Testimonials
One of the biggest assets for me personally is that the instructors are very kind and knowledgeable and always eager to help you brainstorm when you get stuck or find ways to work around problems you encounter.
- Previous education
- Bachelor American Studies
- Programme
- Transatlantic Studies: History, Culture and Politics
- Country of previous education
- The Netherlands
Why would you recommend this Master's program?
I am a student of the Transatlantic Studies master’s program at Radboud University. I previously graduated from the American Studies bachelor’s program and continued developing my interest in this field by choosing the accompanying master. I am very satisfied with my choice due to the program being sufficiently challenging even with my background in the bachelor, it is definitely not ‘more of the same’, so to speak. Also one of the biggest assets for me personally is that the instructors are very kind and knowledgeable and always eager to help you brainstorm when you get stuck or find ways to work around problems you encounter.
One of my favorite courses would have to be Current Issues in Transatlantic Relations. I really enjoyed the class due to its ‘hackathon’ structure, which means that every week there was a societal partner that presented us which a problem related to their field to work on during a short period of time. American Culture in a Global Context was also a favorite of mine due to it being a perfect match with my personal and academic interests. It introduced me to many new concepts and perspectives in the world of cultural academics that I never had lectures on before, like environmentalism, the rise of China in the global sphere, and K-Pop.
How did this Master's programme prepare your for your career?
For the second semester I chose to do an internship due to me wanting to garner some work experience and give myself a push into the direction I want to pursue a career in after I graduate. I have always had a passion for arts and culture so I knew I wanted to land a job somewhere in this field. That is how I ended up as an intern at LUX Nijmegen, which is Nijmegen’s arthouse and also the biggest art cinema of Europe. As an intern, I aid other program makers in getting programs and events from concept to the stage. The two projects I am currently working on are a symposium around the topic of the relationship between media and politics and a movie event on the topic of love in the 21st century. I really enjoy taking the knowledge I acquired in my studies and being able to apply it in a way that matches my personal interests.
The Transatlantic Studies program enables students to explore and deepen interests outside of the master’s as well.
- Previous education
- Bachelor's American Studies
- Programme
- Transatlantic Studies: History, Culture and Politics
- Country of previous education
- The Netherlands
Why did you choose this Master's programme?
After finishing my Bachelor's in American Studies, I decided to further explore my interests in the US, and add a more international aspect, in the interdisciplinary program that Transatlantic Studies offers. I really enjoyed the variety of courses, such as American Culture in a Global Context for which I examined Black American representations of Black African cultures in my final paper. In addition, I found the course Practices of Transatlantic Studies particularly interesting because we were stimulated to work with digital archives. This connected well to the work I was simultaneously doing as a research assistant to two professors of our Master's program, for which I used a digital archive to find and analyze Dutch newspaper articles about the Black Freedom Struggle in the twentieth century.
Another course I enjoyed was the Red and Black Atlantic, which inspired me to write my master’s thesis about Black solidarity between Black American and Black Dutch activists. I am currently researching how Atlantic slavery and its legacies, such as racism, form the basis for the connection between Black activists in the US and the Netherlands. I will not only study theories about Black solidarity or historical events related to transatlantic exchanges between Black activists, but also conduct interviews with Black Dutch activists to include their experiences and views regarding Black solidarity in my research.
Why would you recommend this Master's program?
The Transatlantic Studies program enables students to explore and deepen interests outside of the Master’s as well. During my Bachelor’s and Master’s I frequently researched topics such as racism, anti-racism and (representations of) Blackness. This has motivated me to be closely involved in organizing anti-racism campaigns at the Radboud University since 2019. Furthermore, I am working as a student assistant to a philosophy professor while I finish my thesis. I have also started the Master’s Colonial and Global History at Leiden University to extend my knowledge of the Dutch colonial past, an interest I developed during my time at Radboud. The program of Transatlantic Studies allows you to gain valuable knowledge, skills and experience that will be useful in the future.
The course "The Red and Black Atlantic: Transatlantic Constructs of Race, Culture, and Identity" was one of my favorites!
- Previous education
- Bachelor's American Studies
- Programme
- Transatlantic Studies: History, Culture and Politics
- Country of previous education
- The Netherlands
What did you like most about this Master's program?
I followed the course The Red and Black Atlantic: Transatlantic Constructs of Race, Culture, and Identity in the second period of the academic year, and I must say it was one of my favorites! The class was taught by two professors, one specialized in the “Red Atlantic” and the other in the “Black Atlantic”. The main goal of the course was to analyze and show how crucial race was in the creation of the Atlantic world and how it still is very important. Each week, the class had a different focus. We talked about the notions of the Red and Black Atlantic, their history and the current position of these concepts. It taught us that from colonialism onward the Atlantic world started to form and that race relations are, and have been crucial, in this. We also learned that the “Red” and “Black” inevitably are interrelated and not only exist along side each other. In other weeks we focused on slavery, the notion of “belonging”, multidirectional memory, the role of Black and Native soldiers in the Second World War and lastly also on protests and solidarity movements. All in all, the class taught me a lot about how the concepts and history of the Red and Black Atlantic are crucial in answering questions about race, identity and human rights that still are of great concern to this day. It allowed me to see the issues in a bigger picture, namely an Atlantic one, instead of things that reserved to the United States only.
The course’s examination was also enjoyable, because we had several smaller assignments to show what we learned. We each got to write a response paper to a class of our choice, in which we were allowed to respond to anything that peaked our interest in this specific class. Next to this, there was a group assignment in which we analysed a museum that dealt with a topic that was discussed during the course. The final assignment was also group work, where each person wrote a paper with a different approach to the same research question. This was a great opportunity to share personal interests and what we had learned during the course!
The teachers know you well and are always willing to help.
- Previous education
- Bachelor's American Studies
- Programme
- Transatlantic Studies: History, Culture and Politics
- Country of previous education
- The Netherlands
Why did you choose this Master's program?
After my BA in American Studies I wanted to focus more on European-American relations. First, I was thinking about doing a master's in International Relations, but when the new master's program of the American Studies department, Transatlantic Studies, aired that year I was a hundred percent sure this is what I wanted to do, and I do not regret my choice!
I was already used to a small group of students and close contact with my teachers in the BA program American Studies, and during my master's degree this was not any different. The teachers know you well and are always willing to help. Furthermore, there is a broad range of topics discussed within the program and there is enough room to research your own interest and topics in the final essays. Within the program the actualities are also discussed thoroughly, which is in my opinion, especially in the field of Transatlantic Relations, very important. Besides that, we also had to do archival research for one course. I did my research at the Regionaal Archief Nijmegen. I thought this was very interesting, since I had not done archival research before. It makes your research even more fascinating!
How did this Master's program prepare you for your career?
As a part of my master’s degree, I did an internship at the Netherlands Atlantic Association (Atlantische Commissie) in The Hague, which fits perfectly within my field of study and interest. The Netherlands Atlantic Association fosters public debate about Transatlantic topics and has close connections to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the American Embassy in the Hague. Furthermore, I wrote my master thesis about how the Dutch embassy in Washington D.C. promoted Dutch water expertise in the U.S. after Hurricane Katrina. More specifically how this knowledge sharing became a part of Dutch-American cooperation in the long term. While writing my thesis I discovered different other topics of interest, namely water management and climate resilience. So, next year, I am going to do a premaster in spatial planning to eventually enroll in the master's program Spatial Planning: Cities, Water, and Climate Change.