Questions, answered

American Studies is the interdisciplinary study of the culture, history, and society of the United States. Although the field is almost 100 years old, in Romania it is relatively new, because the communist regime did not encourage the study of the US. Shortly after 1989, this academic discipline finally took root in Romania with the pioneering program at the University of Bucharest. We started with an MA program in 1996, and shortly after our undergraduate program took off — it is still the most successful in the country.

English is the teaching language of both programs. The difference is that an English major is a more traditional philological program — you follow three main fields of study: English literature, linguistics, and civilization. American Studies is an interdisciplinary cultural-studies program: you study not only literature, linguistics, and civilization, but also media studies, race and ethnicity, visual culture, popular culture, American history and politics, Native-American studies, African-American studies, and more.

Because this is an interdisciplinary program, you will study a lot of exciting, interrelated disciplines — to name only a few: American film studies, American literature, American civilization, media studies, studies of race and ethnicity, visual culture, popular culture, American history and politics, Native-American studies, African-American studies, and much more.

No — American Studies is a Program that belongs to the English Department. Our professors teach both in the American Studies Program and in the English Department. The vast majority of them have held Fulbright scholarships to the United States.

You will have four hours of English language practice a week during your first two years, and two a week during your third year — exactly like every other English-major student. In these classes you do a lot of translation and work on vocabulary, grammar, academic writing, and speaking. Our program also shares the same linguistics classes as Applied Modern Languages students, taught by our colleagues in the English Department.