Early American History, Literature and Culture (T7082)

30 credits, Level 4

Autumn teaching

A diverse range of historical actors forged the nation that would become the United States.

On this module, you’ll explore key moments and themes in the history of early America – from North America’s Indigenous cultures, colonisation, and the origins of racial slavery through to the Antebellum.

You’ll explore:

• how gender, class, race, religion and nationality shaped novel historical and cultural developments and the emergence of new literary genres
• the latest interdisciplinary research on the history, culture and literature of early America.

You’ll study a diverse range of voices through different sources and texts, developing the knowledge to analyse and place them in their relevant contexts.

Topics include:

• indigeneity
• myths and traditions
• slavery and autobiography
• gender and captivity narratives
• poetry and the Republic.

Contact hours and workload

This module is approximately 300 hours of work. This breaks down into about 55 hours of contact time and about 245 hours of independent study. The University may make minor variations to the contact hours for operational reasons, including timetabling requirements.

We regularly review our modules to incorporate student feedback, staff expertise, as well as the latest research and teaching methodology. We’re planning to run these modules in the academic year 2026/27. However, there may be changes to these modules in response to feedback, staff availability, student demand or updates to our curriculum.

We’ll make sure to let you know of any material changes to modules at the earliest opportunity.

Courses

This module is offered on the following courses:

• American Studies (with a study abroad year) BA
• American Studies and English (with a study abroad year) BA
• American Studies and Film Studies (with a study abroad year) BA
• American Studies and History (with a study abroad year) BA
• American Studies and Politics (with a study abroad year) BA