American studies

America in the 21st Century

Module code: T7051
Level 6
30 credits in spring semester
Teaching method: Seminar
Assessment modes: Essay, Coursework

You examine the state of 21st century America and assess the challenges the country faces - evaluating how it is represented globally. You examine a wide range of texts, media, documentary film, fiction, and cultural theory. 

You look at topics including: 

• America as a civilisation
• how American values and concepts have shaped social and cultural formation in American life
• 9/11 and the War on Terror
• community and civic decline in American public life
• the 21st century American city
• race and ethnicity in 21st century America
• the contemporary American novel
• the American West
• political activism and protest
• consumer culture and religion in 21st century America. 

Module learning outcomes

• Critically analyse and interpret a variety of cultural documents and expressive forms, encompassing popular and elite expressions, the mass media and material culture.
• Deploy both historical and contemporary perspectives in order to contextualize texts and materials in relation to the key social, political and cultural contexts relevant to the module.
• Design and complete an interdisciplinary research project on themes and issues relevant to contemporary American experience.
• Locate contemporary American social and cultural formations in relation to a wider global context.
• Understand and assess significant current controversies and debates impacting public life in America.
• Employ research skills in order to communicate a critically informed knowledge of 21st century American society and cultural in both written and oral form.