Master of Arts in North American Studies (NAS)

North American Studies (NAS) is a fully accredited, two-year, single-major Master's programme at the University of Cologne taught entirely in English. It focuses on the history, culture, art, literature, language, film, philosophy, media theory, politics, and society of North America, i.e. Canada, the US, the Caribbean and Latin America. It aims at providing insight into the cultural and literary history of North America and offering an overview of relevant theories and methods in the fields of history, literary studies, culture studies and media studies. NAS is organised straightforwardly. Students will attend courses in the following modules: AM 1 Literary and Cultural Studies, AM 2 History and Society, AM 3 Postcolonial Studies, and AM 4 Research. As their end-of-module exam in AM 1 and 2, students have to submit research papers. In order to complete AM 3, students take an oral exam. For AM 4, students will present the Master's thesis project in one of the research colloquia and turn in an exposé afterwards. In order to receive credits for specialised module 1, students must complete a six-week internship and submit an internship report. To finish their studies, students must submit a Master’s thesis of 60 pages. The standard period of study is four semesters. Therefore, as a rule of thumb, students should take one module’s worth of coursework per semester (one module is comprised of five courses and an end-of-module exam). In all the modules, students attend lectures and actively participate in seminars. Students are expected to prepare the assigned reading material for each course, to write research papers and do an oral exam. In their courses, they will encounter four different forms of instruction: The lecture-seminar introduces students to a particular field (North American History, North American Literature, Theories and Concepts in Postcolonial Studies). It consists of a lecture and an additional reading course (tutorial). The lecture focuses on one particular topic or perspective within American Studies, conveying more detailed knowledge of a particular area of study. The seminars have a thematic focus; students discuss specific issues and practice basic techniques of doing scholarly research. In the colloquium, students focus on methods of transdisciplinary research. They will learn how to plan, conceptualise, and conduct their own research project for the MA thesis. In order to earn credits for the modules AM 1, AM 2, and AM 3 in the first three semesters, students need to pass a final exam (research papers, oral exam, exposé etc.). In addition to participating actively in their courses, students will also do in-class presentations and write essays, reviews, or short papers. During the third semester, students will collaborate closely with one of the lecturers in the North American Studies programme for the MA thesis project. The last semester is exclusively dedicated to the writing of a MA thesis of max. 150,000 characters (approx. 60 pages of text, excluding bibliography or additional material). Students must have successfully completed their modules before they can register for the thesis.