Boston Studies
Note: the courses on this page reflect Summer Term 2008 offerings.
Please check back on December 15 for a list of courses available during Summer Term 2009.
Boston University is proud to be "Boston's University," and to offer
students unique opportunities for learning. Utilizing Boston as a classroom,
the Boston Studies series explores the city's rich resources in art, history,
geography, sociology, and ecology. Each course in this series combines classroom
lectures with dynamic field
experiences throughout the city.
College of Arts and Sciences
CAS AH 211 Boston Museums
An introduction to the fundamentals of visual analysis and the history of
art, focusing on outstanding works in the collections of Boston and Cambridge
museums. Current, temporary exhibitions are included. Also examines the curatorial
decision-making process determining the choice of works and the conditions
under which they are displayed. 4 cr.
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CAS AM 371 Art and Architecture in Boston
Studies the art and architecture of Boston through lectures, readings, walking
tours, and gallery visits. Explores Boston’s neighborhoods
and the works of major artists, sculptors, and architects working in Boston.
Themes include the emergence of the museum as a cultural force and the city’s
interpretations of, and contribution to, European and American art and architecture.
4 cr.100
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CAS AN 308 Food, Culture, and Society
Study of foodways, culinary social history, and diet and food ecology
with special attention to Asian societies and Boston's food culture. Examines
the use of food and cuisine as a focus for identity, national development, and
social change. 4 cr.
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CAS AR 372/GRS AR 772 Archaeology of Colonial Boston
Boston's "Big Dig" the Central Artery/Third Harbor Tunnel Project, is
only the most recent and most highly visible project to bring to light parts
of Boston's buried history. Learn about the daily lives of Boston's early residents
through an exploration of artifacts and features that archaeologists have excavated
from many sites throughout the city. Course participants will walk Boston's streets
and visit the Boston Harbor Islands guided by archaeologists who have helped
unearth the city's past. Visits to local archaeological laboratories will make
it possible to view and even to handle some of the most recent finds not just
from the "Big Dig" but also from beneath Faneuil Hall, the Boston Common, and
many other famous spots in the city. 4 cr.
Read a BU Bridge article about this class: Urban
archaeology digs life in colonial Boston.
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CAS SO 306 Boston's People and Neighborhoods
Walking and talking through the city and its history, students explore
important themes in the development of the city through a sociological perspective.
Among the topics considered are ethnicity, education, neighborhood development
and politics. 4 cr.
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Metropolitan College
MET AD 893 Politics, Public Relations and Public Policy: The Boston
Harbor Clean Up
Offers a unique investigation of how business, advocate groups, environmentalists
and government can affect the outcome of large projects through negotiation,
regulatory process and interaction. Students will gain insights into the legal,
social, environmental and historical context that led to the billion dollar
twenty year project that took the Boston Harbor from a sewage infested environment
to a swimmable national park. The instructor, Mr. Berman, has served as communication
director and spokesman for Save the Harbor/Bay for nearly ten years. He is one
of the region's foremost experts on the restoration as well as the flora and
fauna of the Harbor area. Intensive course. 4 cr.
This course was featured in the BU Bridge: Learning
about the Boston Harbor Cleanup from the waterway’s eyes, ears,
and mouthpiece.
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MET ES 141 From Periwinkles to Pilot Whales: Investigation on Boston
Harbor and Massachusetts Bay
Examines the flora and fauna of the Boston Harbor and Massachusetts
Bay ecosystems on the beach, at the shore, in the Harbor Islands, and on
the waters of Boston Harbor and Mass Bay. With 50 miles of protected water,
four sheltered bays, seven river systems, dozens of islands, and a nine-foot
average tide, Boston Harbor is one of the most diverse urban ecosystems in
America. Students keep daily records of their experiences, record and analyze
data for a research paper, and learn to use GIS Datalayers, species maps,
and field work guides. 4 cr.
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MET ES 241 Coastal Environments
of Massachusetts
Focuses on the geology and natural history of the Massachusetts
North and South Shores, including Cape Cod and the Islands. Many protected
areas featuring harbors and tidal flats, which contrast with the high-energy
shorelines facing the high swells of open Atlantic Ocean, serve as ideal
natural laboratories for studying this geologically young and ever-changing
landscape. The course explores major landforms produced by melting glaciers
at the end of the Great Ice Age and the role of severe storms, sea-level
rise, and human impact in shaping the region's coastline over the past 10,000
years. The lecture series is complemented by two Saturday field trips to
the North Shore and South Shore/Cape Cod. 4 cr.
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MET HI 373 History of Boston
Provides an overview of the evolution and development of Boston,
and examines Boston's unique cultures as manifested in religious, political,
social and aesthetic thought and events. Visits to museums, places of historical
significance, Boston neighborhoods, guest lecturers, and video presentations
complement this class. 4 cr.
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MET UA 510 Special Topics: Boston’s North End: From Colonial
Center to Immigrant Theme Park
A socio-cultural history of Boston’s North End that surveys
changes in the region from the colonial period to the present. Analysis is
centered on the dynamics of culture change among North End’s Italian
immigrants. Examines the causes of immigration conflicts and competition
with Irish immigrants, the importance of religious societies and festivals
as an expression of anticlerical Catholicism, kinship and regional factors
in residential distribution, the context, content, the influence of W.F.
Whyte’s Street Corner Society, myths and realities of the
Boston Mafia, the impact of drugs and drug related youth violence in the
1980s, and the
changes brought about through gentrification, demographic change, and economic
stratification. Also examines the re-creation of the North End as an Italian
style neighborhood through studies of tourism, the marketing of ethnic cuisine
and lifestyle, and research on ethnic theme parks. Utilizes historical documents
and studies of the colonial period, sociological analyses of immigration
and urban communities, current research on gentrification, development, and
tourism. Course includes two visits to the North End. 4 cr.
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