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 AM 367: Material Culture
  Introduction to the theory and practice of the interdisciplinary study of material culture, which includes everything we make and use, from food and clothing to art and buildings. Topic for Fall 2024: Thinking with American Pie. Sweet or savory, appetizer, entrée, or dessert, pie provides an exceptional opportunity to trace an American commonplace through its constitutive elements and contexts. The class organizes itself around pie as an idea, object, and pathway to see what material culture can teach us about the U.S. and its diverse cultures.
• CAS AM 369: American Folk Art
  Explores the objects that collectors and museums identify as "American Folk Art." Examines how this label developed throughout the twentieth century; familiarizes students with major collections and genres including painting, sculpture, textiles, and other media. Also offered as CAS AH 369.
• CAS AM 385: American Buildings and Landscapes
  An introductory analytic survey of American buildings and landscapes within their historical and cultural contexts. Students examine forces that have shaped the American built environment. Topics range from Indian mounds to commercial strips, Spanish missions to skyscrapers. Also offered as CAS AH 385.
• CAS AM 501: Research Seminar in American Studies
  American Studies majors and minors complete their program of study by undertaking a one- or two-semester (AM501 and/or AM502) senior project based on original research or criticism. Topics vary by semester. Topic for Fall 2024: Food and Power in American History. Effective Fall 2023, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing-Intensive Course, Research and Information Literacy.
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  • Research and Information Literacy
  • Writing-Intensive Course
• CAS AM 502: Research Seminar in American Studies
  American Studies majors and minors complete their program of study by undertaking a one- or two-semester (AM501 and/or AM502) senior project based on original research or criticism. Topics vary by semester. Topic for Spring 2025: Asian Americans and Colonial Racial Capitalism. Effective Spring 2024, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU HUB areas: Writing-Intensive, Research and Information Literacy.
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  • Research and Information Literacy
  • Writing-Intensive Course
• CAS AM 505: The American South in History, Literature, and Film
  Explores the American South through literature, film, and other sources. Considers what, if anything, has been distinctive about the Southern experience and how a variety of Americans have imagined the region over time. Also offered as CAS HI 505. Effective Spring 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Historical Consciousness.
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  • Aesthetic Exploration
  • Historical Consciousness
• CAS AM 525: American Cultural Landscape Studies
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: junior standing or consent of instructor. - This seminar provides an introduction to analyzing and interpreting American cultural landscapes and acquaints students with the historiography of interdisciplinary study of the built environment. Also offered as CAS AH 525.
• CAS AM 546: Places of Memory: Historic Preservation Theory and Practice
  Covers key aspects of the history, theory, and practice of historic preservation. Preservation is discussed in the context of cultural history and the changing relationship between existing buildings and landscapes and attitudes toward history, memory, invented tradition, and place. Also offered as CAS AH 546 and CAS HI 546.
• CAS AM 554: Preservation Planning
  Introduces students to local, state, and national government policies and practices intended to protect historically and aesthetically significant structures. In addition, the course covers planning approaches aimed at managing redevelopment in established neighborhoods, to create livable and sustainable communities.
• CAS AM 555: Boston Architectural and Community History Workshop
  Focuses on class readings, lectures, and research on a single neighborhood or community in Boston (or Greater Boston). Greatest emphasis is on using primary sources-- land titles and deeds, building permits, fire insurance atlases and other maps. Explores places and sources that help assess and narrate the rich history of architectural and urban development.
• CAS AM 567: Topics in American Material Culture
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: junior or senior standing or consent of instructor. - An interdisciplinary research seminar exploring a topic in American material culture. Specific content will vary by semester and may be repeated for credit as topics change. Topic for Spring 2025: Material Culture of the Environment.
• CAS AM 735: Studies in American Culture
  Graduate Prerequisites: consent of instructor. - Introduction to handling of primary materials from a number of disciplines in order to develop an American Studies perspective. Required of all American Studies PhD students.
• CAS AM 736: The Literature of American Studies
  Graduate Prerequisites: consent of instructor. - Introduction to classic problems in the interpretation of American society and culture. Required of all American Studies PhD students.
• CAS AM 775: Independent Research Project Colloquium
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: Preservation Studies master's student standing. - Restricted to students in their final semester of the Preservation Studies Master's Program. Provides for the research and writing of an independent, rigorous, and original capstone project in the preservation field, with guidance from faculty.
• CAS AM 867: Material Culture
  Graduate Prerequisites: graduate standing or consent of instructor. - Introduction to the theory and practice of the interdisciplinary study of material culture, which includes everything we make and use, from food and clothing to art and buildings. Explore contemporary scholarship from a range of disciplines. Also offered as GRS AH 867.
• CAS AM 899: Professional Development Seminar
  Graduate Prerequisites: Completion of required coursework. - A seminar offering advanced AMNESP PhD students the opportunity to present and discuss works-in-progress and structured guidance for the tasks involved in job applications. Open to PhD students after completing required coursework. Does not fulfill PhD course requirements.
• CAS AN 101: Introduction to Sociocultural Anthropology
  Introduction to the basic concepts, principles, and problems of sociocultural anthropology, emphasizing the study of traditional and complex societies. Special attention to the organization and meaning of religion, economic life, kinship and political order; and the problem of cultural variation in the contemporary world. Carries social science divisional credit in CAS. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Social Inquiry I, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Research and Information Literacy.
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  • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
  • Research and Information Literacy
  • Social Inquiry I
• CAS AN 102: Human Biology, Behavior, and Evolution
  Introduces basic principles of evolutionary biology, human origins, genetics, reproduction, socio-ecology, and the evolution of primate and human behavior and adaptions. Section activities include examination of fossil and skeletal material, and hands-on projects involving human and primate behavior and biology. Carries natural science divisional credit (with lab) in CAS. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Scientific Inquiry I, Social Inquiry I, Critical Thinking. Effective Fall 2024, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Scientific Inquiry I, Critical Thinking.
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  • Critical Thinking
  • Historical Consciousness
  • Scientific Inquiry I
• CAS AN 103: Anthropology Through Ethnography
  Examines the diversity of human lifeways and cultures across a variety of societies and through time, as well as the social processes that shape individuals. Seminar-style introduction to cultural anthropology through the reading of ethnography, with discussion and debate. (For anthropology majors, this course can serve as a substitute for AN 101.) Carries social science divisional credit in CAS. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Social Inquiry I, The Individual in Community, Critical Thinking.
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  • Critical Thinking
  • The Individual in Community
  • Social Inquiry I
• CAS AN 200: TPCS: ANTHRO
  TPCS: ANTHRO