MA American Studies: The University of Manchester

Course description

Manchester offers two dedicated pathways on the MA in American Studies, one in Literature and Culture and the other in History. Both these pathways offer an in-depth and interdisciplinary exploration of the American experience, past and present. The MA allows students develop the critical tools to tackle research in their chosen area of interest for the MA dissertation and beyond.

On each pathway students take a common core course, a research methods course and two options from the range of American Studies courses. With permission of the American Studies MA programme director it is also possible to choose relevant options from other subject areas across the Faculty in fields such as Latin American studies, critical theory, and postcolonial studies. Students then go on to write a supervised dissertation of 15,000 words. The MA can be taken full-time or part-time and students will have the flexibility to change pathways after admittance.

American Studies has become a particularly vital area of enquiry, with the increasingly global reach of US culture and politics. This MA provides a strong foundation for students wanting to learn more about the historical and cultural dimensions of the American experience as well as for those wishing to proceed to doctoral study. At Manchester we have distinctive strengths in southern literature, culture and history; film, music and other forms of popular culture; the history of race, slavery and the African American freedom struggle; sexuality and gender; and the culture of the market.

Module details

Core course: American Studies: Histories, Theories, Methods

This core course, taken by students on both pathways, provides a foundation in the key conceptual approaches to the study of American history, literature and culture

Optional Modules: The available options vary from year to year but the full range of courses we teach currently includes:

• Black Cultural Studies in Post-Civil Rights America
• The American Body: Race and Sexuality in the Twentieth Century
• Plantation/Postplantation
• American Fiction and the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism
• Corporate Fictions
• Henry James
• Film Authorship and the Studio System
• British Atlantic World, 1607-1776
• Is America Postcolonial? Interrogating Race and Nation
• Becoming Red, White and Black: Race and Identity in the American South, c.1607-1900
• Southern Cultures: Explorations in the History and Culture of the Modern US South
• The Irresistible Rise of the American Empire

DissertationStudents will receive appropriate skills training and be assigned a faculty supervisor to help them define, research and write a dissertation on an American Studies topic, focusing on literature and culture or history, according to the chosen pathway.

Career opportunities

Many American Studies postgraduates on completion go on to pursue doctoral research, as preparation for an academic career. Other career paths are extremely varied, and include teaching, law, publishing, retailing, and a range of other fields.

Entry requirements

Academic entry qualification overview: A First or Upper Second class honours degree or its overseas equivalent, in American Studies or a related subject.

English language: Students whose first language is not English are required to take either the IELTS or TOEFL test. On the IELTS test applicants are normally expected to score a minimum of 7.0 overall; on the TOEFL test a minimum score of 600 (paper test) or 250 (computer test) is expected.