Centre for the Study of the United States
The Centre for the Study of the United States (CSUS) serves as a leading hub for scholarship and teaching on American politics, society, history, and culture.
Based in the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy, CSUS was established in 1999 to build and promote the University of Toronto's resources in American Studies and interdisciplinary U.S.-focused research and teaching. CSUS represents the largest collective of scholars in Canada with research related to the United States, the Americas, and its global influence. Drawing on UofT’s tradition of academic and teaching excellence, CSUS fosters multidisciplinary dialogue and advances rigorous research across the social sciences and humanities.
This emphasis on the interface between the social sciences and humanities sets us apart from some of our peers in the U.S., where American Studies programs and centres are often primarily humanities-focused. In addition to bridging the social sciences and humanities, we balance a focus on the U.S. as an object of study with transnational, comparative, and international approaches.
“CSUS recognizes that America cannot be fully understood in isolation from the broader world. Our unique geographic position—close enough to observe the US directly, yet far enough to maintain analytical distance—provides an ideal vantage point for this kind of comprehensive study.”- Amanda Sheely, Director, CSUS
American Studies undergraduate program
CSUS is the home to the American Studies undergraduate program within the Faculty of Arts and Science. The program is right for you if you are excited to learn from and with students and faculty from a variety of backgrounds in a truly interdisciplinary environment. Our small and topical core American Studies courses allow you to keep up with the evolving world and to understand, “what is America, to who, and how can we study it?”
Recent news from CSUS
