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.

• CAS AH 533: Seminar: Greek Art and Architecture
  Topic for Fall 2021: Greek Painting. Painting was the most esteemed genre of ancient Greek art, famed for its beauty and ability to fool the eye. We study panel and wall painters, colorists who collaborated with sculptors and architects, and craftsmen who decorated pottery Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing-Intensive Course, Oral and/or Signed Communication, Research and Information Literacy.
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  • Oral and/or Signed Communication
  • Research and Information Literacy
  • Writing-Intensive Course
• CAS AH 534: Seminar in Roman Art
  In-depth examination of varying topics in the study of Roman art and architecture. Topic for Spring 2020: The Pax Romana. Roman art and architecture at the height of the Roman Empire under the Five Good Emperors (Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, Marcus Aurelius) with introductory sessions on Augustus, the Julio-Claudians, and the Flavians.
• CAS AH 541: Courtly Commissions: Ottoman Art and Architecture
  Explores the artistic patronage of the Ottoman court, fifteenth to seventeenth centuries. Questions of self-fashioning, artistic agency, courtly behavior, decorum, and the formation of an imperial style frame the discussion of specific works of art and architecture.
• CAS AH 543: Latin American Art and the Cold War
  Study of Latin American artistic practices in relation to Cold War political frameworks, such as development and dependency discourses, the impact of the Cuban Revolution, U.S. and Soviet cultural policies, and the rise of numerous political dictatorships.
• CAS AH 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 AM 546 and CAS HI 546.
• CAS AH 547: Gothic Art
  Sources, background, and development of Gothic art. Painting, sculpture, and architecture during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.
• CAS AH 548: Global Heritage Conservation
  Examining global approaches towards heritage conservation through a study of concepts, charters and case studies, using themes such as world heritage, cultural tourism, historic towns, new design, intangible heritage, authenticity, integrity, recent past, historic landscapes, conflict, disasters, revitalization and reconstruction.
• CAS AH 554: 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. Topic for Fall 2021: Brighton Project. Explore the architectural and urban transformation of Brighton from agricultural fields, country estates, and Boston's primary nineteenth-century cattle market and meat packing district into a dense neighborhood. We scrutinize sources that cultivate the rich history of urban form and settlement.
• CAS AH 557: High Renaissance and Mannerist Art in Italy
  Topic for Fall 2021: Drawing in Early Modern Italy. This seminar considers the role of drawings in workshop practice, the transition to drawings as autonomous artworks, and the relationship between invention and sketches. Attention also given to the history of materials and connoisseurship, as well as to the mobility of drawings as artworks.
• CAS AH 563: Global Baroque: Art and Power in the Seventeenth Century
  Investigates the interaction between art and structures of power in 17th- century Europe, with particular attention to its global dimensions. Focus on Rubens, Rembrandt, Velazquez, and Bernini but also other forms of cultural production that circulated through global trade.
• CAS AH 582: Historic Houses
  Studies the preservation of historic homes as museums, a phenomenon involving more than 26,000 houses throughout the U.S. since 1850. Considers Boston's excellent examples as works of architecture and design and as icons in debates about national and regional identities. Topic for Fall 2021: Historic House Museums in Boston and Beyond. Boston and New England have numerous house museums. From circa 1850, such buildings were saved internationally. But why? Do they address contemporary audiences? Uses case studies and visits; contextualizes international movement. Considers group memory, invented traditions, civic-national identities, romantic nationalism.
• CAS AH 589: Topics in Nineteenth-Century Art
  Topic for Spring 2021: Impressionism Through Symbolism. Major currents in European art of the second half of the nineteenth century, from Impressionism through Symbolism. Weekly discussion of readings, both classic and recent. Students present a research-based oral report, subsequently developed into a final paper.
• 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 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 AN 505: Women and Social Change in Asia (area)
  Examines how women have affected andbeen affected by economic and cultural changes in China, Japan, and India. Particular attention paid to women's education, health, child rearing, and labor force participation. (Counts towards the Women's, Gender, & Sexuality Studies minor and the Asian Studies minor.)
• CAS AN 510: Proposal Writing for Social Science Research
  Intended for PhD students in the social sciences or humanites and undergraduates already admitted to the Anthropology Honors Program. Workshop-based course designed to turn students' intellectual interests into answerable, field-based research questions. Goal is the production of an honors or doctoral level research project proposal and/or dissertation prospectus.
• CAS AN 521: Sociolinguistics
  Introduction to language in its social context. Methodological and theoretical approaches to sociolinguistics. Linguistic variation in relation to situation, gender, socioeconomic class, linguistic context, and ethnicity. Integrating micro- and macro-analysis from conversation to societal language planning.

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