American Studies*
Qualifications
BA, CertArts, BA(Hons), MA, PhD, GradDipArts
*The University periodically reviews its offerings. Please refer to the College of Arts website for the latest information on these programmes.
Introduction
In a global, interconnected world we cannot avoid the influence the United States has on our lives in New Zealand. We constantly encounter US culture and its products, from McDonald's hamburgers and Coca-Cola to Starbucks coffee, from American Idol to The Simpsons, from the America's Cup to Bill Gates' Microsoft empire.
American Studies is taught in universities all over the world. Many consider it important to have an understanding of a country which became a superpower in the twentieth century and which still exerts a powerful influence on the international stage. A common thread running through American Studies programmes is a commitment to analyse both positive and negative impacts of United States society and culture from a variety of critical and theoretical perspectives.
The American Studies programme at UC offers an exciting array of courses that study the society, culture and media of the United States. These courses provide insights from a variety of disciplines in the arts and social sciences, including history, literature, sociology, cultural anthropology, film and media studies, human-animal studies, environmental politics and science and technology studies.
In the second year students can go on to take courses covering American popular culture, science fiction, rock ‘n’ roll music, the mass media, war and memory, and contemporary literature. Whether as a stand-alone American Studies major or linked to another subject as part of a double major or a minor, American Studies offers a multidisciplinary and international perspective to a Bachelor of Arts degree.
Whether as a stand-alone American Studies major or linked to another subject as part of a double major or a minor, American Studies offers a multidisciplinary and international perspective to a Bachelor of Arts degree.
100-level courses
Students majoring in American Studies are advised to take two courses in American Studies at 100-level. In addition to the courses on the link above, ENGL 109 and MUSI 109 also count as prerequisites for entry into 200-level American Studies courses. Not all 100-level courses are offered in any one year.
200-level and beyond
At 200 and 300-level, more specialised courses explore a variety of topics in the following areas:
- popular culture and representations
- culture, postmodernism and contemporary cultural theory
- social difference and multiculturalism
- culture and globalisation.
For those wishing to major in American Studies we require students to take our core course AMST 215 From Plymouth Rock to Little Rock: US Cultural and Literary History. This provides a grounding in the historical dimensions of United States culture, its political system and growth as a multicultural nation, along with an introduction to the major paradigms of American Studies.
Those pursuing American Studies at the graduate level are recommended to take AMST 327, which gives a theoretical understanding of the scholarly field of American Studies.
Further study
Students may continue after the three-year BA and enrol in the one-year Bachelor of Arts with Honours (BA(Hons)) programme. Students who have completed a BA(Hons) degree may proceed to the Master of Arts (MA) or doctoral (PhD) programmes, both of which involve thesis work.
Career opportunities
Studying the past and present nature of American culture(s) will help you to recognise connections among complex materials and diverse phenomena in both an American and a global context. The interdisciplinary skills and cultural knowledge acquired are advantageous for careers in business, marketing, teaching and particularly for fields with a global dimension: telecommunications, journalism, international relations and the diplomatic service. The major is also a solid background for graduate work in the several disciplines that together constitute American Studies and for study in related fields.
For further career information, please go to www.canterbury.ac.nz/careers
Contact
School of Humanities
Telephone: +64 3 364 2883
Email: arts@canterbury.ac.nz