecorvo&©s The Battle of Algiers; Kevin Macdonald&©s One Day in September; Spielberg&©s Munich (2005). The module will not presume any knowledge of film, but will nevertheless regard the films as cinematic works. The main focus will be on events, ideas and political developments, and how they are reflected cinematically. A general background knowledge of the twentieth century will be important although this module will not require deep specialist knowledge of any given country.
MDS-20019 Analysing Culture EA C 7.5 15
In Analysing Culture we consider how culture enables people to make sense of their personal and social lives. The first session of the course refers to Geertz&©s classic paper on Balinese society to introduce the concept of culture. The key question we want to ask through our study of Geertz essay is $ùwhat is culture?&© Following this example of an anthropologically strange culture we move on to think about the construction of national identity through a consideration of Hall&©s work on western identity, Said&©s essay on orientalism, Anderson&©s notion of imaginary communities, and various representations of contemporary nationality. Although the nation has provided a strong cultural map for people since the middle of the 17th century, the rise of modern urbanism has challenged this cultural form through its embrace of privacy and a culture of alienation. In week 3 we consider urban culture, read Simmel&©s classic essay on the metropolitan mind, and think about the ways in which the city is represented today. In the next session we show how people have sought to relate culture to the problem of alienation in modern culture. In week 4 we think about the notion of consumer culture through Adorno and Horkheimer&©s idea of mass culture and Klein's theory of branding and consider how commodities might work like narcotics that numb our senses to the impoverished reality of our one-dimensional society. Our key cultural texts here is Danny Boyle&©s film Trainspotting. In the second part of the course we begin by thinking about cultural politics. In week 5 we focus on Bourdieu&©s idea of distinction and think about how far his theory reflects popular uses of culture in the contemporary world. For Bourdieu culture is not simply a form of deception, but rather a tool that people use in order to try to distinguish themselves from other people in the endless struggle that is competitive capitalism. Although Bourdieu suggests that people use culture for their own purposes, he thinks that they use it unimaginatively and strictly within the confines of capitalist ideology. Thus we may say that Bourdieu is essentially a Marxist. In week 6 we try to extend the Marxist theory of culture through an exploration of the works on the key writers on everyday life. In particular we refer to the idea of contested culture expressed in the works of the French theorists of constructed space and everyday life, Lefebvre and de Certeau. The purpose of this exercise is to suggest that culture may be a space of negotiation, contestation, and confrontation, rather than simply a mechanism of deception or distinction. In week 7 we extend our exploration of this idea of cultural resistance through a discussion of the theory of sub-culture. This theory shows how new communities are able to emerge through consumer relations and cultural performance. We address this theory through a consideration of the classic example of punk, the more contemporary case of gangsta rap, and a reading of the works of the cultural sociologists of performance, Goffman, Garfinkel, and Mead. In the final three weeks of the course we move on to focus on theories of post-modernism, the culturally constructed body, and globalisation. In week 8 we explore the idea of post-modern culture through Dominic Strinati&©s essay on the topic, David Lynch&©s cinema, and Fredric Jameson&©s influential paper, Post-modernism, Or, The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism. For Jameson culture is the dominant form of identification in post-modern society. He thinks that people no longer worry about economics or politics, but rather understand these categories through culture. What does this mean? We will try to find out week 10 when we consider the ideas of global culture and anti-capitalism. But before we consider global culture, we examine the post-modern concern for the body and in particular Bordo's theory of the economic body. In week 9 we approach Bordo's theory through a cultural history of thinking about and imaging the body, taking in the Greek God body, the modern super-hero body, and the post-modern techno body, represented by both Haraway's cyborg, Bordo's metabolic body, and various science fiction bodies. Our study of the body, and body image, allows us to think about the ways that politics and economics are subsumed in culture in global society. Shifting from a study of the microcosm of the body to the macrocosm of the globalised world, in week 10 we refer to the works of contemporary writers, such as Giddens and Beck, who dispute the claims of the conflict theorists, such as Adorno and Horkheimer, by arguing that there is no monolithic centre of power that imposes meaning upon people&©s lives in global society. Rather Giddens and Beck argue that contemporary culture is characterised by risk, chance, and freedom of choice. In this session we think about their suggestion that traditional power structures no longer hold in post-modern / global society through an exploration of the idea of the new social movement and in particular anti-capitalist cultural politics. Our core text for this session is the recent film, Fight Club, which connects visions of the body and globalised consumer capitalism to issues of revolutionary cultural politics.
PIR-20061 Peace, Conflict and Security: Theories and Practice EA M 7.5 15
This module introduces students to the problem of security as it is addressed in the academic discipline of International Relations and as it is understood by practicioners of international politics at the level of governments and other kinds of actors in world politics. The study of security is still the single most influential sub-discipline within International Relations and the search for security in its various forms is at the heart of many activities and policies at the international level. Through this module students become familiar with the key conceptual debates in the literature on international security and come to appreciate the implications of these debates for events in the real world of international politics. They develop the ability to apply a range of relevant ideas about the nature of conflict and conflict resolution to gain a critical understanding of how security questions develop and how the security agenda is shaped, looking especially at the elements of continuity and change in the security agenda since the Cold War began to wane in the mid-1980s through to the 2010s. In addition to learning how to analyse key aspects of the security problematique - a set of problems, concepts, and theoretical debates that still lie near the heart of the discipline of International Relations - students refine their ability to conduct independent research, to evaluate and employ abstract concepts and theories in making sense of and evaluating potential solutions to real-world problems, and effectively to communicate complex arguments supported by appropriate evidence. The final module mark is based upon the following: 750-word annotated bibliography (15%); 2,000 word essay (45%); 2-hour unseen written exam (40%).
PIR-20068 Why Policy Changes EA C 7.5 15
Why do some policies change while others stay the same? Ultimately, most politics is about what governments do, or don't do. While many scholars of politics work in specific fields (e.g. legislatures, transport policy), those working in the field of public policy try to explain the whole: how does the system fit together to produce change or continuity in the way the government acts? That questions raises further issues: how do agendas work?, how do people in a policy area work together or compete with one another?, how does policy reflect people's political interests? This module introduces you to the work and methods of these scholars. There are three assessments for the module: two short written pieces which ask you to consider two particular areas of public policy scholarship (each of 1200 words and each worth 25% of your final module mark) and a policy analysis essay examining a policy area of your choice (2000 words, worth 50% of your final module mark). If you're after some indicative reading, try John Kingdon's Agendas, Alternatives and Public Policies or Michael Hill's The Public Policy Process. If you've ever wondered about questions of policy, such as why the trains don't run on time, or why you're paying fees to study at university, this module might help you understand.

American Studies Single Honours - Level 3 Modules

Semester 1 C/O TYP ECTSCATS
AMS-30029 Social Thought and Social Movements in the US O M 7.5 15
For a nation conceived in revolution, radical social thought has always had a special cultural and political significance, in spite of the apparent dominance of liberal capitalism as the main mode of ordering political, socio-economic, and cultural relations. This module explores selected critical social movements and intellectual traditions in the US, using both primary and secondary sources. This will serve both as an introduction to the field of the history of ideas and as a means of understanding the main contributions American culture has made to traditions of Western social thought.
AMS-30029 Social Thought and Social Movements in the US EP M 7.5 15
For a nation conceived in revolution, radical social thought has always had a special cultural and political significance, in spite of the apparent dominance of liberal capitalism as the main mode of ordering political, socio-economic, and cultural relations. This module explores selected critical social movements and intellectual traditions in the US, using both primary and secondary sources. This will serve both as an introduction to the field of the history of ideas and as a means of understanding the main contributions American culture has made to traditions of Western social thought.
AMS-30031 Silence, Strength and Sentiment: Gender and Sexuality in Nineteenth-Century American Writing EP C 7.5 15
The nineteenth century saw great changes in American society. Rapid urbanisation and industrialisation, shifts in economic structure, the movement away from a hard, masculine, Puritan Christianity toward more domesticated and sociable forms of worship: these trends and more had profound effects on the way gender roles were defined and perceived. This module looks at a number of major literary works by canonical U.S. authors and explores the ways in which anxieties about changing gender roles and relationships were dramatised and narrativised. It also explores the relationship between authorship, gender and sexuality and how the demands of the literary marketplace may have placed particular demands on both male and female authors of the time.
AMS-30031 Silence, Strength and Sentiment: Gender and Sexuality in Nineteenth-Century American Writing O C 7.5 15
The nineteenth century saw great changes in American society. Rapid urbanisation and industrialisation, shifts in economic structure, the movement away from a hard, masculine, Puritan Christianity toward more domesticated and sociable forms of worship: these trends and more had profound effects on the way gender roles were defined and perceived. This module looks at a number of major literary works by canonical U.S. authors and explores the ways in which anxieties about changing gender roles and relationships were dramatised and narrativised. It also explores the relationship between authorship, gender and sexuality and how the demands of the literary marketplace may have placed particular demands on both male and female authors of the time.
ENG-30067 The Writer As Psychologist - the Great Russian Realists EA M 7.5 15
The Russian realists - Turgenev, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy and Chekhov - number among Russia&©s most profound influences on European culture. In the hands of such writers realism became a potent medium for social criticism and also for psychological analysis. This module concentrates particularly on the latter function. As early as the 1840s we can see the contours of the psychological novel developing in Lermontov&©s idiosyncratically structured A Hero of Our Time, with its alienated hero or $ùsuperfluous man&©. By the 1860s Turgenev is able to elaborate this literary type into a proto-revolutionary hero in his novel Fathers and Children. Dostoevsky&©s celebrated Crime and Punishment explores the relationship between crime and guilt, a theme also central to Tolstoy&©s The Kreutzer Sonata. The Death of Ivan Ilyich, also by Tolstoy, revolves around an existential crisis precipitated by terminal illness. The Cherry Orchard, probably Chekhov&©s best known play, explores the tragedy of nostalgic self-delusion. All of these works anticipate and lay the foundations for the Freudian and existentialist revolutions which were to transform twentieth-century thought. Russian realism was also radically concerned with female psychology. This module features remarkable gynocentric works which powerfully document women&©s varied reactions to their social predicament in nineteenth-century Russia: the assertive heroines of Turgenev&©s On the Eve and Khvoshchinskaya&©s Boarding-School Girl and, as the new century opens, Chekhov&©s Three Sisters dreaming of Moscow in their provincial backwater.
PIR-30117 The U.S. Presidency EP M 7.5 15
The high profile of the U.S. presidency is undeniable. Whether occupied by a Bush or an Obama, the office is also perceived as one of the most powerful institutions in the world. Yet, in a political system designed around a separation of powers, the capacity to lead is not guaranteed. This module allows you to consider the different techniques presidents use to lead and whether those techniques work. The module is taught in two-hour seminars and is assessed by a three-section portfolio (60%) and examination (40%). The portfolio is an opportunity for you to examine presidential leadership in a series of policy areas of your choice, while the examination asks you to consider the strengths and weaknesses of scholarship on the presidency. The set text (and so, pretty good indicative reading) is George Edwards and Stephen Wayne's Presidential Leadership.
SOC-30025 Streets, Skyscrapers, and Slums: The City in Social, Cultural, and Historical Context EA C 7.5 15
In this module we trace the cultural politics of the city from Ancient Athens to contemporary mega-cities, such as Los Angeles, Tokyo, and Lagos. Following the introductory lecture, which examines the meaning of the original cities of the ancient world, the first part of the module, modern cities, offers a consideration of the late 19th century / early 20th century European metropolises. After an exploration of the ideas of metropolitan psychology, fashion, and the department store in the works of Georg Simmel and Walter Benjamin, we move on to think about the city in the late 20th century. Here we think about the situationist city, the spectacular city, and the surveillance city and consider the ideas of Guy Debord, Henri Lefebvre, and Michel Foucault. In the second part of the module, post-modern cities, we study the American mega-city. For writers such as Fredric Jameson, Jean Baudrillard, and Mike Davis cities such as Los Angeles and Las Vegas are strange surreal places. In this section of the course we explore the post-modern city through the ideas of simulation, informationalism, urban violence, the ghetto, and the obsession with security. After our exploration of the post-modern city, the final section of the module examines contemporary third world mega-cities. We begin with a consideration of Mike Davis&©s recent study of the third world slum and then move on to think about the ideas of pollution and danger in mega-cities. Other topics in this section of the course include the situation of the occultism in the African city, corruption and crime in South Africa, and the mythology of the werewolf in one of Africa&©s most populous cities, Lagos. The aim of the module is to explore the cultural politics of the city in history.
Semester 1-2 C/O TYP ECTSCATS
AMS-30036 Dissertation in American Studies - ISP C C 15 30
The dissertation offers students the opportunity to research in detail a subject of their own choosing and interest, and to write a substantial piece of work that explores any aspect of American Studies through one or more of its disciplines. Work on this 30-credit module takes place over both semesters of the final year in a structured way, with supporting lectures, group and individual meetings, and targets for production of draft materials. The module offers students the opportunity to produce an extended piece of research as the culminating assessment of their degree programme. Staff in American Studies strongly recommend students to take the dissertation option for reasons both of academic and personal development. The opportunity to work on a subject of the student's choosing, together with individual written and oral feedback and the opportunity to revise work means that marks for this module have historically been significantly higher than for other final year modules.
Semester 2 C/O TYP ECTSCATS
AMS-30035 'Eyes on the Prize': The Struggle for Civil Rights in America EP M 7.5 15
This module is suitable for students who have already taken history modules and acquired a solid grounding in the methods of historical research, analysis, and writing. This module allows students to study one of the most dramatic processes to shape contemporary America: the African-American struggle for civil rights. From a South blighted by $ùJim Crow&© segregation, and lynching to today&©s America, where equality before the law has been achieved but fissures of race still divide society, we will assess the aims and achievements of black leadership; the contribution of $ùmainstream protest&© by ordinary men and women, black and white, Northern and Southern, to re-shaping American society and the broader African-American contribution to American culture. The rise of more radical strategies will also be addressed and placed within the larger context of this, the most significant dilemma to confront American democracy over the last century. This module gives students an in-depth familiarity with a case-study of a mass movement for civil rights, with some attention to other kinds of campaigns and freedom struggles, particularly before the emergence of mass activism. The module will be informed by the latest stage in the scholarly debate concerning the nature of mass activism and protest by African-Americans in an effort to gain full citizenship rights and economic opportunities. This module will give students the ability to the application of advanced historiographical methods of research to piece together the narrative of the Civil Rights movement and how scholarly debate reflects contemporary race related issues. Furthermore students will gain the ability to evaluate the differing value of conflicting approaches, a process that throws into relief the uncertainty, ambiguity and limits of knowledge but also the possibility of achieving methodological objectivity. Students taking this module will also gain the abiltiy to manage their own learning by generating essay topics themselves, and make use of scholarly articles and primary sources relating to Civil Rights in a way that goes beyond the insights available from secondary sources alone.
AMS-30035 'Eyes on the Prize': The Struggle for Civil Rights in America O M 7.5 15
This module is suitable for students who have already taken history modules and acquired a solid grounding in the methods of historical research, analysis, and writing. This module allows students to study one of the most dramatic processes to shape contemporary America: the African-American struggle for civil rights. From a South blighted by $ùJim Crow&© segregation, and lynching to today&©s America, where equality before the law has been achieved but fissures of race still divide society, we will assess the aims and achievements of black leadership; the contribution of $ùmainstream protest&© by ordinary men and women, black and white, Northern and Southern, to re-shaping American society and the broader African-American contribution to American culture. The rise of more radical strategies will also be addressed and placed within the larger context of this, the most significant dilemma to confront American democracy over the last century. This module gives students an in-depth familiarity with a case-study of a mass movement for civil rights, with some attention to other kinds of campaigns and freedom struggles, particularly before the emergence of mass activism. The module will be informed by the latest stage in the scholarly debate concerning the nature of mass activism and protest by African-Americans in an effort to gain full citizenship rights and economic opportunities. This module will give students the ability to the application of advanced historiographical methods of research to piece together the narrative of the Civil Rights movement and how scholarly debate reflects contemporary race related issues. Furthermore students will gain the ability to evaluate the differing value of conflicting approaches, a process that throws into relief the uncertainty, ambiguity and limits of knowledge but also the possibility of achieving methodological objectivity. Students taking this module will also gain the abiltiy to manage their own learning by generating essay topics themselves, and make use of scholarly articles and primary sources relating to Civil Rights in a way that goes beyond the insights available from secondary sources alone.
AMS-30038 High Culture: Drink, Drugs, and the American Dream O M 7.5 15
The module aims to study the social, cultural, psychological, medical, philosophical, and aesthetic dimensions of works dealing with three decades of American history that are concerned with a range of intoxicants - alcohol, heroin, LSD, and peyote. Rather than taking a biographical approach (which might, for example, focus on the role of drink in the writing of the Lost Generation), the module focuses on representations of individuals or groups involved in sub- and counter-cultural use of mind-altering and/or addictive substances. The emphasis on studying formal features of texts also includes comparative analysis of Hollywood adaptations and films. The module is suitable for those who have already studied literature in Y1 or Y2, although experience of studying film would be an advantage.
AMS-30038 High Culture: Drink, Drugs, and the American Dream EP M 7.5 15
The module aims to study the social, cultural, psychological, medical, philosophical, and aesthetic dimensions of works dealing with three decades of American history that are concerned with a range of intoxicants - alcohol, heroin, LSD, and peyote. Rather than taking a biographical approach (which might, for example, focus on the role of drink in the writing of the Lost Generation), the module focuses on representations of individuals or groups involved in sub- and counter-cultural use of mind-altering and/or addictive substances. The emphasis on studying formal features of texts also includes comparative analysis of Hollywood adaptations and films. The module is suitable for those who have already studied literature in Y1 or Y2, although experience of studying film would be an advantage.
CRI-30041 The politics and cultures of the death penalty in the 21st Century EA C 7.5 15
This option is intended for students with an interest in punishment and penality in general and in the death penalty in particular. Through a combination of lectures and seminar activities students will be encouraged to develop a critical understanding of the philosophical, political, legal and cultural contexts within which the death penalty either survives or is abolished. The course is organized around the exploration of four themes: 1) The place of the death penalty in the philosophy and sociology of punishment. 2) The current state of play on the death penalty worldwide and the rise of abolitionist politics (especially in the European context). 3) Current debates/controversies surrounding the application of the death penalty in the US through relevant criminological/legal literature and cases of established or suspected miscarriages of justice. 4) Key cultural sensibilities relating to executions, pain and suffering. Students will be encouraged to use internet resources to locate information relating to case studies on specific death row prisoners/miscarriages of justice and the arguments of anti-death penalty/pro-death penalty groups. Seminars will aim to help students evaluate, summarize and synthesize the information gathered. A number of the seminar activities are designed to assist students with their essays and students will be encouraged to bring to the seminars case studies relevant to their case study assessment.
ENG-30053 Postmodernism: Fiction, Film and Theory EA C 7.5 15
Postmodernism represents an important body of critical theory that developed in the second half of the twentieth century, and continues to have relevance in the twenty-first. It crosses a range of disciplines, but emphasizes an interrogative, reflexive and eclectic challenge to many philosophical and aesthetic values and practices. On this module, you will explore the relevance and meaning of some of the ideas associated with postmodernism with respect to selected novels and films. You will assess the influence of key ideas on writers and directors and you will study the main themes and techniques used in postmodern fiction and film. The module also encourages a critically-informed assessment of the implications of postmodern thinking for contemporary notions of history, identity, sexuality, politics and consumer society. Fiction and film likely to be studied on the module include Julian Barnes, A History of the World in 10½ Chapters; Jeanette Winterson, Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit; Martin Amis, Money; J. G. Ballard, Kingdom Come; The Hours (dir. Stephen Daldry); The Company of Wolves (dir. Neil Jordan); The Matrix (dir. Andy Wachowski and Larry Wachowski); and Mulholland Drive (dir. David Lynch).
ENG-30056 Postcolonial and World Literature in English EA C 7.5 15
This module aims to introduce students to the diversity of literature produced in postcolonial contexts since the end of World War II. We will compare material from a number of formerly colonised regions $ú including Africa, the Caribbean, India, and Australasia $ú and explore how postcolonial texts relate to local cultural and historical experiences. The module is structured around some of the most highly charged issues tackled by postcolonial artists: cultural identity and nationhood; race, gender, and the body; globalisation; economic development; environmental disaster; and war. As we address these, we will look at ways of applying the exciting and challenging ideas raised by postcolonial theory, and consider how world literature is consumed in a global marketplace. The module covers a wide range of texts including prose, poetry, drama, and film, and will examine postcolonial writers&© innovative reconfigurations of form and genre.
ENG-30063 The Canadian Metropolis EA C 7.5 15
What comes to mind when you think of Canada? From the outside, many see it as a safe, civilised country that is, perhaps, not terribly exciting. This is far removed from reality. The country is wrought with tensions, including over Quebec separatism, clashes between francophones, anglophones and immigrants whose first language is neither French nor English, and land claims by aboriginal groups. Although the image of Canada is often one of forests and lakes, populated by the odd Mountie, most Canadians actually live in urban settings. Cities in general are sites where social tensions crystallise. Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver are the largest and most culturally and economically important ones in Canada. Therefore, it is not surprising that they find themselves time and again in Canadian and Québécois literature and other forms of cultural production. This module looks at a range of Canadian and Quebecois urban fiction, examining how this contributes to discourses around national and other identities.
PIR-30128 Protest and social movements EA M 7.5 15
This course is about social movements and their role as vehicles of political protest and political and social change. Social movements are a universal phenomenon in modern societies and they have provoked controversy because they are generally critical of important features of the political or social system. Their critics might see them as extremists or hopelessly utopian while their supporters see in them the hope of more democracy or a better kind of society. The academic analysis of social movements does not escape these controversies, so one task that we will face in assessing different approaches to the study of social movements will be to disentangle the different views of the social world that underlie conflicting theories of protest and social movements. You will be expected to be able to comment on the strengths and weaknesses of explanatory theories of social movements, to place movements in a wider context and to assess the power relations and social forces that shape the political environment of social movements. The cases that we examine include: recent protests in Britain, protest against authoritarian regimes such as those in China, Burma and Eastern Europe pre-1989; protest movements in the global South such as the Zapatistas in Mexico, and feminist and environmental movements in Europe and North America. The themes that we cover include the place of protest in democracy, the evidence about how participates in protest and why, the kinds of protest action that social movement groups choose to pursue, the influence of the state and policing on protest, how radical activists organise and create alternative communities, and the different theoretical approaches to social movements.
PIR-30129 Environmental Politics in the USA EA M 7.5 15
The United States has a complex record of addressing environmental problems. Between 1965 and 1980 the country experienced a "golden age" of environmental policymaking when numerous laws were enacted to tackle problems such as air pollution, water pollution, and waste. Few new laws have been enacted in recent decades, however, leading some commentators to talk about "environmental gridlock" and describing the United States as a climate change "laggard". This module will examine the factors that drive environmental policymaking. Attention will be given to the nature of environmental problems, the role of interest groups and public opinion, and the way that political institutions and systems effect policymaking. Students will be required to write a position paper and a short research paper as part of their assessment, and will also be required to sit a two-hour examination.
PIR-30131 Education Politics and Policy EA C 7.5 15
Education has been the battleground for many competing policy ideas of the left and right. What ideologies and values drive policies in education? How do policy specialists analyse and compare these different approaches? This module will develop your skills in evaluating education policies. You will research and present answers to questions such as &«do religious schools teach more effectively and drive up overall test scores,&ª &«what effect do league tables have on teaching and the curriculum in schools and universities,&ª and &«do higher fees drive down student access to universities?&ª The module will identify frameworks that analysts use to study policies and practice using them on case studies. The content will consist of a comparison of education systems in the United Kingdom and United States, focusing on secondary and higher education. The two systems copy each other's policies, but have many stark differences in approach. Some key themes include the separation of church and state, local versus national control over schools and universities. Some previous study of public policy would be helpful, but is not required.
C Compulsory Core Module
O Optional Core Module
EP Programme Elective Module
EA Approved Elective Module
EF Free-Standing Elective Module
M Mixed Assessment e.g. a mixture of essay(s) and examination, with the latter's weighting below 90%.
E Examination, providing 90% or more of the mark.
C Continuous Assessment e.g. essay(s) or practical work (as appropriate).
+ Available to qualified non-principal, Erasmus, Exchange and Study Abroad students but there may be a restriction on the number of places available
~ Specific pre-requisite(s) needed by non-principal, Erasmus, Exchange and Study Abroad students wishing to take these modules
# Not normally available to Erasmus, Exchange and Study Abroad students (except by prior negotiation with Departmental Tutor)
Note: Modules not marked with a # are available to suitably qualified Erasmus, Exchange and Study Abroad students.