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Courses

The listing of a course description here does not guarantee a course’s being offered in a particular term. 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.

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  • CAS WS 241: Sociology of Gender
    An introduction to the social construction of sex and gender with a focus on the economic, political, social, and cultural forces that shape gender relations. Examines gender as a social structure that patterns institutional inequalities and everyday interactions on society. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Social Inquiry II, The Individual in Community, Teamwork/Collaboration.
    • The Individual in Community
    • Social Inquiry II
    • Teamwork/Collaboration
  • CAS WS 263: The Behavioral Biology of Women
    An exploration of female behavioral biology focusing on evolutionary, physiological, and biosocial aspects of women's lives from puberty through pregnancy, birth, lactation, menopause, and aging. Examples are drawn from traditional and industrialized societies, and data from nonhuman primates are considered. Also offered as CAS AN 263. Effective Spring 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Scientific Inquiry I, Social Inquiry I, Critical Thinking.
    • Critical Thinking
    • Scientific Inquiry I
    • Social Inquiry I
  • CAS WS 297: African American Women's History
    Survey of African American women's history from the slave trade to the present, investigating its critical role in shaping the meaning of race, gender, and sexuality during slavery, Jim Crow, and the civil rights era. Also offered as CAS AA 297 and CAS HI 297. Effective Fall 2024, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Digital/Multimedia Expression, Historical Consciousness, Social Inquiry I.
    • Digital/Multimedia Expression
    • Historical Consciousness
    • Social Inquiry I
  • CAS WS 305: Topics in Women's, Gender, & Sexuality Studies
    May be repeated for credit if topics are different.
  • CAS WS 317: Gender and Crime
    Examines social forces shaping gender discrepancies in crime. Using a feminist lens, students explore how cultural ideologies about masculinity and femininity shape criminalization, victimization, and offending. Topics include the gendered contexts of crime and punishment, gender-based violence, and intimate labor. Effective Spring 20223 this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Oral and/or Signed Communication, The Individual in Community, Teamwork/Collaboration.
    • The Individual in Community
    • Oral and/or Signed Communication
    • Teamwork/Collaboration
  • CAS WS 325: Bombs and Bombshells: Gender, Armed Conflict, and Political Violence
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: sophomore, junior, or senior standing. - Delve into the world of Black Widows and Demon Lovers. Using empirical research, case studies, and drama, this course separates fact from fiction to examine gender and its intersections between recruitment, motivations, and conditions under which women behave violently.
  • CAS WS 326: Arts of Gender
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: at least one prior literature course, or CASWS 101, or junior or senior standing. - Examines representations of gender and sexuality in diverse art forms, including drama, dance, film, and literature, and how art reflects historical constructions of gender. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, The Individual in Community.
    • Aesthetic Exploration
    • The Individual in Community
  • CAS WS 327: Immigrant Women in Literature: Found in Translation?
    This course explores literature about migration created by women primarily from Eastern Europe. We read autobiographical narratives that focus on the shaping of transcultural identity with an eye to the problem of translation as a linguistic, cultural, and personal phenomenon. Effective Spring 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Historical Consciousness, Critical Thinking.
    • Critical Thinking
    • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
    • Historical Consciousness
  • CAS WS 329: LGBTQI+ Representation in Film
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: sophomore, junior, or senior standing. - Queer films challenge norms and undermine categories of gender and sex. Drawing on scholarship from a variety of disciplines the course explores sexual identity and representation in relation to history and other constituting experiences of race, class, gender, and nationality.
  • CAS WS 333: Queering Health
    This course is about the unique physical and mental health needs, health disparities, and resiliency within the LGBTQ+ community. Students will learn about the psychology of sexual orientation and gender diversity, intersectionality in LGBTQ+ communities, gender identity and sexual orientation development models, queer families and relationships, minority stress, hetero/cis-sexism, and other relevant topics. Students will also learn about LGBTQ+ affirming therapies, healthcare, public policy, and legislation. This course will take a constructively critical lens to medicalized/pathologizing constructions of sexual and gender diversity and examine topics within historical and modern social context. This course will explore strategies for advocacy, improving the healthcare experience of LGBTQ+ people, and addressing barriers to accessing healthcare from local, national, and global perspectives. Effective Fall 2023, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: The Individual in Community, Social Inquiry II.
    • The Individual in Community
    • Social Inquiry II
  • CAS WS 335: Sociology of Race, Class & Gender
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: At least one prior 100- or 200-level sociology course, or CAS WS 101/1 02. - No one of us is one thing, one identity, nor motivated by one singular interest, nor privileged or subjugated by one singular form of power, but how do those multiple forms of ourselves affect how we are advantaged, disadvantaged, viewed, and understood by the social world? Our social world, is, by default, a vast web of social intersections between and across groups with shared, overlapping, and conflicting identities. Race, class and gender affect nearly all of our lived experiences and greatly complicate and nuance concepts of diversity and difference. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Digital/Multimedia Expression, The Individual in Community, Historical Consciousness.
    • Digital/Multimedia Expression
    • Historical Consciousness
    • The Individual in Community
  • CAS WS 345: Gender and War
    (Meets with CAS IR 518 and PO 583.) Examines gender constructions in world politics. Topics include gender biases in international relations theories, female and males roles in war, and rape as an instrument of warfare. Also assesses roles of women as leaders, actors, and objects of foreign policy.
  • CAS WS 347: Feminist Inquiry
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: sophomore, junior, or senior standing. - A survey of feminist theories and development of strands of feminist inquiry in the academy, movements, and politics. Considers the commonalities and contrast in gender relations across cultures and tensions between major feminist schools of thought. Effective Fall 2024 fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Creativity/Innovation, Oral and/or Signed Communication, Social Inquiry I.
    • Creativity/Innovation
    • Oral and/or Signed Communication
    • Social Inquiry I
  • CAS WS 375: Growing Up in Korea
    Examining memoirs, prose fiction, film, television dramas, and graphic narratives to ask: how have the conventions of Korean coming-of-age narratives evolved? What does this say about changes in Korean identity? What roles have gender and sexuality played in Korean stories of growing up? Also offered as CAS LK 375 A1. Effective Spring 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy.
    • Aesthetic Exploration
    • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
  • CAS WS 377: Gender and Sexuality in Judaism
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: First Year Writing Seminar (e.g., WR 100 or WR 120). - 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 WS 380: Gender and Identity in Contemporary Middle Eastern Film
    An exploration of representations of gender and identity in contemporary Middle Eastern films by male and female directors reflecting on the impact of modernization, globalization, war and trauma through different visual genres. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Digital/Multimedia Expression.
    • Aesthetic Exploration
    • Digital/Multimedia Expression
  • CAS WS 395: Inhuman Films: Genders, Animals, Machines
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: First-Year Writing Seminar (e.g., WR 120). - This course explores what happens to the "human" at the intersection of feminist theory and cinematic representation. How and why do films assign humanity to some figures and withhold it from others on the basis of race, gender, "ability," etc.? Effective Fall 2023, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing-Intensive Course, Digital/Multimedia Expression, Aesthetic Exploration.
    • Aesthetic Exploration
    • Digital/Multimedia Expression
    • Writing-Intensive Course
  • CAS WS 396: Philosophy of Gender and Sexuality
    This course analyzes gender and sexuality from an intersectional perspective. We focus on metaphysics, epistemology, and semantics to understand gender and sexuality as they exist within interlocking systems of oppression including racism, sexism, transphobia, homophobia, and fatphobia. Also offered as CAS PH 256 and CAS PO 396. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, The Individual in Community, Critical Thinking.
    • Critical Thinking
    • The Individual in Community
    • Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
  • CAS WS 398: Feminist Political Theory
    Introduces students to key texts, problems, and debates in western feminist political theory. Students study major feminist thinkers, and explore diverse approaches to crucial topics in the field: such as “white feminism,” marriage, disability, sex, and pornography.
  • CAS WS 400: Gender and Healthcare
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CASWR120) or equivalent. - This course focuses on strengthening students' knowledge, skills, and ability to construct a critical appraisal of all the determinants, distribution, causes, mechanisms, systems, and consequences of health inequities related to gender including how gender influences and is influenced by healthcare systems. Also offered as SAR HS 400 A1. Effective Summer 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: The Individual in Community, Research and Information Literacy.
    • The Individual in Community
    • Research and Information Literacy

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