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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- African American & Black Diaspora Studies
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CAS EN 575: Studies in Literature and Gender
Undergraduate Prerequisites: two previous literature courses or junior or senior standing. Topic varies by semester. Past topics include Queer Literature and Film, Gender Trouble/Genre Trouble, Inking Feminism. Please see English Department's Website for current topic. -
CAS EN 582: Studies in Modern Literature
Prerequisites: junior or senior or graduate standing; First Year Writing Seminar (e.g., CAS EN 120 or WR 100 or WR 120). - Specialized topics in literary texts from the turn of the 20th century to the present. Topic varies by semester. Past topics include Prophecy and Fiction, Irony and Belief. Please see English Department's website or contact instructor for current topic. Effective Spring 2024, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing-Intensive Course, Aesthetic Exploration, Research and Information Literacy. -
CAS EN 584: Studies in Literature and Ethnicity
Undergraduate Prerequisites: two previous literature courses or junior or senior standing. - Topic varies by semester. Past topics include Literature of the Migrant, Ethnic American Women Writers. Please see English Department's Website for current topic. -
CAS EN 586: Studies in Anglophone Literature
Undergraduate Prerequisites: two previous literature courses or junior or senior standing; and First-Year Writing (WR 120 or equivalent). - Caribbean Poetry. Study of twentieth-century Caribbean poetry written in English(es), surveying anthologies and concentrating on major figures (Derek Walcott, Kamau Brathwaite, Lorna Goodison, Eric Roach). Emphases: the function of poets in small societies, and their choices concerning linguistic and aesthetic traditions. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing-Intensive Course, Research and Information Literacy. -
CAS EN 588: Studies in African American Literature
Undergraduate Prerequisites: two previous literature courses or junior or senior standing. - Topic for Spring 2026: Black Feminist Theory. Explores the dynamic nature of Black feminist theory. In doing so, we trouble the creative-critical divide by examining how objects of expression—novels, poems, visual art—function as sites of Black feminist theorizing in tandem with what is traditionally recognized as theory. By analyzing the diverse methodological approaches of the assigned texts, we grapple with the myriad ways Black feminist knowledge is produced. -
CAS EN 596: Studies in Literary Topics
Undergraduate prerequisites: junior or senior standing. - Topic varies by semester. Past topics include Religious Lyric, Cinema of David Lynch. Please see English Department's website or contact instructor for current topic. -
CAS FY 101: First Year Experience
Through activities and discussions, FY101 is focused on creating BU community, promoting health, wellness and safety, building academic pathways and success, and exploring identity. -
CAS FY 102: First Year Career Development (Internships, Majors, and Your Career Direction)
FY102 will help first year students get started on utilizing the Career Development Cycle to maximize their time at BU. During this course students will create a plan of action towards choosing a major, creating a resume, finding an internship, and preparing for a career. -
CAS FY 103: First Year Experience Topics
Focuses on the individual student's connection to the University through the exploration of a specific topic area. -
CAS HI 101: The Dawn of Europe: Antiquity to the Renaissance
Ancient and medieval Europe was a world of empires, kingdoms, and religious factions in conflict with each other. This course explores the ideologies, institutions, and texts that shaped these civilizations and continue to hold meaning in the modern world. -
CAS HI 102: The Emergence of Modern Europe: Renaissance to the Present
What is Europe? This course explores the emergence of Europe as an idea and place. Draws on literature and art from Machiavelli to Russian ballet to explain Europe's changing meaning; focuses on nation- and state-building to explain Europe's shifting boundaries. -
CAS HI 112: Black Power in the Classroom: The History of Black Studies
Centers Black experiences, cultures, knowledge production and identity formation in the United States and in the African Diaspora across time and space. Examines and traces the genealogies of Black Studies as a discipline: its political, ideological, and practical foundations on college campuses and in communities. Also explores earlier traditions and contemporary work in Black radical thought and activism that lay the groundwork for and build on the founding principles of Black Studies by mobilizing an intersectional and diasporic lens. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Social Inquiry I, Research and Information Literacy. -
CAS HI 113: Introduction to Antiracism
This course introduces students to the concept of antiracism, particularly its historical contours in the United States. Effective Fall 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: The Individual in Community, Historical Consciousness, Critical Thinking. -
CAS HI 150: Introduction to Jewish History
Explores history of Jews across the globe from beginnings to the present. Highlights the diversity of Jewish experiences, identifies patterns of continuity and evolution, situates Jewish history in larger contexts, and limns various modes of interaction with other groups. -
CAS HI 151: The Emerging United States to 1865
Explores how the United States, at first only a series of borderland outposts, became a sprawling national republic. Investigates factors that brought Americans together and those that tore them apart, as they struggled passionately over racial, religious, and sectional values. Carries social science divisional credit in CAS. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Social Inquiry I. -
CAS HI 152: The Emerging United States Since 1865
After the Civil War, Americans created a new urbanizing and industrializing landscape, flush with immigrants, growing class conflict, and racial divisions. This course explores how, through times of prosperity, depression, and war, Americans transformed the United States into one of the world's leading nations. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Research and Information Literacy. -
CAS HI 175: World History to 1500
Explores historical and environmental factors influencing how cultures take shape and impact each other. Examines early global connections and conflicts between people of different continents as well as between humans, other species, the natural environment, and the planet as a whole. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Critical Thinking. -
CAS HI 176: World History 1500-Present
Examines the religious encounters, economic rivalries, and military battles produced by European imperialism in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia since 1500. Analyzes how European colonialism came to dominate the world and nationalist movements succeeded in gaining independence. Carries social science divisional credit in CAS. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy. -
CAS HI 190: History of Boston: Community and Conflict
Explores the history of Boston and the city's changes over time. Students work with archival objects, maps, and manuscripts. Topics include Native American history, colonial settlement, revolution, immigration, urban development, and race. Students visit nearby historical sites and museums. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, The Individual in Community, Teamwork/Collaboration. -
CAS HI 191: What Is Europe?
Explores key moments in history when cultural contact prompted Europeans to reconsider how they defined themselves culturally and geographically. Lectures and discussions are combined with trips to local museums/archives to analyze the material remains of this process of self-definition. Effective Spring 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Digital/Multimedia Expression, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Teamwork/Collaboration.

