American Studies and Film Studies (with a study abroad year) BA (Hons)

Modules

We’re planning to run the modules listed below in the academic year 2026/27. We’ve made some changes to keep the course fresh and future-facing.

• What’s changed on this course?

  Year 1

  • The core module Analysing Film: Authorship and Genre (2026/27) used to be titled Exploring Film Studies (2025/26).
  • The core module Analysing Film: Forms and Contexts (2026/27) used to be titled Analysing Film (2025/26).
  • The core module Early American History, Literature and Culture (2026/27) is new and replaces Introduction to American Studies (2025/26).
  • The core module Modern American History, Literature and Culture (2026/27) used to be titled Modern America (2025/26).

  Year 2

  • The core module Theoretical Concepts in American Studies (2026/27) is 30 credits. In 2025/26, it was 15 credits.

  Year 3

  • The core module American Studies Dissertation and Research Communication (2026/27) used to be an option titled American Studies Dissertation (2025/26).

• Year 1 at Sussex

  Your modules

  Core modules

  Core modules are taken by all students on the course. They give you a solid grounding in your chosen subject and prepare you to explore the topics that interest you most.

  Autumn teaching

  • Analysing Film: Forms and Contexts B
  • Early American History, Literature and Culture
  • European Cinema

  Spring teaching

  • Analysing Film: Authorship and Genre B
  • Global Cinema
  • Modern American History, Literature and Culture

  Your degree

  Year 1 introduces you to interdisciplinarity. It helps you develop the foundational knowledge of American history, culture and politics. You’ll work on the essential skills and knowledge needed for a professional comprehension of film form and contexts. You’ll engage with the fundamental processes of formal and critical analysis, as well as the histories of cinema development in Europe and internationally.

  Teaching

  Teaching methods typically include lectures, seminars and workshops.

  

  45%: Lecture
  45%: Seminar
  5%: Practical
  5%: One-to-one

  Assessment

  Assessment methods typically include critical responses, essays, reports, presentations and professional-facing tasks.

  Contact hours and workload

  This year of study includes approximately 1,200 hours of work. This breaks down into about 250 hours of contact time and about 950 hours of independent study.

  Engage and actively participate throughout your studies to get the most out of your course. 

• Year 2 at Sussex

  Your modules

  Core modules

  Core modules are taken by all students on the course. They give you a solid grounding in your chosen subject and prepare you to explore the topics that interest you most.

  Autumn teaching

  • Debates in Screen Documentary
  • Theoretical Concepts in American Studies

  Spring teaching

  • American City

  Options

  Alongside your core modules, you can choose options to broaden your horizons and tailor your course to your interests. This list gives you a flavour of our options, which are kept under review and may change, for example in response to student feedback or the latest research.

  While it’s our aim for students to take their preferred combinations of options, this can’t be guaranteed and will be subject to timetabling. Options may be grouped and if so, students will be able to choose a set number of options from the selection available in any particular group.

  Autumn teaching

  • Adaptation: Filming Fiction
  • Exploring Local Film Cultures
  • Film Musicals

  Spring teaching

  • 1661: Slavery in English America
  • 1959 Havana: Revolution in Latin America
  • British Cinema
  • Chinese Cinema
  • Latin American Cinema: Contemporary Trends and Movements
  • Picasso to Kahlo: Transatlantic Dialogues
  • Pop Life: After Modern Art
  • States of Disunion: Power, Polarisation and Protest in US Politics

  Your degree

  In Year 2, you’ll choose what interests you most from our exciting range of America-focused options. This will set you up for your study abroad year in the US. You’ll get to study your favourite film genres and think about some of the key issues cinema explores such as the climate. There will also be a focus on applying your learned skills and starting to think about careers.

  Teaching

  Teaching methods typically include lectures, seminars and workshops.

  

  45%: Lecture
  45%: Seminar
  5%: Practical
  5%: One-to-one

  Assessment

  Assessment methods typically include critical responses, essays, reports, presentations and professional-facing tasks.

  Contact hours and workload

  This year of study includes approximately 1,200 hours of work. This breaks down into about 250 hours of contact time and about 950 hours of independent study.

  Engage and actively participate throughout your studies to get the most out of your course. 

• Study abroad

  You spend your third year studying at one of our US or Canadian partners’ campuses. Our range of partner institutions represents every facet of the American experience, and includes:

  • UC Berkeley and UCLA
  • Tulane University in New Orleans and the University of North Carolina
  • Georgetown University and George Washington University, Washington, DC.

  Whether you are interested in Native American culture, the Civil Rights movement, or American modernist poetry, Sussex offers you a unique experience while studying in North America.

  If your application to study abroad is successful, you’ll have to meet the academic requirements at Sussex and also at the partner university. Find out more about studying abroad as a Sussex student

  Please note that courses with a study abroad year are not eligible for USA federal Direct Loan funds. Find out more about American Student Loans and Federal Student Aid

• Year 3 at Sussex

  Your modules

  Options

  You choose options to broaden your horizons and tailor your course to your interests. This list gives you a flavour of our options, which are kept under review and may change, for example in response to student feedback or the latest research.

  While it’s our aim for students to take their preferred combinations of options, this can’t be guaranteed and will be subject to timetabling. Options may be grouped and if so, students will be able to choose a set number of options from the selection available in any particular group.

  Autumn and spring teaching

  • American Studies Dissertation and Research Communication
  • Film Studies Dissertation

  Autumn teaching

  • Cinema and Migration
  • City on a Hill: Faith and the American Project
  • Freedom Now! The African-American Freedom Struggle After 1945
  • Pop Soundtrack Cinema
  • Race and Ethnicity in Popular Cinema
  • Topics in African American Literature
  • Viewing Women
  • Visualising War: Image, Media, and Culture

  Spring teaching

  • America in the 21st Century
  • American Empire
  • American Studies in Practice
  • American Teen Cinema: Coming of Age on Screen
  • Cinema and Sexualities
  • Film and Revolution
  • Hollywood Industry and Imaginary
  • Queer Fictions
  • Race, Photography, Archives

  Your degree

  Your final year sees you become an independent scholar, as you build your knowledge and expertise. You’ll follow your interests through research projects you design and deliver with the support and guidance of our experts, and an exciting range of options. This year is all about refining your focus, and guiding the development of your future career and study plans.

  Teaching

  Teaching methods typically include lectures, seminars and workshops.

  

  45%: Lecture
  45%: Seminar
  5%: Practical
  5%: One-to-one

  Assessment

  Assessment methods typically include critical responses, essays, reports, presentations and professional-facing tasks.

  Contact hours and workload

  This year of study includes approximately 1,200 hours of work. This breaks down into about 250 hours of contact time and about 950 hours of independent study.

  Engage and actively participate throughout your studies to get the most out of your course. 

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.

We’ll do our best to provide as much optional choice as we can, but timetabling constraints mean it may not be possible to take some module combinations. The structure of a small number of courses means that the order of modules or the streams you choose may determine whether modules are core or optional. This means that your core modules or options may differ from what’s shown here.