Graduate Courses

Wed 2:30 pm-5:15 pm

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.

Tue/Thu 11:00 am-12:15 pm

How has technology impacted religion? This hands-on course explores how digital technologies like the Internet, social media, gaming, and artificial intelligence have changed the way that people think about religion. Effective Spring 2022, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Digital/Multimedia Expression, Writing-Intensive Course, Creativity/Innovation.

Pre-req: First-Year Writing Seminar (e.g., WR120)

Meets with CAS AA356, CAS RN356, and CAS RN656.

Tue/Thu 5:00 pm-6:15 pm

Topic for Fall 2024; Gender and Sexuality in the Neo-slave Narrative. Examines how neo-slave narratives intervene in the sexual and gendered silences of slave narratives and the power relations that produced them. Students who are hesitant to study depictions of sexual violence might consider taking another course.

Tue 12:30 pm-3:15 pm

Formation and position of ethnic minorities in the United States, including cross-group comparisons from England, Africa, and other parts of the world. Readings and field experience.

May be repeated for credit as topic varies by semester.

May be repeated for credit as topic varies by semester.

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.

Explores the impact of American urban politics on the implementation of local policy. Topics include deindustrialization, white flight, neighborhood affects on housing policy, schools, regionalism, and factors that constrain policy-making capacities. Also offered as CAS PO 517. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: The Individual in Community, Writing-Intensive Course, and Teamwork/Collaboration.

Prereq: First-Year Writing Seminar (e.g., WR 100 or WR 102)

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), and Creativity/Innovation.

Prereq: First Year Writing Seminar (e.g., WR 100 or WR 120)

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Topic varies by semester.

Study of racial thinking and feeling in Europe and the United States since the fifteenth century. Racial thinking in the context of Western encounters with non-European people and Jews; its relation to social, economic, cultural, and political trends. Also offered as CAS HI 580.

Examines literary representations of race, ethnicity, gender, and class through the lens of cross-cultural connections between African Americans and Asian Americans. Which strategies do these women writers use to speak to their often – mainstream readers? How do they challenge traditional gender roles?

Effective Fall 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, 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.

How has technology impacted religion? This hands-on course explores how digital technologies like the Internet, social media, gaming, and artificial intelligence have changed the way that people think about religion.

Effective Spring 2022, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Digital/Multimedia Expression, Writing-Intensive Course, and Creativity/Innovation.

Prereq: First-Year Writing Seminar (e.g., WR120)

Explore “diaspora” as a keyword for black studies, intervene in the term’s emergence, usage, and many theorizations. Beginning with Paul Gilroy’s take on diasporic culture and consciousness, course goes on to complicate/extend/challenge through lens of black gender and sexuality studies. Effective Fall 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: The Individual in Community, Aesthetic Exploration, Critical Thinking.

Study of the transmission of African artistry in the Caribbean, South America, and the United States from the period of slavery to the present. Topics include Kongo and Yoruba arts and their influence on the arts of Santeria, Vodun, and carnival. Also offered as GRS AH 716.

This course focuses on racial engagements with science, technology, and media. Topics range from genomics to artificial intelligence, medicine, and popular culture. Though rooted in literary and cultural criticism, these interdisciplinary texts will also provide an introduction to various methodologies.

Study of the development of religious traditions in Africa during the period prior to European colonialism. An emphasis both on indigenous religions and on the African roots and the growth and spread of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam in the continent as a whole. Also offered as GRS HI 749 and GRS RN 682.

Examines the various interactions that shaped the Atlantic World, connecting Europe, Africa, and the Americas between 1400 and 1800. Begins by defining the political interaction, then emphasizes cultural exchange, religious conversion, and the revolutionary era. Also offered as GRS HI 750.