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Welcome to the module page for AMS4006M Introduction to American Studies!

This site may change throughout the term so do check back regularly in case any readings or materials have changed.

This module is a preparatory course that introduces students to American Studies and the interdisciplinary nature of American Studies. The module will survey American culture from in the nineteenth century and twentieth century, examining the construction of a specifically American identity in relation to the sweeping social, technological, and economic changes which characterize the American experience. On this module you will explore the cultural development of a search for ‘self’ by charting the historical quest for a purely ‘American’ identity. This survey will explore American culture in a lively and interdisciplinary manner, reading the search for an American self as an attempt to come to terms with the bewildering transformation of the world, and the position of the individual within it.

Workshops will be embedded into this module to assist students in their examination of, and ability to write about, key historical and cultural sources.

Module Learning Outcomes

At the end of this module the student is expected to: 

• Analyze the uniquely ‘American’ nature of the literature discussed.
• Appreciate a wide range of cultural artifacts from literature to film to music to art.
• Relate formal, artistic movements to key events in 19th and 20th Century American history.
• Understand the historical and cultural context of 19th and 20th century American literary production.
• Employ interdisciplinary skills to investigate nineteenth and twentieth century American culture.
• Communicate fluently on paper and in tutorials.

Transferable Skills

• Development of oral and written expression.
• Library and research skills.
• Development of analytical skills.
• Evaluation of different positions and arguments.
• Ability to analyse visual and literary material.

Module Director: Dr. Sarah Trott 

Office: QW/205

Email address: s.trott@yorksj.ac.uk

Office Hours: Tuesday 11.00-12.00 (online); Wednesday 14.00-15.00 (in person). Please email to arrange an appointment. 

This module will explore a range of historical, social, and political issues in the 19th, 20th and 21st century by using American crime culture as its focus. The module will use interdisciplinary methodologies to examine American culture via mediums such as literature, television, and film, and will engage with culture theory in order to establish how these forms have contributed towards the creation of a uniquely ‘American’ culture and sense of identity. The module will draw on a range of different issues and discuss the impact of race, gender, sexuality, social violence, war, historical struggles, and public conflict upon American culture.

American Crime Story 

As a 'Special Subject' module, this course will draw upon the expertise of the module director to guide students through an aspect of their own research area. This module will focus upon American 'Hard-Boiled' fiction and film in order to chart the evolution of the genre from its 19th century 'detective' origins to its 20th century post-WWI divergence with British crime fiction, before considering the evolution of the genre as distinctly American in the "American Century" (Henry Luce).

The module will incorporate a combination of crime literature, film, and television and explore a range of cultural, political, and social issues in the twentieth century using as a framework the uniquely American hard-boiled style of crime fiction. The sources will be variously read in relation to such events as Prohibition, conflict in Europe, the Vietnam War, 9/11, as well as in terms of specific issues such as gender and race. The module will be interdisciplinary, dealing with literature, pulp fiction, film, television as well as in historical, cultural, urban, and social contexts.

Module Director: Dr Sarah Trott (s.trott@yorksj.ac.uk)

Office Hours: TBC

Lecture: TBC

Seminar: TBC