American Studies with a Placement Year

American studies is the interdisciplinary examination of the United States as a society, culture, and political system, drawing on history, literature, cultural studies, politics, and sociology to understand one of the most powerful and culturally influential nations in the world. The field engages with questions about American identity and diversity, the contradictions between democratic ideals and their uneven realisation, the global reach of American culture, and the historical processes from colonialism, slavery, and immigration through to industrialisation and the civil rights movement that have shaped contemporary American life. It is a discipline that requires both close engagement with specific texts and contexts and the capacity to think comparatively about how the United States relates to the rest of the world.

At the University of East Anglia, this four-year programme includes a placement year that gives you the opportunity to spend time in a professional environment, building skills and experience alongside your academic study and feeding what you learn back into your final year of work. UEA has genuine research strengths in American literature and cultural history, and the programme draws on a faculty with wide-ranging expertise in American studies as it has developed as a field. You will engage with primary sources in literature, film, music, and political discourse alongside historical and cultural analysis, developing both the close reading skills of literary study and the contextual knowledge of a social historian.

Graduates of American studies pursue careers in journalism, publishing, broadcasting, international relations, the cultural sector, education, politics, and the civil service. The combination of literary, historical, and cultural analysis developed through the degree is valued in any field that requires contextual understanding of one of the world's most significant societies. Many graduates pursue postgraduate study in American studies, history, literature, or area studies, and academic careers in the field are open to those who develop specialist expertise at doctoral level.