North-American Culture Studies

The programme combines literary and linguistic instruction and provides a broader cultural overview of the countries in North America, combining both Anglophone and Francophone and Spanish-speaking regions, from Canada to the United States through Mexico and the Caribbean. The programme is designed so that the students gain an overview of each of the two cultural areas at the same time and are instructed on their mutual linguistic, literary, and cultural influences. For this reason, the programme is structured in a modular manner. The mandatory part of the curriculum consists of core courses that have a methodological section in which students learn the basic theoretical approaches toward the concept of identity of oneself, of the other, and of various social groups, and focus on the concept and its various manifestations in literature, linguistics, and culture. The core section is followed by a variety of in-depth courses in which students gain an orientation in the specific cultural phenomena in the Anglophone, Francophone, and Hispanophone worlds. The two compulsory modules combine either the Anglophone-Francophone area or Anglophone-Spanish-speaking area, allowing for an informed comparison. The advantage of the North American study programme lies in the fact that it offers excellent material for the study of some highly topical issues of today’s world: otherness, migration, immigration, and cultural and linguistic phenomena associated with integration in areas where different ethnic groups, languages, and cultures interact. In this respect, North America represents a model laboratory allowing us to study the processes that increasingly confront European and Czech society.

Practical training

One semester of at least 15 hours per week of practice in a public institution or a private company dealing with some aspect of North American space is required. The list of collaborating organizations is available on the website of the Centre for North American Studies ( http://www.phil.muni.cz/wcss/ ). These organizations include the American Corner at the Moravian Library, Brno Expat Centre, and the Central European Association of Canadian Studies, based at the Faculty Arts.

Graduates can work wherever good bilingual skills and critical thinking are needed and where attention is paid to issues of cultural relations, such as the issues of otherness, social and cultural exclusion, migration, and immigration.

Deadline for submitting applications: January 1 - April 30

Who the programme is intended for: The programme is intended for graduates of Bachelor’s studies in programmes taught at philosophical, social science, pedagogical, and economic faculties, where knowledge of languages (AJ-SJ or AJ-FJ) with a minimum level of knowledge of one of them at the C1 level can be expected.

Subject matter of the entrance examination: oral examination. Applicants will receive a text in English and another text in Fl or Sl (according to the applicant’s choice), which they will discuss with the committee. Comprehension and basic orientation to the texts and the ability to respond to additional questions are tested. The examination includes a discussion of the basic facts of North American countries. The applicant shall state in the application (Supplementary text of the applicant) their choice of the second language of the entrance examination (FL/SL). The interview takes about 30 minutes.

Waiver of the entrance examination: Applicants may request a waiver for the entrance examination if they meet any of the following conditions (the waiver is decided by the programme guarantor):

• graduates of Bc. philology, two-subject study EL-FL, EL-SL,
• graduates of Bc. philology, single-subject study of EL, SL, FL, who will demonstrate sufficient knowledge of another language at the C1 (EL) and B1 (FL, SL) level in combination with EL-FL, EL-SL. Knowledge of the language is proven by a certificate: for EL- CPE, IELTS (7.0), TOEFL iBT 95 and more; for FL - DALF B1; for SL - DELE B1.

Applicants can ask for a waiver for the entrance examination via the e-application form, section "Application for waiver of the entrance examination". Students of other universities shall send a request for the waiver for the entrance examination together with proof of the studies of these combinations.

Website Department of English and American Studies

General information on the course of the admission procedure to the follow-up Master’s degree programmes at FA MU can be found here. Documents for the current admission procedure are kept in Materials for Applicants.

Criteria for evaluation

Pass/fail line of the entrance examination: 60 points (out of 100).

Minimum score and numbers of accepted applicants in past years

After completing the Master’s degree study programme, it is possible to continue further studies in a doctoral degree study programme in English Language, Literature in English, Romance Literatures, or Comparative Literatures.