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 HI 205: Gender and Sexuality in Judaism
    Explores the role of gender and sexuality in Judaism and Jewish experience, historically and in the present. Subjects include constructions of masculinity and femininity, attitudes toward (and uses of) the body and sexuality, gendered nature of religious practice and authority. Effective Fall 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing-Intensive Course, Historical Consciousness, Research and Information Literacy.
    • Historical Consciousness
    • Research and Information Literacy
    • Writing-Intensive Course
  • CAS HI 207: Game of Thrones: Power and Politics in Pre-Modern Europe
    This course employs medieval and early modern authors, as well as contemporary scholars, as vehicles for understanding the dynamics of power, gender, violence and politics in George Martin's novel, Game of Thrones.
  • CAS HI 208: Renaissance Europe
    The main political, socioeconomic, intellectual, and artistic currents in Italy (c. 1350-1530) and northwestern Europe (c. 1500-1560); emphasis on leading thinkers (Petrarch, Bruni, Machiavelli, Erasmus, More, and Montaigne) as creators of the modern Western mind.
  • CAS HI 209: The Reformation: Religious Conflict in Early Modern Europe
    Examines religious change in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Europe, particularly the origins and causes of the Protestant Reformation, the parallel Catholic Reformation, and the consequent military conflicts in Germany, France, and the Netherlands. Also offered as CAS RN 310. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Ethical Reasoning, Social Inquiry I.
    • Social Inquiry I
    • Ethical Reasoning
  • CAS HI 210: Europe between Renaissance and Revolution
    Surveys the key movements that transformed European culture, politics, and intellectual life between the fifteenth and eighteenth centuries: the Renaissance, Protestant and Catholic Reformations, new age of science and exploration, absolutism and constitutional monarchy, Enlightenment, and French Revolution.
  • CAS HI 214: History of Piracy
    Examines piracy in European history from ancient time to the present, focusing on its economic and social causes, and its consequences. Addresses too the modern permutations of piracy as a form of social protest and a technique of terrorism.
  • CAS HI 215: The European Enlightenment
    How Europe became modern. The rise of science, critique of religion, and struggle for rights. The public sphere emerges: newspapers, Freemasons, coffee, salons, smut. The invention of a cosmopolitan republic of letters; Voltaire, Diderot, Kant, Adam Smith, Benjamin Franklin. Effective Spring 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings.
    • Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
    • Historical Consciousness
  • CAS HI 218: Power and Authority in Europe since World War I
    Explores the breakdown of traditional authority, the rise of authoritarianism, and the triumph of democracy in twentieth-century Europe. Examines changing notions of power and legitimacy through major events, including communist revolutions, fascist takeovers, wartime occupations, and the fall of the Berlin Wall. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub area: Historical Consciousness.
    • Historical Consciousness
  • CAS HI 221: Catastrophe & Memory
    Examines the ways in which catastrophes, both natural and social, enter into cultural memory. Goal is to understand how events that seem to defy comprehension are represented in works of art and given a place in the memory of a culture. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Historical Consciousness, Research and Information Literacy.
    • Aesthetic Exploration
    • Historical Consciousness
    • Research and Information Literacy
  • CAS HI 226: Cities and Cultures
    Examines the relationship between cultural expression and political, social, and economic change by focusing on cities such as Boston, Paris, London, Casablanca, and Johannesburg during times of intense creativity and upheaval.
  • CAS HI 227: Living in the City
    Gateway to international urban history. Case studies of selected cities -- from ancient Uruk to modern Shanghai -- through scrutiny of histories and documents. Discussion of important themes for our urban future: justice, health, worship, entertainment, human rights, city planning, beauty. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Teamwork/Collaboration.
    • Historical Consciousness
    • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
    • Teamwork/Collaboration
  • CAS HI 229: The Great Powers and the Eastern Mediterranean
    The Eastern Mediterranean as center of Great Power confrontation. Its impact on wider international relations, the domestic political results, the role of sea power, and the origins, conduct, and resolution of wars. Also offered as CAS IR 325.
  • CAS HI 231: Media and Politics in Modern America
    Examines how mass media have shaped the modern American political landscape, including electoral campaigns, voter attitudes, social movements, and war mobilization, as well as the ways public policy has structured both the news and entertainment media. Effective Fall 2018, 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 HI 234: Introduction to India and South Asia
    A survey of South Asian history from antiquity to the present. Considers pre- modern empires, the rise of the British Empire in South Asia, and the struggle for independence. Explores the modern politics and culture of India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Research and Information Literacy.
    • Historical Consciousness
    • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
    • Research and Information Literacy
  • CAS HI 237: Reconstructing the African Past
    Explores the richness and diversity of a continent where oral histories and environmental settings have shaped society as much as written records. Considers Africa's critical place in the world from ancient Egypt and Ghana to the Asante and Ethiopian empires. Carries social science divisional credit in CAS. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Historical Consciousness.
    • Historical Consciousness
    • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
  • CAS HI 244: England in the Middle Ages
    England's development from the Celtic Age to the Tudor dynasty. Emphasizes social and religious/intellectual changes within the broader context of England's unique political evolution from a strife-torn backwater to a leading European power.
  • CAS HI 245: Tudor England, 1485-1603
    A survey of that turbulent and volatile century that witnessed the apprenticeship of England for a role of world importance. Special attention to the development of state power, the growth of religious diversity, the major economic and social transformations, as well as the resulting cultural development.
  • CAS HI 247: The Making of Modern Britain
    How did a small island nation develop into a global superpower, and at what costs? This course charts Britain's ascendancy in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, with a focus on industrialization, colonial expansion, democratic institution building, and enlightenment thought. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Critical Thinking.
    • Historical Consciousness
    • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
    • Critical Thinking
  • CAS HI 248: Modern Britain, 1867 to Present
    A political, social, and cultural history of England with emphasis on the impact of the two world wars, the emergence of the welfare state, the loss of empire, and Britain's relations with Europe. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Critical Thinking.
    • Historical Consciousness
    • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
    • Critical Thinking
  • CAS HI 266: French Revolution and Napoleon
    The French Revolution began with high ideals of liberty and equality but quickly dissolved into civil war, the Terror, and Napoleon's expansionist ambitions. From the fall of the Bastille to Waterloo, this course traces the revolution's successes, failures, and legacy. Effective Spring 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub area: Historical Consciousness.
    • Historical Consciousness

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