AS2213 Reading American Text

Modular Credits
Workload
Prerequisites
Preclusions
Cross-listings

4
2-1-0-4-3
EN1101E, EN2101E, GEK1000
EN2111, EN2112, EN2113
EN2112

Drawing on critically acclaimed American poems, plays, fiction, drama, and films, this module seeks to sharpen students’ interpretive skills by exploring the multiple motivations, themes, and vocabularies through which any text is composed.  We will read a selection of key texts and work out questions about each text’s authors, settings, style, characterization, and meaning.  We will also introduce some basic strategies for writing about literature.  This module is aimed at English Literature majors.

AS2236 US Media in the 20th Century and Beyond

Modular Credits
Workload
Prerequisites
Preclusions
Cross-listings

4
2-1-0-2-5
Nil
AS3217, HY2236
HY2236

This module examines the part of the U.S. media in shaping American society and culture beginning with the New York Journal's advocacy of the Spanish-American War of 1898 through to the role played by CNN in the 1990s.  The module will review the growth of mass circulated newspapers, magazines, radio and television and examine how new media forms, such as the Internet, shape and are shaped by society.  Students will learn to critically evaluate media forms and media content in a historical context.  This module is well suited for students interested in the USA or media.

AS2237 The U.S.: From Settlement to Superpower

Modular Credits
Workload
Prerequisites
Preclusions
Cross-listings

4
2-1-0-2-5
Nil
HY2237, EK2000, AS2211, AS2212, HY2215, HY3213, GEM2000K
HY2237, GEK2000

This module seeks to provide students with a basic grounding of American historical and cultural developments from European colonisation to the end of the twentieth century. It will examine both the internal developments in the United States as well as its growing importance in international politics.  By offering a range of social, economic, and political perspectives on the American experience, it will equip students with the knowledge for understanding and analysing the dominance of the United States in contemporary world history and culture. This course is designed for students throughout NUS with an interest in American history.