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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 420: Queer Theory
    Surveys major texts and arguments in queer theory from Butler's Gender Trouble to contemporary discussions of cisnormativity, homonationalism, affect, pinkwashing, crip theory, and queer-of-color critique. Explores different uses of queer theory in legal debates, literary analysis, and cultural criticism. Effective Spring 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: The Individual in Community, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Critical Thinking.
    • Critical Thinking
    • The Individual in Community
    • Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
  • CAS WS 430: Global Maternal & Child Health
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: senior standing. - Provides a global perspective on maternal and child health. Major topics include early life influences on later life health, maternity care practices worldwide, and the role of both human evolutionary history and sociopolitical structures in shaping health outcomes for women and children.
  • CAS WS 431: Seminar: Genders, Sexualities, and Youth Cultures
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: senior standing or consent of instructor. - Investigates the social construction of gender and sexuality in adolescence. Engaging critical approaches to youth cultures, the course examines the structural conditions that shape gender and sexuality norms and the ways youth navigate and redefine their social worlds. Effective Fall 2023 this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: The Individual in Community, Social Inquiry II, Research and Information Literacy.
    • The Individual in Community
    • Research and Information Literacy
    • Social Inquiry II
  • CAS WS 432: S24: Gender, Sexuality, and Buddhism
    Examines gender and sexuality in various Buddhist cultures from a broad range of time periods such as ancient India, medieval China, and modern America. Topics include: family, the body, lust, abortion, and menstruation. Effective Spring 2024, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Aesthetic Exploration, Critical Thinking.
    • Aesthetic Exploration
    • Critical Thinking
    • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
  • CAS WS 434: Monarchy in Modern Britain
    A seminar probing seminal moments in the history of modern British sovereignty, when the politics of the court intersected with the politics of the people. Particular consideration is given to how monarchy has survived as an institution. Also offered as CAS HI 434. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Critical Thinking.
    • Critical Thinking
    • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
    • Historical Consciousness
  • CAS WS 450: Internships: Women, Gender, and Social Change
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: junior or senior standing; or two prior WGS electives; or consent of i nstructor. - A seminar which introduces students to the practices/ideas of social change organizations through local internships and weekly discussions related to class, race, sexuality, women and gender.
  • CAS WS 451: Fashion as History
    This seminar treats clothing and other products of material culture as historical documents. Explores what clothing can tell us about key developments in the modern period relating to trade and commerce, empire, gender, class, industry, revolution, nation-building, identity politics, and globalization. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub area: Historical Consciousness, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Critical Thinking.
    • Critical Thinking
    • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
    • Historical Consciousness
  • CAS WS 452: Contemporary Debates in Sexualities Research
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CASSO241 OR CASWS200), First Year Writing Seminar (e.g., WR 100 or WR 120) - Engages sociological debates about sexual identities, politics, and practices. Students consider how sexualities are expressed and regulated through various institutions and how they intersect with race, class, gender, citizenship, and other domains of inequality. Also offered as CAS SO 452. Effective Spring 2024, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU HUB areas: Writing-Intensive, Research and Information Literacy.
    • Research and Information Literacy
    • Writing-Intensive Course
  • CAS WS 453: Topics in Religion and Sexuality
    Exploration of key topics and themes in the study of religion and sexuality, especially as they intersect with gender, race, and politics. Historical periods and religious contexts vary according to instructor. Topic for Spring 2025: Queer and Trans Religion. Religious language figures prominently in both attacks on and affirmations of queer and trans existence. We use religious studies and queer and trans studies to analyze fiction, film, and poetry that explores the relationships between gender, sexuality, and religion. Effective Spring 2023, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Ethical Reasoning, Historical Consciousness, Creativity/Innovation.
    • Creativity/Innovation
    • Ethical Reasoning
    • Historical Consciousness
  • CAS WS 456: Neurobiology of Sex and Aggression
    Examines neurobiological and genetic factors that influence sex and violence. Students review primary literature from the past century that highlights major scientific discoveries that have reconceptualized our understanding of the origins of sexual-determination, -attraction and - aggression. Effective Spring 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Oral and/or Signed Communication, Historical Consciousness, Scientific Inquiry II.
    • Historical Consciousness
    • Oral and/or Signed Communication
    • Scientific Inquiry II
  • CAS WS 460: Topics in LGBTQ History
    Undergrad prerequisites: First Year Writing Seminar (e.g., CAS WR100 or WR120). - Seminar examines topics in the history of LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer) people and cultural or political movements. May be repeated for credit if topics vary. Topic for Fall 2024: Queer America. Effective Fall 2024, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Oral and Signed Communication, Research and Information Literacy.
    • Historical Consciousness
    • Oral and/or Signed Communication
    • Research and Information Literacy
  • CAS WS 465: Intersectionalities: Theories, Methods, and Praxis
    Undergraduate pre-requisites: junior standing or consent of instructor. - "Intersectionality," is one of the prominent contributions made by critical race feminist scholars that now broadly extend across disciplines. This course takes stock of the multiple ways that intersectional scholars and activists conceptualize intersectionality in relation to sociological theory, research problems, design, and praxis.
  • CAS WS 480: Japanese Women Writers
    Classic texts by Japanese women, including the "Tale of Genji" and "The Pillow Book," and their modern legacy, read alongside important philosophical and theoretical texts in queer and feminist thought. Lectures and texts in English. 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, Critical Thinking.
    • Critical Thinking
    • Historical Consciousness
    • Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
  • CAS WS 505: Topics in Women's, Gender, & Sexuality Studies
    May be repeated for credit as topic changes.
  • CAS WS 507: Diversity of Sex
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: senior or graduate standing, WR 120 or equivalent, and at least one of the following courses or equivalent: CAS BI 225, BI 309, BI 315, BI 4 07, or BI 410; or consent of instructor - Examines the integrative and comparative biology of sex and sexes based on readings drawn from recent primary literature, review papers, and book chapters. Effective Fall 2023, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing-Intensive Course, Oral and/or Signed Communication.
    • Oral and/or Signed Communication
    • Writing-Intensive Course
  • CAS WS 512: Sexual Violence
    This course engages the topics of sexual deviance and sexual trauma through multiple lens. These lenses include psychological, sociological, criminal justice, public health, and social justice perspectives. The course explores multiple facets of understanding sexual deviance and sexual trauma including legal and philosophical perspectives, historical activism, understanding and treatment of sexual offending, and survivor responses. The roles of multiple systems including the media, mental health organization and the criminal justice system are taken into account. This course includes ongoing group work that engages critical inquiry, addressing relevant topics in sexual trauma in practical ways. Students utilize knowledge of theory and research methodology to pursue real world responses to issues of sexual violence and trauma.
  • CAS WS 530: Global Intimacies: Sex, Gender, and Contemporary Sexualities
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: advanced undergraduate standing or graduate standing, or consent of in structor. - Explores theoretical and ethnographic approaches to gender, sex, and sexuality as linked to globalizing discourses and transnational mobilities. Readings and discussion emphasize intersections of sex, gender, labor, love, and marriage in a globalized world. Also offered as CAS AN 530.
  • CAS WS 542: Language, Race, and Gender
    Do women talk differently from men? How do race and ethnicity relate to the way people use language? This course examines these interrelated questions from the perspective of modern sociolinguistic theory, analyzing a range of languages and communities throughout the world.
    • Social Inquiry I
    • Teamwork/Collaboration
  • CAS WS 562: Studies in Asexualities
    Pre- Requisites: First Year Writing Seminar (e.g., WR 100 or WR 120) - Writing intensive seminar that explores asexuality studies as well as various kinds of sexual and romantic absences in contemporary literature, literary analysis, and critical theory with particular attention to race and disability. Effective Spring 2024, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU HUB areas: Writing-Intensive, The Individual in Community, Aesthetic Exploration.
    • Aesthetic Exploration
    • The Individual in Community
    • Writing-Intensive Course
  • CAS WS 594: Advanced Feminist Theory
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: junior standing or consent of instructor. - This seminar explores advanced readings in feminist and queer theory on a focused topic or topics: for example, the politics of love and sex, reproductive politics, feminist theory and climate change, or the politics of gender and violence. This course does not carry Hub credit.

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