North American Studies

Can you see yourself thriving in a learning environment that challenges you to develop your own interests and formulate your own arguments in small-group seminars, taught by leading international researchers in the field of American Studies?

American culture and American politics sit at the heart of our contemporary world, and American Studies is the interdisciplinary, wide-ranging study of that culture and politics and the ways that they interact. But doing American Studies involves more than mastering knowledge related to America.

After completing our MA in North American Studies, you’ll certainly know a lot about America. But you’ll also be able to think, talk, and write critically about it, independently analyze any aspect of its culture that fascinates you, and conduct your own research project that cuts across traditional academic boundaries. We don’t use boring textbooks, and we don’t just ask you to summarize what others think about a topic. We challenge you to build your own persuasive analysis of whatever it is about America that interests you.

Our students’ research topics are as diverse as America itself. From the Stars Wars franchise and its place in U.S. and global culture to gerrymandering, voter suppression, political polarization, or the history of Audubon's Birds of America–in American Studies, we let you follow your own path. And through a specially designed writing course and our network of local, national, and international partners, our students also learn how to write and communicate their ideas in English to a wide variety of public audiences.

In your first semester, we make sure you’re up to date on the latest developments in the exciting and often argumentative field of American studies, while also teaching courses based on our own research interests. Students in our MA also have the opportunity to study abroad at one of our partner universities in the U.S. or do an internship during their degree. From small Dutch tech start-ups to national newspapers and consular offices in the U.S., those who have hosted our American Studies students send back glowing reports of culturally savvy, intellectually mature, and highly effective interns.