American Studies

• CAS AM 200: Introduction to American Studies
  An exploration of the multi-faceted themes of American society and culture in selected historical periods using a variety of approaches to interpret such topics as American art, literature, politics, material culture, and the mass media. Required of majors and minors. Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS.
• CAS AM 202: What's Boston?
  What's Boston? explores Boston's complex urban and natural world. University faculty share cutting-edge research, focusing on Boston as a PLACE and a guiding IDEA, introducing the perspectives of disparate scholarly disciplines. Discover where you stand and where you might go! No prerequisites. This course welcomes first-year students and is open to all BU undergraduates. Carries either humanities or social science divisional credit in CAS.
• CAS AM 250: American Arts and Society
  Investigates key issues and themes in American arts and letters. Topic for Spring 2017: Cheers! Material Culture of Drinking in America, 17th Century to the Present. From coffee and tea to alcohol and Coca-Cola, this course considers the role of drinking in American culture from the 17th century to the present. A wide variety of objects such as drinking vessels, advertisements, prints, and paintings are closely analyzed.
• CAS AM 301: Perspectives on the American Experience
  American history and society as viewed by those who made it. Topic for Fall 2016: Balls, Nets, and Boards: Sports in American Culture. Amateur and professional sports are deeply connected to everyday American life. By analyzing texts, photographs, films, and architecture, this course explores the role that sports have played in American society and culture from the colonial era to the present.
• CAS AM 313: Internships in Public History
  Students undertake supervised work in Boston-area institutions dedicated to the public presentation of America's past. Students meet with the instructor to discuss themes in public history theory and practice that, together with the internship experience and related readings, inform a final research project and class presentation. Also offered as CAS HI 313.
• CAS AM 369: American Folk Art
  Explores the objects that collectors and museums identify as "American Folk Art." Examines how this label developed throughout the twentieth century; familiarizes students with major collections and genres including painting, sculpture, textiles, and other media. Also offered as CAS AH 369.
• CAS AM 385: American Buildings and Landscapes
  An introductory analytic survey of American buildings and landscapes within their historical and cultural contexts. Students examine forces that have shaped the American built environment. Topics range from Indian mounds to commercial strips, Spanish missions to skyscrapers. Also offered as CAS AH 385.
• CAS AM 501: Special Topics in American Studies
  Topic for Fall 2016: Gilded Age Boston. Explores the Gilded Age in America through studying Boston and its people, politics, and cultures. Students use a wide variety of approaches of historical study and conduct original archival research. Some weeks are spent visiting and interpreting sites across Boston.
• CAS AM 502: Special Topics in American Studies
  Topic for Spring 2017: American Baseball. This interdisciplinary research seminar examines the history, culture, and science of the game from its shadowy origins in the early days of the nineteenth century, explosive growth in popularity during the Jazz Age, to the controversy-ridden Steroid Era.
• CAS AM 546: Places of Memory: Historic Preservation Theory and Practice
  Covers key aspects of the history, theory, and practice of historic preservation. Preservation will be discussed in the context of cultural history and the changing relationship between existing buildings and landscapes and attitudes toward history, memory, invented tradition, and place. Also offered as CAS AH 546 and CAS HI 546.
• CAS AM 555: Boston Architectural and Community History Workshop
  This course focuses on class readings, lectures, and research on a single neighborhood or community in Boston (or Greater Boston). Greatest emphasis is on using primary sources-- land titles and deeds, building permits, fire insurance atlases and other maps. There are both group and individual research projects. Also offered as CAS AH 554 and CAS HI 569.

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