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 MyBU Student Portal for confirmation a class is actually being taught and for specific course meeting dates and times.

• GRS AA 804: Seminar: The Family
  Explores the rise of "modern" families and the plurality of contemporary family forms and processes including gay and lesbian families and new reproductive technologies. Particular attention to social and economic inequalities and their implications for family life. Also offered as GRS SO 804.
• GRS AA 808: Seminar: Ethnic, Race, and Minority Relations
  Formation and position of ethnic minorities in the United States, including cross-group comparisons from England, Africa, and other parts of the world. Readings and field experience. Also offered as GRS SO 808.
• GRS AA 871: Seminar in African American History
  Graduate seminar in African American history surveys shifts in historiography in the last 25 years in slavery studies, Black women's, Black youth history, Great Migration, the histories of racial justice and coalitional movements (CR, BP, BLM), and the recent turn in carceral studies.
• GRS AA 882: History of Religion in Pre-Colonial Africa
  Study of the development of religious traditions in Africa during the period prior to European colonialism. An emphasis both on indigenous religions and on the African roots and the growth and spread of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam in the continent as a whole. Also offered as GRS HI 749 and GRS RN 682.
• GRS AA 885: Atlantic History
  Examines the various interactions that shaped the Atlantic World, connecting Europe, Africa, and the Americas between 1400 and 1800. Begins by defining the political interaction, then emphasizes cultural exchange, religious conversion, and the revolutionary era. Also offered as GRS HI 750.
• GRS AA 901: Directed Study in African American Studies
  
• GRS AA 902: Directed Study in African American Studies
  
• GRS AH 692: Twentieth-Century Art from 1940 to 1980
  Explores art of the mid-twentieth century, addressing the following topics in relation to postwar culture and Cold War politics: realism vs. abstraction, global pop art and conceptual art, new materials and technologies, international artists' networks, and performative art practices.
• GRS AH 693: Contemporary Art: 1980 to Now
  Explores the terms of debate, key figures, and primary sites for the production and reception of contemporary art on a global scale since 1980. Painting, installation art, new media, performance, art criticism, and curatorial practice are discussed.
• GRS AH 727: Colloquium in Chinese Art
  (Students must also register for required co-req GRS AH 728.) This graduate-level colloquium will critically examine issues of Chinese art covered in AH327 Arts of China. Special attention will be given to recent scholarship that engages with Chinese art in a greater socio-cultural context. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Aesthetic Exploration, Research and Information Literacy. Must attend MWF section with AH327.
  BU Hub Learn More

  • Aesthetic Exploration
  • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
  • Research and Information Literacy
• GRS AH 733: Class Greek Art
  This course description is currently under construction.
• GRS AH 742: Colloquium in Latin American Art
  Case studies designed to explore the main aesthetic, social, and historical discourses surrounding image production in Latin America while familiarizing students with main scholars in the field and their methodologies.
• GRS AH 791: Colloquium in Twentieth-Century Painting and Sculpture
  Topic for Fall 2023: "Contemporary Art and Globalization." Considers cultural globalization as the key critical paradigm for art produced since the late 1980s. Explores how international artists, curators, and scholars have negotiated the space between local tradition and global exchange.
• GRS AH 805: Professional Development and Placement Seminar
  Offers advanced PhD students the opportunity to present and discuss works-in-progress and structured guidance for the tasks involved in academic and curatorial job applications.
• GRS AH 812: Seminar: Portraiture
  Topic for Fall 2023: "Picturing Race in Early Modern Europe, 1400-1700." This seminar traces a history of visual constructions of race and ethnicity in Europe through paintings, sculpture, prints, maps, and other forms of visual depiction of racial difference. Please note that this course will be building a collaborative syllabus during the first few weeks of the class.
• GRS AH 820: Seminar: Asian Art
  Fall 2022 topic: "Japan on World Display." Course explores the manifold ways that Japan has been presented, performed, and received in the last 150 years through the nation's participation in major world's fairs, with attention to some domestic fairs, design exhibitions, and the Olympic
• GRS AH 822: Seminar: African Art
  Fall 2022 Topic: Benin Bronzes in Context With a focus on collections-based learning, this seminar explores the historical and cultural context of art of the Benin Kingdom beginning with the material culture of Ile-Ife and concluding with contemporary conversations concerning repatriation, ethical stewardship, and institutional critique.
• GRS AH 863: Seminar: Baroque Art and Architecture
  Topic for Fall 2023: "A Golden Age? Global and Material Turns in the Study of Seventeenth-Century Dutch Art." This seminar explores the so-called "Golden Age" of seventeenth-century Dutch art, with particular focus on the global and materiality studies approaches that have recently transformed the field. Classes conducted at the MFA's new Center for Netherlandish.
• GRS AH 867: 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. Explores contemporary scholarship from a range of disciplines. Also offered as GRS AM 867.
• GRS AH 887: Seminar: American Art
  Two topics are offered Spring 2022. Section A1: Visual Cultures of the American City, 1790-1910. Examines the ways that American artists interpreted urban life in the years between 1790 and 1910, a period that saw rapid urbanization, the dramatic growth of city populations, and the deepening stratification and fragmentation of urban communities. Section B1: Art and Race in the Public Sphere. This seminar centers on the historical development of and recent debates surrounding monuments and public art in the United States (with particular attention to the Boston area) that touch on issues of race.

Back to full list of Graduate School of Arts & Sciences