More information about the project

This project, offered by a consortium of three higher education institutions, was to develop the curriculum of American Studies within a transatlantic framework. The partner institutions involved were University College Winchester and the University of Derby whose American Studies teams are similarly interested in the Transatlantic and Americanisation. The aim was to develop teaching focused on studying the impact of the United States in Britain. The curriculum of American Studies is extended by taking America out of itself and considering issues of Americanisation, of the acceptance and resistance of the cultural and/or historical impact of the United States in regions of England. Students combined class work with a field trip to a relevant local 'site' of American influence, and present a case study of their findings for assessment. Teaching staff enhanced their skills in employing cultural theory in leading the analysis of culture and Americanisation. This project was aimed at developing the curriculum theme of Americanisation within the American Studies community. It particularly focused on cultural issues of Americanisation, both the export of American culture and its reception in Britain.

It built on curriculum strengths in the teaching of Americanisation, the Transatlantic and Cultural Theory at Preston which were identified in the successful 1998 teaching inspection visit. Collaboration with other American Studies providers giving workshops was a prime output of the project as was a website and occasional newsletter. The workshops were run by experts in the field of Americanisation from the three consortium institutions who developed their best teaching practice in the field and disseminated it throughout the American Studies community. There was a session dedicated to the project at the British Association for American Studies Conference at Keele in April 2001, and at the Midlands BAAS Meeting at De Montford University, Leicester, to explain the project. In summer 2002 there was a conference on Americanisation and the teaching of American Studies here at the University of Central Lancashire in Preston which assessed the value of such approaches to the development of the subject and provided a summative account of the impact of the project. The website provides resources to help the teaching of Americanisation, exchanging good practice and information with links to other sites that deal with the topic of Americanisation.