Teaching American Studies in Britain

Megan Hunt is Lecturer in Modern and Contemporary History at the University of Edinburgh, where she serves as the Director of Undergraduate Programmes in History, Classics and Archaeology. Her teaching and research mostly explore intersections between the civil rights movement, white liberalism, and Hollywood film, reflected in her book, Southern by the Grace of God: Race, Religion, and Civil Rights in Hollywood’s South (2024).  She has also written about the place and significance of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the wider African American civil rights movement in British schools, culminating in articles in the Journal of American Studies and The Conversation. Lydia Plath is Professor of US History at the University of Warwick, where she also serves as the Deputy Head of Department and Director of Teaching and Learning. Lydia served as the Chair of the British Association of American Studies (BAAS) between 2022 and 2025, and established the BAAS Teaching Network. She is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and has a Postgraduate Award in Interdisciplinary Pedagogy. She has written widely on American Studies pedagogy as well as histories of racism and racial violence from an interdisciplinary perspective.

The contributors’ discussions in this rich collection transcend the already-capacious disciplinary boundaries of American Studies to offer generative insights for all of us engaged in the work of teaching and learning in higher-ed environments. A fascinating and unflinching examination of what it means to deeply engage and thoughtfully teach difficult, complex and sometimes fraught topics – like race, power, gender and identity – this volume offers a great deal to teacher–scholars no matter where their disciplinary homes might be.

• AcknowledgementsSeries Editor's PrefaceIntroduction: The Mindsets, Meanings and Methods of American Studies PedagogyMegan Hunt and Lydia PlathPart I: Mindsets1. ESSAY: Spatial Literacy, Disciplinary Identity and American Studies in BritainE. James West 2. CASE STUDY: The American Berserk as Pedagogic ChallengeTom Arnold-Forster 3. ESSAY: A Foundation for American Studies: A-Level Politics in the UKAdam Burns and Sarra Jenkins 4. CASE STUDY: Teaching Place-based Indigenous Texts in UK Higher EducationAnanya Mishra 5. CASE STUDY: Teaching The 1619 Project in Boris Johnson’s BritainNathan Cardon, Michell Chresfield, Tom Cutterham and John Munro6. DIALOGUE: Teaching Religion in US Histories and CulturesUta Balbier, Emma Long, Stephen Shapiro and Randall J. StephensPart II: Meanings7. CASE STUDY: From TERF Island to Trumpistan: The Art of Teaching Queer History in Perilous Times Chris Parkes8. DIALOGUE: Encountering 'Race' in the British American Studies ClassroomRebecca J. Fraser, Christopher Lloyd, Christine Okoth, Jonathan Ward and Xine Yao9. CASE STUDY: The Personal is Historical: Journalling About RaceNicholas Grant10. DIALOGUE: Multimedia-Informed Pedagogies and Academic Precarity in American StudiesEllie Armon Azoulay, Emily Brady and Olivia Wright11. CASE STUDY: Students as Co-Creators: Recovering Nineteenth-Century Children’s LiteratureHilary Emmett and Thomas Ruys Smith 12. CASE STUDY: Contemporary Issues in the Americas: Translating Academic Knowledge via Applied AssessmentNick Witham and Joshua Hollands Part III: Methods13. DIALOGUE: Teaching US Empire, Expansion and ExpulsionOli Charbonneau, Fabian Hilfrich, Reetta Humalajoki, David Stirrup and György Tóth 14. ESSAY: The Promise and Peril of Teaching the US in the WorldBevan Sewell, Kaeten Mistry, Uta Balbier, Katharina Rietzler and Thomas Tunstall Allcock15. CASE STUDY: Native American History and the US in the WorldElizabeth Ingleson16. CASE STUDY: Teaching Transnational American StudiesHilary Emmett 17. CASE STUDY: ‘Talking Race and Racism’: Innovations in Learning via the National Saturday ClubMarie S. Molloy 18. CASE STUDY: Going Back to School: Applying Secondary-Level Pedagogies to Support American StudiesLauren Mottle17. ESSAY: Mickey Mouse Degrees? Understanding Employability in American StudiesPeter O’Connor and Rebecca Stone Conclusion: What It Means to Teach American Studies in BritainMegan Hunt and Lydia PlathList of ContributorsIndex