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This course will begin a year – almost to the day – after the biggest political earthquake in modern British history. The unexpected referendum decision by the voters of the UK to leave the European Union changed everything, including the British Prime Minister. The politicians, lawyers, economists and business people are still struggling to come to terms with the impact and practical repercussions of this shock, whilst political journalists are trying to interpret and explain a transformed landscape.The world in which the political journalists operate is changing too.

Four quarter credits.Britain is currently in the middle of what’s been called its ‘Decade of Sport’. After London’s successful hosting of the Olympics in 2012 and the Glasgow Commonwealth Games in 2014, attention will turn to the Rugby World Cup in 2015 and then the World Athletics Championships in 2017.During this course we will analyze the perceived benefits of hosting major sporting events, and look into the culture of sport.

Britain in the Age of Revolution and Reform will examine a period of great change in British politics, society and the economy. In an age greatly influenced by the revolutions in America and France, Britain itself underwent its own revolutions— the industrial and agricultural.  The period covered will show how by the end Britain was on its way to becoming the economic powerhouse of the world, with a changing landscape of growing cities, enclosed fields and factories

This course provides a foundational overview of Great Britain, its people and culture. There are two blocks: the British Present and the British Past. As their names suggest, they deal with contemporary British politics and society and with key formative moments in English history. While there is a formal structure to the course we will not live in isolation from the world outside. There will certainly be events which illustrate or contradict what has been discussed in class: you are encouraged to bring your thoughts on these into class discussions.

Over the last 30 years, Britain has become a vibrant and fertile center for the visual arts. This course attempts to relate the recent confusing range of artistic styles and media, both in Britain and internationally, to the development of "modernism" at the beginning of the 20th century. Because of the speed of communication and travel, new ideas in art spread rapidly and it is therefore impossible to look at modern art in Britain without reference to the art developments in the wider Western world. Consequently, we will look at art in Europe and North America during this course.

This course will provide a detailed study of those painters and sculptors who are deemed British masters/mistresses. Our studies begin in the early 18th century when a distinctive British School emerged and with it the establishment of the Royal Academy of Arts in London. This flowering of home-grown talent was supported in the nineteenth century by an increasingly wealthy middle class who wanted to ‘buy British’.

This course is an undergraduate writing workshop designed to help you take full advantage of the possibilities for creative writing in London, using the capital as a setting for fiction or as a base for travel writing, reportage and the personal essay. It introduces the basics of good writing in any form: you can choose whether to focus primarily on creative nonfiction or fiction in your final portfolio.

This course is designed to introduce you to the particularities of the British media market and the unique character of British journalism.  Along the way, we will explore some of Britain’s journalistic traditions, from the respectability of the BBC to the scurrilous tabloid press. We will look at some of the critical academic reaction to these institutions and the role and practice of journalism in Britain today. Students are encouraged to compare and contrast the British media to that of the USA. Excursions will be worked into the timetable where possible.

This course looks at the nineteenth and twentieth century British novel in terms of historical context and literary technique. The novels have been selected, not only because they are among the greatest British novels of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, but also because they provide a coherent illustration of the development of the genre itself.