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 AA 313: The Politics and Policy of HBO's The Wire
  HBO's television series The Wire is used to explore politics and policy. A number of interdisciplinary topics are covered, including the war on drugs, urban elections, bureaucracy, rational choice theory, and the decline of American cities. Also offered as CAS PO 313. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Social Inquiry II, Ethical Reasoning, Teamwork/Collaboration.
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  • Ethical Reasoning
  • Social Inquiry II
  • Teamwork/Collaboration
• CAS AA 316: African Diaspora Arts in the Americas
  This course introduces arts of the African diaspora in the Caribbean, South America, and the United States by examining aesthetic, religious, and philosophical systems. Examines artistic forms including Santería altars, Haitian architecture, Caribbean masquerading, and contemporary African-American artists.
• CAS AA 319: Race and the Politics of Criminal Justice Policy
  How many people are affected by the criminal justice system? What is the relationship between crime and race? What criminal justice policies, if any, should change? In this course, students will grapple with these questions. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Social Inquiry I, Ethical Reasoning, Critical Thinking.
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  • Critical Thinking
  • Ethical Reasoning
  • Social Inquiry I
• CAS AA 335: Sociology of Race, Class & Gender
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: At least one prior 100- or 200-level Sociology course, or CASWS 101/102. - 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.
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  • Digital/Multimedia Expression
  • Historical Consciousness
  • The Individual in Community
• CAS AA 348: Colonialism in Africa
  Uses case studies of particular African societies or nations to examine patterns of European conquest and African resistance; forms of colonial administration and socioeconomic consequences of colonial rule; decolonization and contemporary African liberation movements; economic and political developments since independence; and contemporary social and cultural change.
• CAS AA 356: Religion in the Digital Age
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: First-Year Writing Seminar (CAS WR 120 or equivalent) - How has technology impacted religion' This hands-on course explores how digital technologies like the Internet, social media, gaming, and artificial intelligence have changed the way that people think about religion. Effective Spring 2022, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Digital/Multimedia Expression, Writing-Intensive Course, Creativity/Innovation.
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  • Creativity/Innovation
  • Digital/Multimedia Expression
  • Writing-Intensive Course
• CAS AA 371: Black Freedom Dreams: America and the World
  Surveys the history of African diaspora peoples in the Americas from their African origins and the rise of the Atlantic slave trade through the age of emancipations, investigating the varied meanings of race, resistance, migration, and freedom. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Digital/Multimedia Expression, Historical Consciousness, Teamwork/Collaboration. Also offered as CAS HI 298.
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  • Digital/Multimedia Expression
  • Historical Consciousness
  • Teamwork/Collaboration
• CAS AA 382: History of Religion in Pre-Colonial Africa
  The study of the development of religious traditions in Africa during the period prior to European colonialism. An emphasis on both indigenous religions and the growth and spread of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam in the continent as a whole. Also offered as CAS HI 349 and CAS RN 382. Effective Spring 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Historical Consciousness.
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  • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
  • Historical Consciousness
• CAS AA 383: African Diaspora Religions
  This course introduces students to religions of the African Diaspora, with a specific focus on the Caribbean and the Americas. Religious traditions such as Africanized Christianity, Cuban Santería, Haitian Vodou, Brazilian Candomblé, and African American Spiritualism will be explored. Effective Fall 2022, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: The Individual in Community, Historical Consciousness, Research and Information Literacy.
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  • Historical Consciousness
  • The Individual in Community
  • Research and Information Literacy
• CAS AA 385: Atlantic History
  Examines the various interactions that shaped the Atlantic World, connecting Europe, Africa, and the Americas between 1400 and 1820. Begins by defining the political interaction, then emphasizes cultural exchange, religious conversion, and the revolutionary era.
• CAS AA 388: Transnational Black Radicalism from the 19th Century to the Present
  Explores black cultural and political movements and examines how they interacted in ways that establish ideas crucial to our contemporary moment through readings in literature and history, film and popular culture productions. 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.
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  • Critical Thinking
  • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
  • Historical Consciousness
• CAS AA 396: Atlantic Africa and the Slave Trade
  Examines--both by region and across the larger Atlantic area--the ways that overseas commerce, in particular the slave trade, interacted with and was shaped by African politics and economic variables. Also offered as CAS HI 353.
• CAS AA 400: Topics in African American Studies
  Topics and pre-requisites vary. May be repeated for credit as topics vary. Topic for Spring 2025: Race, Gender, and Performance. How are race and gender performed and what do they do' This seminar introduces students to the role of performance in the construction of social identity and social change. Students study and experiment with various sites of performance while engaging with theories, debates, and concepts, such as performativity, embodiment, and archives/repertoires.
• CAS AA 404: Seminar on Sociology of Families
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: junior or senior standing and at least two previous Sociology courses; or consent of instructor. First-Year Writing Seminar (WR 120 or equi valent) - Explores the rise of "modern" families and the plurality of contemporary family forms and processes in global contexts. Particular attention to intersections of race, class, and gender inequalities and their implications for family life. Effective Fall 2022, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing-Intensive Course, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Research and Information Literacy.
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  • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
  • Research and Information Literacy
  • Writing-Intensive Course
• CAS AA 408: Seminar: Ethnic, Race, and Minority Relations
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CASAA207 OR CASSO207) or consent of instructor. - 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.
• CAS AA 416: Religion, Race, and Climate Change
  A multi-disciplinary course delving into the influence of religion and race on human behavior and non-human, planetary realities at local and global scales. It focuses on the historical, systemic, and societal implications associated with ongoing climate change debates. Effective Fall 2024 fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Social Inquiry I.
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  • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
  • Social Inquiry I
• CAS AA 430: Black American Cinema
  A survey of important genres and movements in the history of Black American cinema, with possible focus on race films, civil rights dramas, horror and Blaxploitation films, postcolonial cinema, the LA Rebellion school, Black independent film, afrofuturism, and/or more. Effective Fall 2022, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: The Individual in Community, Aesthetic Exploration.
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  • Aesthetic Exploration
  • The Individual in Community
• CAS AA 477: Critical Studies: Black Diaspora Theory and Practice
  Explore "diaspora" as a keyword for black studies, intervene in the term's emergence, usage, and many theorizations. Beginning with Paul Gilroy's take on diasporic culture and consciousness, course goes on to complicate/extend/challenge through lens of black gender and sexuality studies. Effective Fall 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: The Individual in Community, Aesthetic Exploration, Critical Thinking.
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  • Aesthetic Exploration
  • Critical Thinking
  • The Individual in Community
• CAS AA 488: Critical Studies in African American Literature
  Undergrad prerequisites: two previous literature courses or junior or senior standing. Graduate prerequisites: graduate standing. - Topic for Fall 2024; Gender and Sexuality in the Neo-slave Narrative. Examines how neo-slave narratives intervene in the sexual and gendered silences of slave narratives and the power relations that produced them. Students who are hesitant to study depictions of sexual violence might consider taking another course.
• CAS AA 489: The African Diaspora in the Americas
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: consent of instructor. - History of peoples of African descent in the Americas after end of slavery from an international framework. Examines development of racial categories, emergence of national identities in wake of the wars of independence, diverse Black communities in the twentieth century. Also offered as CAS HI 489.