English

• CAS EN 537: Black Thought: Literary and Cultural Criticism in the African Diaspora
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: two previous literature courses or junior or senior standing. - An introduction to the cultural criticism of African-America and the Black Diaspora. This ranges from literary, theoretical and public conversations centered on race, and interrelated issues such as gender, sex, and migration. The course hones in on specific trends, themes, topics and characteristics of this work and assesses its relationship to historical and contemporary political and social contexts.
• CAS EN 538: Teaching American Literature
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: two previous literature courses or junior or senior standing. - This course focuses on teaching American literature at the high school level. Goals include building a knowledge base in American literary history, modeling deep learning with selected texts, addressing theoretical questions in English Language Arts pedagogy, and learning practical classroom skills. 4 cr. 1st sem. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Individual in Community, Teamwork/Collaboration.
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  • The Individual in Community
  • Teamwork/Collaboration
• CAS EN 539: Marxist Cultural Criticism
  An introduction to Marxist cultural criticism that examines the transformation of concepts in classic Marxism (Marx, Lukacs, Althusser, Adorno, and Gramsci) into contemporary debates about race, gender, sexuality, colonialism, modernity, and language (Said, Zizek, Spivak, and others). 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 EN 546: The Modern American Novel
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: two previous literature courses or junior or senior standing; and First-Year Writing Seminar (CASWR 120 or equivalent). - Topics vary each semester but this course may be taken only once for credit. Topic for Fall 2025: Representative Works 1900 - 1950. Novelistic responses to American modernity, centered on idea that "the color line" is its central feature. How does racism structure modern economic, social, cultural change' Authors: James Weldon Johnson, Nella Larsen, Willa Cather, Faulkner, Hurston, Richard Wright, Ralph Ellison. Effective Fall 2021, 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 EN 548: Joyce and After
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: two previous literature courses or junior or senior standing. - Readings in transatlantic modernism (Irish, British, American) from 1922 forward. Joyce's Ulysses is central. Other readings from authors such as James Baldwin, Alison Bechdel, Samuel Beckett, Elizabeth Bishop, Ralph Ellison, William Faulkner, Langston Hughes, Alice Walker, and Virginia Woolf. Effective Spring 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Ethical Reasoning, Aesthetic Exploration.
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  • Aesthetic Exploration
  • Ethical Reasoning
• CAS EN 558: Feminist Killjoys & Cynical Queers: Intersectional Theories of Affect
  Prerequisite: First-Year Writing Seminar (e.g., CASWR 100 or 120). - This class examines the affective turn, which has been marked by a shift towards bodily sensation, structures of feeling, and modes of relationality. We pay particular attention to cultural constructions of emotion such as happiness, shame, anger, and fear. Effective Fall 2025, this course fulfills a single requirement in each of the following BU HUB areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Research and Information Literacy, Writing Intensive.
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  • Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
  • Research and Information Literacy
  • Writing-Intensive Course
• CAS EN 560: Disability Voices
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: First-Year Writing Seminar (CAS WR 120 or equivalent) - Disability Studies theory and literature. Writing about dis/ability comes in many forms: autobiography, essay, fiction, graphic novel, visual arts, poetry, performance. An exploration of how texts, medieval to modern, replace, extend, critique or supplement normative narratives about the human person. Effective Spring 2022, 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 EN 569: Film and Media Theory
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: First-year Writing Seminar (e.g., CASWR 100 or 120) and CASCI 101, CASCI 102, CASCI 200, or COMFT 250. - Introduction to film and media theory as a mode of inquiry. What happens when we render the world as an image? How do cinematic images differ from other forms of image-making? What does it mean to be a spectator? Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing-Intensive Course, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Research and Information Literacy.
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  • Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
  • Research and Information Literacy
  • Writing-Intensive Course
• CAS EN 570: Studies in British Literary Movements
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: First Year Writing Seminar (CASWR 100 or 120 or equivalent.) - Topic varies by semester. Past topics include Radical Reimaginings: Cavendish, Milton, and the Power of Literature. Please see English Department's website or contact instructor for current topic. Effective Fall 2023, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing-Intensive Course, Historical Consciousness, Research and Information Literacy.
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  • Historical Consciousness
  • Research and Information Literacy
  • Writing-Intensive Course
• 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.
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  • Aesthetic Exploration
  • Research and Information Literacy
  • Writing-Intensive Course
• 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.
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  • Research and Information Literacy
  • Writing-Intensive Course
• 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.