Courses

The listing of a course description here does not guarantee a course’s being offered in a particular semester. Please refer to the published schedule of classes on the Student Link for confirmation a class is actually being taught and for specific course meeting dates and times.

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  • CAS AH 591: Seminar in Photographic History
    Topic for Spring 2021: Documentary Photography. A study of changing uses, definitions, and archives of documentary photography from 1839 to the present. Topics include urban photography, war imagery, topographical and survey landscapes, architectural records, social reform photography, New Deal imagery, and digital documents.
  • CAS AH 596: Seminar: Contemporary Art
    Rotating topics in art, criticism and theory since 1960. Examines major themes such as formalism, minimalism, conceptual art, the neo-avant-garde, art and politics, postmodernism and globalization in their social and political contexts. Topic for Fall 2020: Contemporary Exhibition Practices. Explores how, over the past thirty years, artists, curators, critics, and architects have played various roles in the expansion of large-scale exhibitions and the emergence of new museums of contemporary art around the world.
  • 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. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub areas: Critical Thinking, Research and Information Literacy.
    • Critical Thinking
    • Research and Information Literacy
  • 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! This course carries humanities divisional credit in CAS. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills one unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Historical Consciousness.
    • Aesthetic Exploration
    • Historical Consciousness
  • CAS AM 220: Native American and Indigenous Studies
    Examines diverse cultural expressions of Native peoples, from oral traditions to modern fiction, and their historic and political contexts. Employs interdisciplinary perspectives from Native American and Indigenous Studies to ask critical questions about the arts, identity, community, and creativity. Effective Spring 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, The Individual in Community, Creativity/Innovation.
    • Aesthetic Exploration
    • The Individual in Community
    • Creativity/Innovation
  • CAS AM 250: American Arts and Society
    Investigates key issues and themes in American arts and letters. Topic for Fall 2021: Cultures of U.S. Progressivism, 1900 -- Today. Explores progressive issues from Black Lives Matter, to #MeToo, and the Green New Deal. Invites students to explore the contentious history of United States progressivism in the twentieth century by studying key literary, visual, and popular cultural texts in their historical contexts.
  • CAS AM 301: Perspectives on the American Experience
    American history and culture as viewed by those who made it. Topics vary from semester to semester. Topic for Topic for Spring 2022: Arts & American Society Race & State Power in the American Century. Examines U.S. foreign policy through the lens of race, using African-American thinkers and writers to interrogate state power as it manifested foreign and domestic. Effective Summer I, 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Research and Information Literacy.
    • Historical Consciousness
    • Research and Information Literacy
  • 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 336: Bob Dylan: Music and Words
    This course examines Bob Dylan's music and lyrics from 1962 to 1975 in the context of his life, artistic influences, and milieu. We will explore the wealth of criticism and reaction his songs have inspired, paying special attention to questions concerning the nature of his art--for example, his dependence on musical tradition or the relationship between song lyrics and poetry--and past and current critical discussion about his legacy. Effective Fall 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing- Intensive Course, Aesthetic Exploration.
    • Aesthetic Exploration
    • Writing-Intensive Course
  • CAS AM 367: Material Culture
    Introduction to the theory and practice of the interdisciplinary study of material culture, which includes everything we make and use, from food and clothing to art and buildings. Topic for Fall 2021: Living in a Material World: US History through Consumer Goods. Uses a series of iconic consumer goods to explore how diverse groups of Americans navigated social transformations including the formation of an Atlantic world economy, industrialization, the emergence of mass culture, and globalization.
  • CAS AM 501: Special Topics in American Studies
    Topic for Fall 2021: ReThink: Adaptive Reuse and Revitalization. Adaptive reuse and revitalization of historical places has become indispensable towards achieving healthy, sustainable and vibrant built environments. The course critically explores and analyzes American examples of completed projects and the employed approaches towards design and managing change.
  • CAS AM 546: Places of Memory: Historic Preservation Theory and Practice
    Covers key aspects of the history, theory, and practice of historic preservation. Preservation is 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 554: Preservation Planning
    Introduces students to local, state, and national government policies and practices intended to protect historically and aesthetically significant structures. In addition, the course covers planning approaches aimed at managing redevelopment in established neighborhoods, to create livable and sustainable communities.
  • CAS AM 555: Boston Architectural and Community History Workshop
    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. Explores places and sources that help assess and narrate the rich history of architectural and urban development.
  • CAS AM 567: Topics in American Material Culture
    An interdisciplinary research seminar exploring a topic in American material culture. Specific content will vary by semester and may be repeated for credit as topics change. Topic for Spring 2022: Crafting Identities: Material Cultures of Textiles and Clothing in the US.
  • CAS AN 101: Introduction to Sociocultural Anthropology
    Introduction to the basic concepts, principles, and problems of sociocultural anthropology, emphasizing the study of traditional and complex societies. Special attention to the organization and meaning of religion, economic life, kinship and political order; and the problem of cultural variation in the contemporary world. Carries social science divisional credit in CAS. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Social Inquiry I, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Research and Information Literacy.
    • Social Inquiry I
    • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
    • Research and Information Literacy
  • CAS AN 102: Human Biology, Behavior, and Evolution
    Introduces basic principles of evolutionary biology, human origins, genetics, reproduction, socio-ecology, and the evolution of primate and human behavior and adaptions. Section activities include examination of fossil and skeletal material, and hands-on projects involving human and primate behavior and biology. Carries natural science divisional credit (with lab) in CAS. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Scientific Inquiry I, Social Inquiry I, Critical Thinking.
    • Scientific Inquiry I
    • Social Inquiry I
    • Critical Thinking
  • CAS AN 103: Anthropology Through Ethnography
    Examines the diversity of human lifeways and cultures across a variety of societies and through time, as well as the social processes that shape individuals. Seminar-style introduction to cultural anthropology through the reading of ethnography, with discussion and debate. (For anthropology majors, this course can serve as a substitute for AN 101.) Carries social science divisional credit in CAS. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Social Inquiry I, The Individual in Community, Critical Thinking.
    • Social Inquiry I
    • The Individual in Community
    • Critical Thinking
  • CAS AN 210: Introduction to Medical Anthropology
    This lecture and discussion-driven course uses ethnographic case materials and active learning strategies to introduce students to socio-cultural anthropological modes of understanding and analyzing health-related experiences and institutions, including political and ethical dimensions of illness and suffering around the globe. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Social Inquiry II, Ethical Reasoning, Research and Information Literacy.
    • Ethical Reasoning
    • Social Inquiry II
    • Research and Information Literacy
  • CAS AN 211: Humans Among Animals
    Examines how humans understand (other) animals and their thought, feeling, and communication and the ways we humans in varied cultures and societies use animals for interaction and self-understanding. Interdisciplinary approach that considers language, aesthetics, ideology, practice, and regulation. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills units in the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Ethical Reasoning, and Critical Thinking.
    • Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
    • Ethical Reasoning
    • Critical Thinking

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