Joint Honours

An alternative option to our Single Honours degree is to study American Studies in conjunction with another academic discipline. Students on Joint Degree programmes simply take half of their modules in American Studies and half in the other subject.

Among our most popular Joint programmes are American Studies and English, American Studies and Film Studies and American Studies and History.

American Studies and English

The literature of the British Isles is commonly regarded as the richest in world culture. However, by 1900 the USA had the larger economy, was a major force in Anglophone literature (its Nobel Prize winners include John Steinbeck, Ernest Hemingway, Saul Bellow and Toni Morrison) and was the powerhouse for newer art forms like jazz, cinema and television. Joint students are able to combine analysis of the historical richness of English literature with an understanding of the centrality of the USA to the concept of modernity. The compatibility of the two disciplines is suggested by the fact that many great ‘British' writers were American by birth (Henry James, T.S. Eliot, Sylvia Plath) and, conversely, many British-born authors became naturalized American citizens (Raymond Chandler, W.H. Auden, Paul Muldoon).

 Also see the English website 

American Studies and Film Studies

From 1900 to the present the USA has had the largest economy in the world and has been the powerhouse for new art forms like cinema, television, jazz, rock music and all aspects of popular culture. Joint students are able to combine analysis of the historical richness of the international medium of film with an understanding of the centrality of the USA to the concept of modernity. The compatibility of the two disciplines is suggested by the fact that many great ‘British' directors, actors and screen writers were American by birth (Joseph Losey, Richard Lester, Terry Gilliam) and, conversely, many British-born exponents became American citizens (Alfred Hitchcock, Cary Grant, Ridley Scott).

Also see the Film Studies website.

American Studies and History

Students who have taken A-level History often come to American Studies because it allows them to develop an in depth analysis of the defining nation of the 20^th century from a perspective that involves history in all of its political, social, cultural, intellectual and economic forms.  Given the centrality of slavery and its consequences to the American experience, the University's establishment of the Wilberforce Institute for the study of Slavery and Emancipation in 2006 strengthens the potential for academic cross-fertilization between the departments of American Studies and History. 

Other Joint Degree programmes on offer include:

• Creative Writing and American Studies 
• French and American Studies (4 years, including year abroad)
• German and American Studies (4 years, including year abroad)
• Italian and American Studies (4 years, including year abroad)
• Spanish and American Studies (4 years, including year abroad)
• Philosophy and American Studies 

Major/Minor Combinations

The American Studies also has one "with" programme in which students take 2/3 of their modules with us, and 1/3 in the partner subject.

• American Studies with Creative Writing