Welcome to the American Studies Program (ASP) web site at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Graduate students in American Studies--a concentration within the Department of English--engage in an interdisciplinary approach to American literature and culture. Several core seminars on models, methods, and materials for interdisciplinary study, plus courses from other relevant disciplines, provide the groundwork for students to pursue theoretically informed, integrative research into their special interests. The program allows maximum flexibility in planning an individual program of study; from the start, students are encouraged to forge their own combinations of courses, subject matter, and perspectives. While our program familiarizes students with a range of disciplinary tools and discourses, it provides depth in one area--namely, literary studies, literary theory, and cultural studies--which gives students a professional identity in American literature and American studies augmented and enriched by perspectives from other fields.

Located in western Massachusetts, the University of Massachusetts Amherst offers broad resources, including access to the libraries and museums of Amherst, Smith, Mount Holyoke, and Hampshire colleges. Students may also take advantage of the international and intercultural curricula initiated through the new Five College Center for Crossroads in the Study of the Americas. There are opportunities for the study of material culture at nearby Historic Deerfield and for historical research at the American Antiquarian Society in Worcester. And the college communities offer a rich array of film showings, music, dance, and performance, including the UMass New World Theater series, devoted to work by artists of color.

Graduate assistantships and university fellowships are available to qualified applicants.