American Studies and Latin American Studies

Modules

Year 1

Our first-year core modules are designed as an introduction. This means that even if you haven’t studied American Studies or Latin American Studies before, we’ll build everyone's knowledge to the same level, so you can progress through to year two. 

You will take 120 credits of modules split as follows:

Compulsory core modules (120 credits) – In Hispanics, you take Spanish language at beginners' (Spanish 1: Beginners) or post-A level (Spanish 1). Post-A level students may also take beginners' Portuguese. Your non-language modules (you choose one or two) introduce you to the cultures, history and societies of the Spanish-speaking and Portuguese-speaking worlds. These modules are taught in English and give you an overview of Hispanic Studies.

In American Studies, you will choose between introductory courses on the basic themes and events of American history or the key authors and texts of American literature, from European settlement to the present. You will also take a multidisciplinary module that explores the literature, film and culture of Canada.

You must pass year one, but it does not count towards your final degree classification.

Core modules

• From Landscapes to Mixtapes: Canadian Literature, Film and Culture
• Literature in Spanish
• Modern Latin American History
• Spanish 1
• Spanish 1: Beginners

Plus either:

• Race, Power, Money and the Making of North America, 1607-1900
• American Freedom? Empire, Rights and Capitalism in Modern US History, 1900-Present

Or:

• American Literature and Culture 1: 1830-1940
• American Literature and Culture 2: Since 1940

Year 2

You will take 120 credits of modules.

In this year, your language classes in Spanish (and Portuguese, if you continue with it) are dedicated to giving you the fluency and confidence for work or study during the year abroad. Your Hispanic Studies modules expand your knowledge of these cultures and societies.

Your American Studies modules will help you to develop a multidisciplinary approach and you can choose from two key modules:

North American Regions, which draws on literature, film and television to examine regional identities
Or

Key Texts in American Social and Political Thought, which explores debates about religion, race, class, capitalism, gender, sexuality and war in different periods.
You will also select from a range of specialised modules to enable you to study certain periods, events, authors or texts in more depth.

You must pass year two, which counts 33% towards your final degree classification.

Core module
Modern Spanish and Spanish American Literature and Film
Then choose one of the below:

• North American Regions
• Key Texts in American Social and Political Thought

And choose the appropriate level Spanish module, based on your prior experience:

• Spanish 2: Beginners
• Spanish 2

Optional modules

• Hispanic Cinemas
• New World(s): Contacts, Conquests and Conflict in Early Modern Hispanic History and Culture
• Immigration and Ethnicity in the United States
• The American Pop Century
• American Radicalism
• The US & the World in the American Century: US Foreign Policy, 1898-2008
• Contemporary North American Fiction
• America's Borders: Culture at the Limits
• American Violence: A History
• African American History and Culture
• Business in American Culture

Year aboard (optional)

Your third academic year is spent in Spain and/or Latin America doing one of the following:

• studying at a university
• working as a language teaching assistant
• doing a work placement.

If you intend to carry on with Portuguese after year two you may also spend the year in Portugal and/or Brazil.

For more information, see our Year Abroad page

Year 4 

You will take 120 credits of modules.

This year is your opportunity to develop the language skills you built up on the Year Abroad. Beginners can reach the same degree standard as non-beginners. In addition, you can take specialist modules based on the research we are currently doing in Hispanic Studies.

You must pass year four, which counts 67% towards your final degree classification.

Core module
In addition to the core Spanish module, you will write a dissertation in either American Studies or Hispanic Studies (the choice is yours).

The dissertation gives you a valuable opportunity for multidisciplinary and comparative study. For example, you might use the dissertation to examine US-Latin American foreign relations, or patterns of migration, labour and activism across different regions of the Americas.

• Spanish 3
• Dissertation in Hispanic Studies
• Dissertation in American and Canadian Studies

Optional modules

• Spanish American Narrative and Film
• Brazilian Slave Society
• Literature and Films, Conflict and Post-Conflicts
• Politics and Literature in Contemporary Spain
• Business and Society in Spain
• Thinking the Revolution: Ideology, Education and Culture in Cuba Since 1959
• Literature and Film under Franco
• Painting in Spain
• Communicating and Teaching Languages for Undergraduate Ambassadors
• US Foreign Policy, 1989 - present
• Popular Music Cultures and Countercultures
• Troubled Empire: The Projection of American Global Power from Pearl Harbor to Covid-19
• American Madness: Mental Illness in History and Culture
• Sexuality in American History
• The Special Relationship, Spit and Slavery- Britain and the US 1776-1877
• Recent Queer Writing
• Ethnic and New Immigrant Writing
• History of the Civil Rights Movement
• North American Film Adaptations
• Varieties of Classic American Film, Television and Literature since 1950