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 500: Topics in African American Studies
  May be repeated for credit if topic is different. Topic for Spring 2026: The Black Pacific: Feminisms and Futurities. This course engages theories and debates in emerging studies of the “Black Pacific” by directing conversation between diasporic African American, Asian American, and Pacific Islander literature, art, and cultural productions from the twentieth century to the present.
• CAS AA 502: Topics 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 AA 507: Literature of the Harlem Renaissance
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: First Year Writing Seminar (e.g., EN 120 or WR 100 or WR 120). - An exploration of the literature of the "New Negro Renaissance" or, more popularly, the Harlem Renaissance, 1919-1935. Discussions of essays, fiction, and poetry, three special lectures on the stage, the music, and the visual arts of the Harlem Renaissance. Effective Fall 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Aesthetic Exploration, Critical Thinking. 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, Critical Thinking.
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  • Critical Thinking
  • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
  • Writing-Intensive Course
• CAS AA 514: Labor, Sexuality, and Resistance in the Afro-Atlantic World
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: junior standing. - The role of slavery in shaping the society and culture of the Afro-Atlantic world, highlighting the role of labor, the sexual economy of slave regimes, and the various strategies of resistance deployed by enslaved people. Also offered as CAS HI 584. Effective Fall 2020, 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 516: The Life, Times and Work of W. E. B. Du Bois
  Prerequisites: First Year Writing Seminar (e.g., CASWR 100 or WR 120), History, African American and Black Diaspora Studies major or minor or consent of instructor. - Traces the life, intellectual career, and dominant themes animating the art and activism of W. E. B. Du Bois. Historically contextualizes Du Bois and his work to demonstrate his importance to Black Studies and African diasporic history. Effective Fall 2026, this course fulfills a single requirement in each of the following BU Hub areas: Ethical Reasoning, Historical Consciousness, Writing-Intensive Course.
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  • Ethical Reasoning
  • Historical Consciousness
  • Writing-Intensive Course
• CAS AA 523: Race, Ethnicity, and Childhood in US History
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: First Year Writing Seminar. - The history of childhood in US History intersects with the interdisciplinary area of childhood studies. Within that, the histories of Black children and children of ethnic minorities and historically marginalized young people is a burgeoning subfield. This course examines how identities inclusive of (and structural inequities associated with) race, ethnicity, gender, social class, and sexuality have differently affected the lives and experiences of young people in the United States from the colonial period through to the 21st century. Effective Fall 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing-Intensive Course, Historical Consciousness (HCO), Creativity/Innovation.
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  • Creativity/Innovation
  • Historical Consciousness
  • Writing-Intensive Course
• CAS AA 545: Seminar: Black Feminist Art and Performance
  Prerequisites: First-Year Writing Seminar (e.g., CASWR 100 or WR 120). - This course explores the work of eleven Black femme artists, coupled with theoretical and critical texts written primarily by Black femme thinkers. It is structured as a semester long reading group. Each week, students give presentations on a single artwork and facilitate discussion of the assigned readings. Over the semester, students debate what Black feminism is, and what makes a work of art or set of ideas Black feminist. Is it an identity, a method, an interpretive frame?
• CAS AA 571: Problems of African Diaspora Art History
  This course examines the visual life of the African Diaspora. It challenges students to explore diaspora, Black studies and postcolonial studies’ bearing on aesthetic concerns, and introduces key debates shaping the sub-field of African Diaspora Art History.
• CAS AA 580: White Supremacist Thought: Self, Culture and Society since the 18th Century
  Within a global and comparative context, this course explores the simultaneous, mutualistically symbiotic emergence and sustained codependent development of autonomous individuality and white supremacy in western Europe and the United States from the 18th century to the present day.
• CAS AA 591: 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 AH 500: Topics in History of Art & Architecture
  May be repeated for credit as topics change. Two topics are offered Spring 2026. Section A1: Global History of Camps: 19th Century to the Present. The image of the camp dominates contemporary representations. This course examines this spatial device from a global historical perspective, tracing a genealogy from colonial camps, Nazi camps, Soviet gulags, US internment camps to contemporary detention camps, refugee camps, border camps. Section B1: Pigments and Prisms: Histories of Color in North American Art. This course positions color as a framework to examine artworks and artistic practices within North America. Through case studies, students consider color and its various regional, historical, cultural, and social contexts. Topics include color theory, technology, pigments, dyes, and minerals.
• CAS AH 502: Practicum in Museum Studies
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: consent of the Director of Museum Studies, and stamped approval; prior museum/gallery experience an asset. - Graduate Prerequisites: consent of Director of Museum Studies, and stamped approval; prior mus eum/gallery experience an asset. Graduate internships must be taken in a non-profit institution in order to count for credit. - Centered on an internship, which must comprise a supervised project approved in advance by the Director of Museum Studies. Stamped approval prior to the internship is necessary for registration in the course. Internships in Boston-area museums, galleries, historical agencies, and houses arranged for advanced undergraduate and graduate students, 10-12 hours per week (150 hours per semester) at the host institution, with written report.
• CAS AH 507: Digital Curation: Towards National Parks: Art and Nature, Nature and Nation
  Prerequisite: CASAH 112, or at least one course on art or literature in Europe/US 1300-1750 or 1750-present. - Before national parks, wild locations attracted artists, photographers and poets. Their works made these areas known to tourist-viewers. Prepare a digital exhibition and map artist- advocates as they explored mountains, forests and waterfalls. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Digital/Multimedia Expression, Creativity/Innovation.
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  • Aesthetic Exploration
  • Creativity/Innovation
  • Digital/Multimedia Expression
• CAS AH 520: The Museum and The Historical Agency
  History, present realities, and future possibilities of museums and historical agencies, using Boston's excellent examples. Issues and debates confronting museums today examined in the light of historical development and changing communities. Emphasis on collecting, display and interpretation.
• CAS AH 521: Curatorship
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: consent of instructor. - Graduate Prerequisites: consent of instructor. Introduces students to curatorial strategies and the pragmatics of exhibition-making.
• CAS AH 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 AM 525.
• CAS AH 527: Topics in Art and Society
  May be repeated for credit as topics change. Three topics are offered Fall 2026. Section A1: American Art and the Environment. Employing a variety of "green" ecocritical approaches, this class explores the relationship between artistic practice and natural science, extractive industry, and environmental activism in the nineteenth- and twentieth-century United States. Section B1: The Mount Auburn Cemetery. An exploration of remembrance, and the invention, appropriation, and development of imagery and landscape for commemorative monuments. Much of this seminar takes place on site in the Mount Auburn Cemetery and in regional early burying grounds. Many outdoor site visits during class time are required. Section C1: The Silk Road Seminar. This course explores the arts of the Silk Road. Focusing on objects and sites along land-bound and maritime trade routes, from jewelry, ceramics, silk, to Buddhist caves and port cities, the course explores important questions of cultural exchange, trade, diplomacy, faith, and gender.
• CAS AH 528: Landscapes: Art and Environment in China
  Prerequisites: First-Year Writing Seminar (e.g., CASWR 100 or 120). - This seminar examines the visual culture of landscapes in China. Topics include mountain cults, Daoist grotto-heavens, ink painting, gardens, and contemporary art projects that engage with environmental concerns. Effective Spring 2025, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Oral and/or Signed Communication, Research and Information Literacy, Writing-Intensive Course.
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  • Oral and/or Signed Communication
  • Research and Information Literacy
  • Writing-Intensive Course
• CAS AH 530: American Art and the City
  Topic for Fall 2025: Visual Culture of the American City. This course examines the art forms, popular pictorial media, visual entertainments, and structures of looking that developed in American cities in the years between 1790 and 1917.
• CAS AH 533: Seminar: Greek Art and Architecture
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: First Year Writing Seminar (e.g., CASWR 100 or WR 120) - Topic for Fall 2026, Section A1: Greek Architecture. A study of classical architecture broadly conceived, from the origins of monumental stone architecture in Greece, including the emergence of the Doric and Ionic orders, to the use of architecture in sanctuaries, the form of houses, and construction techniques. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Oral and/or Signed Communication, Research and Information Literacy, Writing-Intensive Course.
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  • Oral and/or Signed Communication
  • Research and Information Literacy
  • Writing-Intensive Course