Sussex and America (T7084)

15 credits, Level 4

Spring teaching

The founding of American Studies at Sussex (and elsewhere) was a moment of US Cold War ‘soft power’ cultural outreach and diplomacy.

On this module, you’ll explore the transnational reach and impact of the United States, tracing its connections to our university and beyond. You’ll learn about the contemporary relevance of American Studies in areas such as:

• museums and curating
• government and policy.

In workshops, you’ll develop practical skills, working in collaboration with your peers to respond to a real-world brief, such as drafting a policy paper or curating an exhibition. Through lectures, roundtables with external speakers and fieldwork, you’ll understand how the US has shaped different national and local contexts.

You’ll develop knowledge and transferable skills in communication, collaboration and creativity relevant to future careers in:

• education, government and policy
• public history and heritage
• media, arts and culture.

Contact hours and workload

This module is approximately 150 hours of work. This breaks down into about 30 hours of contact time and about 120 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