American Studies

What does it mean to be an American? Is there a shared American culture, or is that just something Europeans imagine?  Because of the global reach of the United States, most Europeans have the impression that they "know" America, which is often perceived as a single culture, with little recognition of the complexity and variety that are characteristic of the nation. American Studies is a two-year MA program that focuses on the world's leading superpower. It looks at culture, politics, economics, literature, society, history, politics, and the American language in a country of more than 300 million inhabitants in fifty distinct states.

American Studies is an interdisciplinary study that draws on several disciplines that must be included in order to ensure that students can understand and analyze American cultural identities and the changing relationship between the United States and the rest of the world. Through its cooperation with several departments at the University of Southern Denmark, American Studies offers you the opportunity to shape your study by choosing electives in the participating programs, including literature, history, politics, and journalism.

In the third term, you also have the opportunity to go abroad to study in a European or American university through exchange agreements with selected institutions.

More about your course of study

You will have between 8 and 12 hours of teaching per week, in the form of lectures and discussions. There will also be some presentations from you and other students, as well as occasional group work.

Your teaching will be about US society, history,economics, and immigration, as well as analysises of the American media, literature, and film.

During the first term you will receive an introduction to American history, culture and society, as well as a seminar on theory and method.

Freedom to choose

During the second and third term, you can be able to choose elective courses that deal with a range of topics that reflect the faculty's research interests. The majority of these courses are in participating departments, including history, political science, English, media studies, relgion, journalism, and marketing. During the third term you have the option of studying abroad at a European or an American university.The course areas could include the following:

a) The American political system, including the presidency, the most important federal institutions, the electoral system, the welfare system, and the like.

b) Regional identities, including how various regions have emerged, notably the Northeast, the South, the Middle West, and the West, and how these differences are manifested in culture, politics and economic differences.

c) Ethnic and racial minorities and cultures, including immigration history, the debate over immigration restriction, religious differences, and the literary and cultural expressions of multiculturalism.

d) Foreign policy, including its historical development, institutional expresion, and foreign policy debates.

e) Economics, including  the central economic institutions and organizations, industrial history, comparative corporate culture, the labor market, and the complex relations between technology and culture.

f) Popular culture, including media, film, literature, and material culture.

g) Social and cultural history

h) Finally, new courses are being created every year, often taught by visiting professors, so it is impossible to list all the courses that may be available.