British studies

Journal of British Studies

British studies is the academic study of Britain — its culture, geography and history.

Britain is significant as a topic because it was the location of the industrial revolution; the British Empire was large and influential in world history; and English is now a major international language. The topic is especially studied in the USA as students there often have a heritage of British ancestry which encourages Anglophilia while the shared language of English makes British culture readily accessible.^[1] And the culture of USA is mixed with a variety of traditions and values of the nation. The major influence is taken from western and British culture which shows the traditions of European people.^[2] In Germany, the topic is a specialism of Kulturkunde and Landeskunde and there is a Journal for the Study of British Cultures.^[3]

A course was started at the University of Texas in 1975 and, more recently, courses have started at other universities such as Columbia, Yale^[1] and the Faculty of World Studies at University of Tehran.^[4]

References

1. Zoë Corbyn (2 May 2011), "British studies, the latest import from the US?", The Guardian
2. "culture of USA". What is USA News. 26 April 2013. Retrieved 2012-12-29.
3. Michael Payne; Jessica Rae Barbera (2010), A Dictionary of Cultural and Critical Theory, pp. 253–255, ISBN 978-1-4051-6890-8
4. http://fws.ut.ac.ir/ltr/Groups.aspx?Ind=-1&Id=112&LanId=2 | University of Tehran, Faculty of British Studies

Further reading

• Alan Mountford; Nick Wadham-Smith (2000), British studies: intercultural perspectives, Longman, ISBN 978-0-582-42962-8
• Lidia Kyzlinková; Stephen Hardy; Milada Franková (2002), British studies: a reader, Masarykova univerzita, ISBN 978-80-210-2894-4

External links

• North American Conference on British Studies