Since 2015
Module 23a
Speciality 4
Hours
60/ 30
ECTS points
4
Final requirement
Credit/grade
Year
II
Semester
4
Provider
University of Opole / Faculty of Philology / Institute of English Studies
ECTS code
1.2.5-D1-M23a/ 1.2.5-W1-M23a
Form
Elective
Language
English
Prerequisites
None
Studies
Subject
English Philology
Courses in the module
Degree
BA
Organization Profile
Full time
Part time
Academic
Major/Specialty
English and Cultural Studies
Course name ECTS code Form Hours ECTS points Instructor
Culture of the USA
Cultures of the British
Commonwealth
1.2.5-D1-
KKU
1.2.5-W1-
KKU
1.2.5-D1-
KKK
1.2.5-W1-
KKK
Classes
Classes
30
15
30
15
2
2 dr Tadzio Lewandowski mgr Stephen Dewsbury
Forms of evaluation of effects (see below for types of effects)
An evaluation of active participation in classes, an analysis of texts, information and case studies, drawing conclusions (3,
4)
A written test or essay (1, 2)
Methods of instruction/ forms of classroom activity
Classes
Lecture and discussion
Recitation classes: a critical analysis of texts
Discussing literature
ECTS points in relation to student’s duties
Culture of the USA: 2ECTS
30 hours – participation in classes (Culture of the USA)
20 hours – reading literature
10 hours – office hours
Cultures of the Commonwealth: 2ECTS
30 hours – participation in classes ()
20 hours – reading literature
10 hours – office hours
Course description
The course is devoted to the most significant issues and information about the cultures of the United States of America and the Commonwealth of Nations in the context of previously studied theories of culture, media, film, and social communication and methodology of cultural studies.
Course objectives
Providing students with a broad and systematic knowledge of American culture and cultures of the Commonwealth of
Nations. Preparing students for individual research in a selected aspect of culture.

Course content
Culture of the USA
1.
American culture of the early twentieth century.
2.
The emergence of American mass culture.
3.
The notion of informal American imperialism.
4.
Prohibition, the Great Depression, and Cultural Front
5.
The influence of WW II on American culture.
6.
The post-war consensus, the formation of the suberbia and the concept of “domesticity”
7.
The influence of TV, Hollywood, and mass culture as a unifying power.
8.
The culture of the Cold War, McCarthyism, anti-communism
9.
The Civil Rights Movement and Afro-american culture
10.
The influence of feminism on culture and the emergence of “cultural concession”
11.
The seventies, Vietnam, Watergate, and Carter’s Culture of Malaise
12.
Consumption, conservatism, and the culture of the Reagan Era
13.
Cultural wars: Hollywood against the „centre” and Christian evangelists
14.
Latinos in America
15.
America: balcanized czy multicultural?
Cultures of the British Commonwealth
1.
The imperial origins of the Commonwealth
2.
Independence and the New Commonwealth
3.
The structure and political systems
4.
Membership in the Commonwealth
5.
Citizenship in the Commonwealth
6.
Global objectives
7.
Africa and the Commonwealth
8.
The nations of North America and the Caribbean
9.
The nations of Australasia
10.
India, Pakistan,
11.
Sport in the Commonwealth
12.
Literature of the Commonwealth
13.
The Commonwealth Foundation
14.
The crisis of human rights and democracy
Reading list
Culture of the USA
A. obligatory reading (to get a credit):
A.1. used in class
Steffens, Lincoln, “The Shame of the Cities” (web)
Lee Pies, Kathy, Cheap Amusements . Temple University Press, 1986.
Beveridge, Albert J., “America Should Retain the Philippines” (web)
Cooper, John Gordon, “Prohibition is a Success” (web)
Stayton, William H., “Prohibition is a Failure” (web)
Steinbeck, John, The Harvest Gypsies (web)
Macdonald, Dwight, “A Theory of Mass Culture” (web)
Hoover, J Edgar, “The Communist Menace” (web)
McCarthy, Joseph, “Communist Threatens America” (web)
Friedan, Betty, The Feminine Mystique (web)
King, Martin Luther, “I Have a Dream Speech” (web)
Carter, James, “The Culture of Malaise Speech” (web)
Reagan, Ronald, “Evil Empire speech” (web)
Page, Christine, “A History of Conspicuous Consumption” (web)
Falwell, Jerry, “How to Raise a Christian Family” (web)
A.2. used for self-study
Kennedy, David. Over Here: The First World War and American Society . Oxford University Press, 2004.
May, Elaine Tyler, Homeward Bound: American Families in the Cold War Era.
Basic Books, 1990.
Binder, Frederick, F. and David M. Reimers. The Way We Lived: Essays and Documents in American Social History,
1865-Present . Houghton Mifflin, 2000.
Lee Pies, Kathy, Cheap Amusements . Temple University Press, 1986.

B. supplementary reading
Boyer, Paul, et al., The Enduring Vision: A History of the American People from 1877 to the Present . Houghton Mifflin,
2000.
Cultures of the British Commonwealth
A. obligatory reading (to get a credit):
A.1. used in class
McIntyre, WD. A Guide to the Contemporary Commonwealth . Palgrave Press, 2001.
The Commonwealth Secretariat website
The Commonwealth of nations website
The Royal Commonwealth Society website
The Commonwealth Union website
The Association for Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies
Friends of the Commonwealth website
B. supplementary reading
Wheare, KC. The Constitutional Structure of the Commonwealth . Clarendon Press, 1960.
Shaw, T.
Commonwealth: Inter- and Non-State Contributions to Global Governance . Routledge, 2008.
Knowledge
1. The student will have a systematic knowledge of American culture and cultures of the Commonwealth in the context of interrelated disciplines (K_W05, K_W08, K_W09, K_W16)
2. The student will have a basic knowledge of cultural institutions and processes and will be acquainted with contemporary cultural life. (K_W10, K_W11, K_W13, K_W14, K_W17, K_W18)
Skills
3. The student will be able to recognize and critically analyze various cultural texts using philological methods in order to determine their meanings, social influence, and place in the historical and cultural process. (K_U06)
Social competences
4. The student will be aware of and participate in the cultural heritage of his/her own country and will be tolerant of cultural differences of other countries and nations. (K_K14)
Contact dr T. Lewandowski tlewandowski@uni.opole.pl
mgr S. Dewsbury sdewsbury@uni.opole.pl