British studies is the academic study of
Britain
Britain most often refers to:
* Great Britain, a large island comprising the countries of England, Scotland and Wales
* The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a sovereign state in Europe comprising Great Britain and the north-eas ...
— its
culture
Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...
, geography and history.
Britain is significant as a topic because it was the location of the
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution, sometimes divided into the First Industrial Revolution and Second Industrial Revolution, was a transitional period of the global economy toward more widespread, efficient and stable manufacturing processes, succee ...
; the
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, mandates, and other Dependent territory, territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It bega ...
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.
In Germany, the topic is a specialism of ''Kulturkunde'' and ''Landeskunde'' and there is a ''Journal for the Study of British Cultures''.
A course was started at the
University of Texas
The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 students as of fall 2 ...
in 1975 and, more recently, courses have started at other universities such as
Columbia,
Yale
Yale University is a private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, and one of the nine colonial colleges ch ...
[ and the Faculty of World Studies at ]University of Tehran
The University of Tehran (UT) or Tehran University (, ) is a public collegiate university in Iran, and the oldest and most prominent Iranian university located in Tehran. Based on its historical, socio-cultural, and political pedigree, as well as ...
.[http://fws.ut.ac.ir/ltr/Groups.aspx?Ind=-1&Id=112&LanId=2 , University of Tehran, Faculty of British Studies]
References
Further reading
*
*
External links
North American Conference on British Studies
Culture of the United Kingdom
European studies
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