Higher Education

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Once a bastion of the English and history departments of The British studies, the discipline is on the wane as The American students are increasingly career-goals about your love to think of Charles Dickens , James Jeffrey.

It's Friday afternoon at the University of Texas at Austin, which means it's time for sherry and a weekly lecture on British studies. The free drink offerings served up on a silver tray next to a large stuffed Lion , a jovial nod to England 's national animal, and the country is lionised literary past.

Recently, the talks have resumed Brideshead Revisited , Churchill's most Difficult decisions, and The novels of Benjamin Disraeli and Oscar Wilde pick up on.

The Audience leans in the direction of the tire end of The Spectrum - an ex-member of the faculty, which is observed in the 97 years old. A few undergraduate and graduate students are scattered, but they are definitely in the minority.

British studies is to shift trends in the US-American universities as a history and English departments, the less the focus on Western Europe and more on other parts of The World .

America is a British colony for almost 250 years, but until recently in the United Kingdom has played a huge role culturally.

"As a field for British studies was inflated in relation to other parts of The World in the 20Th Century ," says Jason Kelly , Director of the Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, the arts and Humanities.

"people are more worried about other places and interests around The World , I have to say, is always productive for thinking about The World , and more in line with the challenges we face as a global Community . "

in 1946, Churchill coined the term "special relationship", This has led to a dramatic decline in The Number of British studies courses in The Past few decades.

at The same time, enrollment in the Bachelor's British history courses has decreased "ill-advised", according to.

Today, The Report complains, the discipline is considered by many as "too old-fashioned, hide-bound, conservative, and Boring - a discipline of old men in tweed jackets, the still yearn, after the stifling and sexist atmosphere of the senior common Room . "

Those in The British studies, however, note the declining numbers reflect a broader trend in the Humanities, as it is the fighting in the changing expectations among the students. Since the late 1990s, The Number of English-decreased grade by almost half, according to the U.S. Department of Education. History in General is down about 45% from the 2007 peak.

"exploding the cost of college, there is this fully-inflation in US universities", says Professor James Vaughn, a historian specializing in UK at Ohio University .

"If One of the four years, the cause of high costs, you want a compensation so that the STEM [science, technology, engineering, and mathematics] are subjects with massive pay-offs in comparison to the Humanities and social Sciences. "

This has been strengthened since the financial crisis of 2008, with students increasingly anxious that a Humanities degree leads to employment, says Paul Halliday, President of the NACBS.

However, all may not be lost for British studies.

"As the balloon of British studies has vented we have seen that there is a new define for themselves what it says and means," Kelly says. "What we see, especially in The Last Ten Years , The British studies reorient increasingly, the focus on the British Empire and its lasting impact and influence in The World . "

British studies, together with other mind -will lose the students in the United States, This is particularly relevant for those who want to understand better how we have been, where it is, particularly on the global stage.

"Our laws and governmental institutions, but also character, are shaped by part of the British Empire and break Erika Rappaport, The American author of A thirst for the Empire to say away from her": How Tea to the Modern world is Shaped.

"We can't understand the history of the US-American Global Influence , without understanding that Great Britain laid the Foundation, infrastructure and ideologies of globalization, while the construction-and not lose your Empire in the 19th and 20th centuries. "

Rappaport interested in British history and Empire studies through A Love of reading Victorian literature as a teenager, which left her "to die, to learn more about the culture that produced such amazing literature."

she says, the history of the United States has created, as a former colony of Great Britain , "A Love -hate relationship".

"We share so much in terms of our consumer-culture and education, but at times, our tastes are very different," says Rappaport, relying, like The American preference for coffee from the Americans the departure of British foods such as Tea would be, because this reminded them of their colonial status.

The UT Austin British Studies program - no level is started in the year 1975, based on the weekly lectures on English Literature , history, and government.

Since then, it spoke many eminent speakers - CP snow, The British novelist and scientist, was in 1976 on Elite education in England ; Iris Murdoch in 1985, talked about issues, the language in English Literature and philosophy; and The Historian Michael Howard in 1993, on Strategic deception in the Second World War .

The British studies program has been accepted at the University of Texas in Austin, a stuffed Lion is The National animal of England as an unofficial mascot, "I like the interdisciplinary ethos of like how they say people from other departments," the 34-year-old Trevor Simmons during a Break In the singing of Christmas carols at the recent British studies Christmas party. He completed a PhD in the UK economy story in 2015 and still visit the weekly discussions.

"is It done, in a funny way. You got the sherry, the lions stuffed The Oak panels - it is a little bit of Oxford. "

program Director and founder Roger Louis, says the program seeks a variety of perspectives from different Nations Caught Up in The British historical experience, from the Scots and Irish, Jamaicans, Indians, Australians, and Nigerians.

"Ongoing discussions in UK studies of engagement, since that tells each other different perspectives as well as the nuance of the cultural interpretation meeting," Louis.

This global aspect of British studies, Halliday says, is his greatest strength in the rest of the valid and competitive, such as the Humanities, are trying to appeal to the students.

"In The Last Ten Years , there has been an explosion of interest in The Field in the kind of problems that impact on all of how the consumer society is based on slave labor and the extermination of indigenous peoples," Halliday. "This re-orientation extends the reach of British studies. "

British studies once focused on classic works of Victorian authors such as Charles Dickens , but now modern writers by Nations, the says formerly part of the British Empire , as the Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Kelly covers, he saw it shows the impressive range of views on the display, if he of this year's NACBS conference in Vancouver, Canada.

"The younger faculty entering the discipline are able to synthesize that research a little more broadly, new information and challenge the assumptions of the older members of the faculty," Kelly says. "It is refreshing and makes you aware of the fact that The British studies will be everywhere soon. "

"I consider myself a citizen of The World , and my Dream Job would be with the United Nations," the 20-year-old Lucas Peralta, noticed at the Christmas party, after taking The British imperialism in the Middle East in the context of its International Relations and global studies degree.

"So, the understanding of The Influence of Great Britain , and also with the preferences of the Nato is extremely important. "

The continuing impact of colonialism was on the mind of the 22-year-old history undergraduate, Ana-Chan at the Christmas party. She has been following the ongoing protests in Hong Kong , explains how the UK has always been on the periphery of your life, because your family came to American from Hong Kong .

"My Family have Mixed Feelings ," Chan. "Do you remember the places you could not go, under The British colonial rule, because of the affordability. I've heard that friends of the family discussed whether it was a good thing for Hong Kong separately from Mainland China as long as the effort made is Happening Now . At the same time, I was raised to Great Britain as a close ally of the United States. "

Current issues, such as Brexit fired with an interest in British studies Halliday, who teaches history, says Brexit Britain is again on the minds of many of his students.

"Both the UK and the USA have always been a deep affection to the rest of The World ," he says. "This is the reason why Brexit interests of my students: it reads like a reversal of centuries of British interaction with Europe and beyond. "

literature, united states, higher education

Source of news: bbc.com