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 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.
  BU Hub Learn More

  • 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.
  BU Hub Learn More

  • Creativity/Innovation
  • Digital/Multimedia Expression
  • Writing-Intensive Course
• CAS AA 363: Race and the Development of the American Economy: A Global Perspective
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CASEC101) or consent of instructor. - Surveys the economic history of African Americans within the context of the development of the American and global economies. Topics include the economics of slavery; race and industrialization; the Great Migration; anti- discrimination legislation; and the historical origins of contemporary racial inequalities. Also offered as CAS EC 363. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Social Inquiry II.
  BU Hub Learn More

  • Historical Consciousness
  • Social Inquiry II
• 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.
  BU Hub Learn More

  • Digital/Multimedia Expression
  • Historical Consciousness
  • Teamwork/Collaboration
• CAS AA 380: European Dimensions of the Black Diaspora
  Explores writings about the Black experience in Europe since the 1800s through examinations of historical and literary works, artistic and folkloric depictions, as well as politics and sports in England, France, Germany, Russia, and the Netherlands. Also offered as CAS HI 360.
• 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.
  BU Hub Learn More

  • 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 Santer¿a, Haitian Vodou, Brazilian Candombl¿ 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.
  BU Hub Learn More

  • 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.
  BU Hub Learn More

  • 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 2024: Archaeology of the African Diaspora. This course explores material evidence in the study of the slave trade and its legacies. It emphasizes dialogues and community engagement, the stewardship of human remains, and reburial. Discussions will focus on methodology and theory in African Diaspora burial contexts.
• 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.
  BU Hub Learn More

  • 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.
  BU Hub Learn More

  • 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.
  BU Hub Learn More

  • Aesthetic Exploration
  • The Individual in Community
• CAS AA 459: Reparations, Restitution, Restorative Justice for Slavery and Jim Crow Segregation: The Debate
  Drawing from a wide-range of interdisciplinary scholarship, this course examines the debate surrounding demands for reparations for slavery, Jim Crow Segregation, and institutionalized racism in the US. Also examines reparations in the comparative context of emerging national and international movements.
• 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.
  BU Hub Learn More

  • Aesthetic Exploration
  • Critical Thinking
  • The Individual in Community
• 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.
• CAS AA 490: Blacks and Asians: Encounters Through Time and Space
  This course comparatively explores how artists, writers, and activists of African descent and those of Asian descent have struggled against the political-economic, spiritual, psychological and cultural aggressions of global white supremacy and imagined and invented new modes of human liberation. Also offered as CAS HI 490.