History and American Studies BA, 3-4 years

Year 1

The first year provides a strong foundation for your degree, with core modules on American history since independence, US political institutions, processes and ideas, and the emergence of the modern world order. You will also choose from options on European, British and global history to understand American developments in a broader historical context.

Core modules

• Freedom Written in Blood: United States History, 1776-1877
• Introduction to American Government and Politics
• The Shock of the Modern
• US History since 1877

Option modules

Choose two option modules from:

• Global History: Connections and Cultures in a Changing World, 1750 to the present
• Great Britain: The State We're In
• Europe 1861-1991: Emancipation and Subjugation

Modules shown represent choices available to current students. The range of modules available and the content of any individual module may change in future years.

Year 2

The core modules will delve deeper into understanding the diverse people, communities and wider world relationships that have shaped America’s development, and will enhance your critical thinking, independent research, and intellectual creativity - skills you’ll put into practice in further optional modules.

Core modules

• Americas Plural: Latin America and the United States
• Perceiving the Past
• Ethnicity and Diversity in American Life, from Emancipation to the Present
• Becoming the Historical Researcher

Option modules

Choose one option module from:

• Religious History
• All Bourgeois Now? Class in History
• Histories of Violence
• Blood, Position and Power: The Nobility of Later Medieval England, 1066-1485
• Madness, Monarchy and Politics in Georgian Britain
• Modern Ireland, 1939-1975
• Slavery, the Civil War and Reconstruction in the United States
• Enter the Dragon: Modern Chinese History, 1839-1989
• Living with Dictatorship: European Societies, 1918-1941

Then choose one option module from:

• Domestic Revolutions: Women, Men, and the Family in American History
• From Beer to Fraternity: Alcohol, Society, and Culture in North America
• A World Connected: Welfare, Economy and Government since 1945
• Foreign Policy Analysis

Modules shown represent choices available to current students. The range of modules available and the content of any individual module may change in future years.

Year Abroad (optional)

If you want to, you can spend your third year studying abroad at one of our partner institutions (eligibility is dependent on your academic performance in Years 1 and 2). Alternatively, you can opt to continue studying at the University and complete your degree in three years.

Studying abroad is not just for people who are interested in travelling and meeting new people. It is about acquiring life skills that are becoming increasingly significant for a wide range of jobs in our modern globalised society. Whether you go on to work in the private sector, the state sector, a non-governmental organisation or become self-employed you will find the experience invaluable. Find out more from our Study Abroad Unit.

Please note that a year spent abroad still incurs a tuition fee, but this is much lower than for a normal year at Leicester. See our Fees and Funding section for details. You will be expected to produce a photographic essay of your time abroad.

The School of History, Politics and International Relations has links with several European universities, administered through the Erasmus+ scheme. If you are eligible for a loan from Student Finance you can apply for a travel grant from them. Languages courses, at both beginners and advanced level, are available through the University’s Languages at Leicester scheme.

• For the latest information on the future of the Erasmus+ scheme at UK universities please see our Brexit microsite

We have links with the following universities:

• Universitat de València, Spain
• Université de Strasbourg, France
• Università degli Studi di Pisa, Italy
• Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany
• Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Germany
• Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam, Netherlands
• Universiteit Ghent, Belgium
• Charles University Prague, Czech Republic

We also have links with some universities outside Europe. If you are receiving financial assistance from Student Finance your support will continue and you may also be eligible to apply for additional travel grants or scholarships. We have links with the following universities:

Alabama

• University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa

Arizona

• Arizona State University, Tempe

California

• California State University, Long Beach
• San Diego State University

Colorado

• Colorado State University, Fort Collins

Florida

• University of Florida, Gainesville
• University of Miami, Florida
• Stetson University, Deland

Georgia

• University of Georgia, Athens

Illinois

• Illinois State University, Normal
• North Central College, Naperville

Kentucky

• Bellarmine University, Louisville

Louisiana

• Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge

Maine

• University of Southern Maine, Portland

Mississippi

• University of Mississippi, Oxford

Nebraska

• Hastings College, Nebraska

New York

• Le Moyne College, New York
• University of Buffalo, State University of New York

North Carolina

• University of North Carolina, Greensboro

Ohio

• Kent State University, Ohio

Oklahoma

• Oklahoma State University, Stillwater
• University of Tulsa

Oregon

• Willamette University, Oregon

Texas

• University of Texas at Arlington

Utah

• Utah State University, Logan

Virginia

• George Mason University, Fairfax
• James Madison University, Harrisonburg
• Old Dominion University, Norfolk

We have two partners in Canada:

• University of Calgary, Alberta
• University of Windsor, Ontario

We also have partners in Australia:

• Flinders University, Adelaide
• Deakin University, Melbourne
• La Trobe University, Melbourne

We have partners in Japan and South Korea:

• Kwansei Gakuin University, Japan
• Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University, Japan
• Seoul National University, South Korea
• Sungkyunkwan University, South Korea

Modules shown represent choices available to current students. The range of modules available and the content of any individual module may change in future years.

Final Year (History dissertation)

The final year is shaped entirely by your preferred areas of interest and specialisation. You will research and write an original dissertation – an independent research project of your own design – with the support of an expert supervisor. You will also choose from a wide range of optional modules that reflect the cutting-edge research expertise of your tutors.

Core module

• Dissertation

Option modules

Choose one Special Subject module from:

• The British Antislavery Movement, 1787-1833
• The Holocaust: Genocide in Europe
• After Hitler: Society, Culture and The Politics of The Nazi Past in The Two Germanies, 1945-1990
• The Age of Bede and Alcuin: Anglo-Saxon Northumbria and Mercia in the 7th and 8th Centuries
• Beauty, Sex & Science: Whose Body is it Anyway c.1550-2015?
• How Soon is Now? A Social History of Urban England, 1945-1985
• The Presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt
• Church, State and Belief in Soviet Russia, 1941-1991

Then choose one option module from:

• The USA and the Vietnam War
• Crime and Punishment in African American History
• The American Presidency

Finally choose one option module from:

• Women in American Society from the Civil War to First World War
• American Political Development
• Indigenous Peoples of the Americas, c1350-1650

Modules shown represent choices available to current students. The range of modules available and the content of any individual module may change in future years.

Final Year (American Studies dissertation)

The final year is shaped entirely by your preferred areas of interest and specialisation. You will research and write an original dissertation – an independent research project of your own design – with the support of an expert supervisor. You will also choose from a wide range of optional modules that reflect the cutting-edge research expertise of your tutors.

Core module

• Dissertation

Option modules

Choose one Special Subject module from:

• The British Antislavery Movement, 1787-1833
• The Holocaust: Genocide in Europe
• After Hitler: Society, Culture and The Politics of The Nazi Past in The Two Germanies, 1945-1990
• The Age of Bede and Alcuin: Anglo-Saxon Northumbria and Mercia in the 7th and 8th Centuries
• Beauty, Sex & Science: Whose Body is it Anyway c.1550-2015?
• How Soon is Now? A Social History of Urban England, 1945-1985
• The Presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt
• Church, State and Belief in Soviet Russia, 1941-1991

Then choose one option module from:

• The USA and the Vietnam War
• Crime and Punishment in African American History
• The American Presidency
• Fourteenth Century Crisis in England? Politics and Society 1297-1413
• When Two Dragons Fight: China and Japan at War in the Twentieth Century
• Disasporas and Migrations in the Modern World
• Gender, Crime and Deviance in Eighteenth Century Britain

Finally choose one option module from:

• Women in American Society from the Civil War to First World War
• American Political Development
• Indigenous Peoples of the Americas, c1350-1650
• The Imperial Economy: Britain and the Wider World, 1815-1914
• The Medieval Natural World
• From Empire to Nation: Modern South Asia, c. 1857-1947
• Clothing and Fashion in Historical Perspective. Case Studies of Modern European History in Transnational Context
• What Difference Did the War Make? British Society and the Great War, 1900-1939

Modules shown represent choices available to current students. The range of modules available and the content of any individual module may change in future years.