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.

• CAS XL 335: Around the World in 40 Fairy Tales
  Undergraduate prerequisites: First-Year Writing Seminar (e.g., CASWR 100 or 120), or equivalent. - Traces how fairy tales influence each other within and across cultures and time periods and are adapted to changing socio-historical contexts. Students consider and write about a range of interpretational approaches and renderings in literature, the arts, and media. Effective Fall 2024, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Social Inquiry I, Writing-Intensive Course.
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  • Social Inquiry I
  • Writing-Intensive Course
• CAS XL 341: Medieval Travel Writing and the Muslim World
  Undergraduate prerequisites: CASWR 120 or 150. - How did medieval and early modern Muslim travelers describe the places they visited and people they encountered, and how did Western travelers describe their travels in the Middle East and Asia? Readings include Ibn Battuta, Marco Polo, Evliya Celebi, and Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. Effective Fall 2024, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Creativity/Innovation, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Historical Consciousness.
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  • Creativity/Innovation
  • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
  • Historical Consciousness
• CAS XL 342: Travel Writing and the Muslim World
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: First Year Writing Seminar (e.g., WR 100 or WR 120). - How have Muslim travelers past and present written about places and people they saw abroad, and how have Western travelers in the Muslim lands described their travels in "the East"? Readings include Zeyneb Hanoum, Tahtawi, Mark Twain, Malcolm X, Nawal Saadawi. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Writing-Intensive Course. Effective Fall 2024, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Oral and/or Signed Communication, Teamwork/Collaboration.
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  • Historical Consciousness
  • Oral and/or Signed Communication
  • Teamwork/Collaboration
• CAS XL 343: Alexander the Great in the East
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: First-Year Writing (WR 120 or equivalent) - Study of the various narratives about Alexander the Great, also known as Sikandar or Iskandar, as conqueror, philosopher-king, and hero, in medieval Middle Eastern and Asian literatures. Modern filmic representations of the historical figure are also compared. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy. Effective Fall 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing- Intensive Course, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Aesthetic Exploration. Effective Fall 2024, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Creativity/Innovation, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy.
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  • Aesthetic Exploration
  • Creativity/Innovation
  • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
• CAS XL 344: Global Shakespeares
  Why do contemporary writers parrot and parody "Shakespeare," and how much of this activity is about Shakespeare at all? This seminar provides an introduction to reading and writing about Shakespeare's plays. But it also takes a step back to consider Shakespeare as a phenomenon, inspiring adapters around the world. Beyond learning about particular offshoots and adaptations, the deeper point is to explore how playwrights think about their sources, their audiences, and their art. Effective Summer 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Aesthetic Exploration, Creativity/Innovation.
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  • Aesthetic Exploration
  • Creativity/Innovation
  • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
• CAS XL 377: Global Asian Literature
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: CAS WR 120, First-Year Writing Seminar. - This course explores 20th-and 21st-century ethnic Asian writers whose literary works help us question the paradigm of national literature and appreciate the power of border-crossing literature. Main topics include colonialism, racism, post-colonial politics, migration, World War II, and wars in post-1945 Asia. Effective Fall 2024, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU HUB areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Writing-Intensive Course.
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  • Aesthetic Exploration
  • Writing-Intensive Course
• CAS XL 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.
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  • Aesthetic Exploration
  • Digital/Multimedia Expression
• CAS XL 386: Africa on Screen
  Discussion of African films in their social and historical contexts and specificities of production practices. Primary topics of interest include traditional values, practices and social change; education; popular culture and urban life; politics; migration; the youth; sexuality and gender relations.
• CAS XL 387: The Holocaust Through Film
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: First Year Writing Seminar (e.g., WR 100 or WR 120). - An examination of film using the Holocaust as its central topic. What are the political and cultural effects when genocide is represented through film? Can feature films portray history, and if so, what are the consequences for an informed society? Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Writing- Intensive Course.
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  • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
  • Historical Consciousness
  • Writing-Intensive Course
• CAS XL 396: World Cities: Berlin
  This course explores Berlin's urban imaginary, investigating cinematic, written and visual texts, architecture and urban planning to witness the complex, exciting, and sometimes tragic history of Berlin and to understand how people make sense of cities in general. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Digital/Multimedia Expression, Historical Consciousness, Research and Information Literacy.
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  • Digital/Multimedia Expression
  • Historical Consciousness
  • Research and Information Literacy
• CAS XL 397: World Cities: Istanbul
  An examination of Istanbul in the global imaginary as it transformed from the Capital of the Ottoman Empire to the cultural capital of the Republic of Turkey through critical analysis of visual and literary texts. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Digital/Multimedia Expression, Historical Consciousness, Research and Information Literacy.
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  • Digital/Multimedia Expression
  • Historical Consciousness
  • Research and Information Literacy
• CAS XL 398: World Cities: Tokyo
  Explores the past and present of the vibrant city of Tokyo through literature and visual culture. Includes hand-on experiences mapping literary spaces. Reading and discussion in English. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Digital/Multimedia Expression, Historical Consciousness, Research and Information Literacy.
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  • Digital/Multimedia Expression
  • Historical Consciousness
  • Research and Information Literacy
• CAS XL 401: Senior Independent Work
  Senior independent work.
• CAS XL 402: Senior Independent Work
  Senior independent work.
• CAS XL 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.
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  • Critical Thinking
  • The Individual in Community
  • Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
• CAS XL 441: 1001 Nights in the World Literary Imagination
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: two literature courses or consent of instructor and First Year Writing Seminar (e.g., WR 100 or WR 120). - What is The Thousand and One Nights? How has this ever-expanding collection appealed to its diverse audiences? Focus on Nights' structure and themes, notable translations and offshoots in western literature and art, and later appropriations by Arab and Muslim writers. Also offered as CAS LY 441. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Writing-Intensive Course.
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  • Aesthetic Exploration
  • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
  • Writing-Intensive Course
• CAS XL 460: Haruki Murakami and His Sources
  Students read works by Haruki Murakami and by writers who shaped him or were shaped by him, reflect on the nature of intertextuality, and gain a perspective on contemporary literature as operating within a global system of mutual influence.
• CAS XL 470: Topics in Comparative Literature
  May be repeated for credit if topic is different.
• CAS XL 479: WLL Senior Seminar
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: senior standing majors in WLL, or consent of instructor. First Year Wr iting Seminar (e.g., WR 100 or WR 120) - Through discussions of intercultural reading and translation, bibliographic assignments, student presentations, workshops, and work with a faculty language mentor, seniors majoring in WLL use this course to develop their final project: a substantial scholarly paper, translation, or creative work in a foreign language. 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 XL 491: Directed Study: Comparative Literature
  Application form available in department.