Undergraduate courses
Our undergraduate curriculum offers study of the US through an interdisciplinary programme in the humanities and the social
sciences. You can build a course that matches your interests by choosing from modules in literature, film, history of art,
history, politics and sociology.
As well as studying modules offered by a variety of University departments, you will take interdisciplinary core modules that
bring all American (US) studies students together in small seminar groups. This means that our graduates are
often a close-knit group and you can travel and visit friends from Essex during your time spent studying
abroad.
Each of our courses listed below can be taken as either:
-
BA American (US) Studies
The US truly lends itself to interdisciplinary study; its literature and film are connected to its politics, its cultures to its history.
Contemporary social issues, such as the struggle for racial justice, can only be understood with reference to the legacies of slavery and the
civil rights movement. The crisis over environmental protection of the far west can only be understood by looking at the history of westward
movement and issues of Native American histories and rights. These are the kind of issues you will study as an Essex student.
-
BA Criminology and American (US) Studies
The US holds over five million of its citizens in confinement. American criminological ideas and practices heavily influence global approaches to crime.
The US is a global innovator in formulating policy responses to crime and a prime producer of images of crime and punishment in fiction, film and art. Our
course combines sociology and criminology with American (US) studies and provides an opportunity to spend time in the US studying criminal justice, sociology
of crime and cultural representations of crime, and to undertake internships in various criminal justice agencies.
-
BA American (US) Studies with Film
Our joint-honours BA American (US) Studies with Film offers students interested in both the US and its cinematic output a chance to combine modules that will give
a deeper understanding of both areas. More information about film studies is available from our Department of Literature, Film, and
Theatre Studies.