African American Studies

• 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 519: Inequality and American Politics
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: First Year Writing Seminar (e.g., WR 100 or WR 120) - This course examines the role of income inequality in shaping American politics and policy. Combining research from history, political science, economics, and public policy scholars, we will consider a range of important topics, including inequality in public voice, money and politics, and attitudes towards redistribution. We will apply this knowledge as part of a final paper project in metropolitan Boston. Effective Spring 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: The Individual in Community, Writing- Intensive Course, Research and Information Literacy.
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  • The Individual in Community
  • Research and Information Literacy
  • Writing-Intensive Course
• CAS AA 571: Problems in African Diaspora Art History
  Introduces students to the field of African Diaspora Art History. Each week we look at a different 'problem' of diaspora - beginnings, language, archives - giving students various entry points into the issues that shape the sub-field.
• CAS AA 574: Introduction to Critical University Studies: Space, Place, and BU
  This team-taught seminar uses the lens of "critical university studies" to consider the ways colonialism and white supremacy have shaped the history of American universities. Readings and archival research examine land appropriation, slavery and anti-slavery, segregation, and policing at Boston University. Effective Spring 2024, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU HUB areas: Writing-Intensive, Historical Consciousness.
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  • Historical Consciousness
  • Writing-Intensive Course
• 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 588: Women, Power, and Culture in Africa
  Understanding the role of women in African history. Topics include the Atlantic slave trade, power, religion, the economy, resistance movements, health, the state, and kinship. Emphasis on the period before independence. Also offered as CAS HI 588.
• 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 AA 600: Seminar in African American Studies: Roots of Disparity: Racism, and Pathways to Health Justice
  Graduate seminar in African American Studies. Topic for Spring 2025: This course explores the role of race in public health through a lens of anti-Black racism, highlighting how systemic discrimination and disinvestment shape health disparities for Black Americans in particular. Students will examine four core areas: historical context, focusing on the legacy of racial violence in the development of medical and public health knowledge, as well as its impacts on health and well-being; social determinants of health, investigating how racism shapes factors such as housing and income in ways that disproportionately affect the health outcomes of different racial groups, with an emphasis on Black Americans; institutional racism in healthcare, analyzing bias, mistrust, and unequal access to quality care within healthcare systems; and structural solutions and freedom dreaming, evaluating and conceptualizing programs, policies, and interventions designed to address racial health disparities through an abolitionist perspective. In semesters where it can be paired with a MetroBridge or other community partnership, students will get an opportunity work collaboratively on a PH advocacy project.