American History, Culture and Society
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Program

American History, Culture and Society is a two-year, 120 credit point degree program. Students enroll in the winter semester. Please check the rules and regulations of 2019: "Prüfungs- und Studienordnung", only available in German.

Language skills

The program is taught in English yet a basic knowledge of German is needed to deal with administrative and other matters (preferably at the level “A1” of the “Common European Framework of Reference for Languages”).

An excellent knowledge is necessary for optional courses taken in subjects taught in German (see the section below). There are various institutions offering German language courses at basic and advanced levels, check out where to learn German on the LMU website.

The Modules

Compulsory and optional modules

Each semester students take courses from the compulsory module “American Studies (Fields, Topics, Research Traditions)” as well as courses from two optional modules: “Literature and Media” or “History and Society”. They may focus exclusively on one area, or they may combine the two. In order to gain 30 credit points, students have to choose two out of four optional modules offered each semester.

General information is available in the Module Catalogue. More specific information on the lectures, seminars, and foundation courses is provided in the course catalogue.

  • The module “History and Society” addresses the history of the USA and of Canada, transatlantic history, political culture and history, economic history, environmental history, and questions of historiography.
  • The module “Literature and Media” is dedicated to literary history and theory, visual and media studies, cultural history and theory, popular culture, ethnic and gender studies, technology and space studies.

Profile Area of subjects

In the third semester, instead of choosing optional modules at the Amerika-Institut, students may alternatively get 18 credit points from the Profilbereich / Profile Area of subjects (e.g. English, German, History, Gender Studies, Comparative Literature, Theatre Studies, and others). Please note that this is an either/or choice. Either you get 18 credit points at the Amerika-Institut OR from the Profile Area. For most of these subjects excellent German language skills are needed and special requirements may apply. For more information on these subjects please check out the “Geistes- und sozialwissenschaftlicher Profilbereich”.

Types of courses

The modules in this program include different types of courses: research-oriented advanced seminars, reading courses, lectures providing introductions, foundation courses dedicated to questions of methodology and theory as well as independent study projects.

Please check the overview of modules in the MA program. Here is an another overview to explain how you should choose among the modules.

Please note: This overview represents the general template of modules and courses to be completed in the program. The classes offered in this study program have individual titles. You can find examples for a list of courses related to history and politics, or to literature and media here. You can also check our course catalogues from previous semesters.

AN IMPORTANT NOTE to students who entered the program in WS 2018 or earlier:

Your studies are still covered by the rules and regulations under which you began your studies. Therefore please check the “Prüfungs- und Studienordnung”  (only available in German) and the previous overview of modules.

Cover template

A cover template for all essays is available for download here. The final semester is dedicated to writing the master’s thesis (a cover template is available here).