Fall 2026 Undergraduate Courses

Mon/Wed/Thurs 1:25 pm-2:15 pm

This course introduces the arts of Africa and Latin America. It explores the rich diversity of each continent’s artistic production and highlights the impact of their intertwining histories on visual expression in the wake of transcontinental exchange and globalization. Effective Fall 2022, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Aesthetic Exploration, Critical Thinking.

Tues/Thurs 9:30 am-10:45 am

Examines the fundamental theoretical and empirical approaches regarding race/ethnicity and the current state of race relations in the U.S. that explore both contemporary social problems. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, The Individual in Community, Research and Information Literacy.

HUB Historical Consciousness HUB The Individual in Community HUB Research and Information Literacy

Meets with CAS SO207

Tues/Thurs 11:00am-12:15pm

A study of how chattel slavery in the Americas led to racialization as a primary tool in the creation of American society and New World capitalism. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Ethical Reasoning, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Critical Thinking.

HUB Critical Thinking HUB Ethical Reasoning HUB Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy

Tues/Thurs 2:00pm-3:00pm

Provides an introduction to African history over the past 175 years, including the end of slavery, colonial rule and anti-colonial revolt, decolonization and nationalism, and the opportunities and challenges of life in postcolonial Africa. Effective Spring 2025, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Social Inquiry I.

HUB Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy HUB Social Inquiry I

Meets with CASHI238, CASIR 238

Tues/Thurs. 12:30pm-1:45pm

Through studying cricket, rugby, soccer, and baseball, large sporting events like the Olympics and FIFA World Cup, and athletes’ lives, this course examines the social, cultural, and political impacts of sport globally from the late 19th century to the present.

HUB Aesthetic Exploration HUB Social Inquiry I, Ethical Reasoning, Teamwork/Collaboration

Meets with CASHI 241, CASIR 235

Tues/Thurs 2:00pm-3:15pm

Introduction to the archaeology of the African diaspora, the global displacement of African people and their descendants. Reviews findings, methodology, and theory around key burial contexts. Emphasis on shifting dialogues, such as human remains stewardship, community engagement, and reburial. Effective Spring 2025, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas Critical Thinking, Ethical Reasoning, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy.

HUB Critical Thinking HUB Ethical Reasoning HUB Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy

Meets with CASAR 3o1, CASAN 301

Mon/Wed/Fri 10:10am-11:00am

Uses digital media studies to explore diverse religious expressions in hip hop culture. Through critical reading, community field trips, and hands-on technology usage, students consider an often overlooked element in the study of hip hop culture: religion. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Digital/Multimedia Expression, Aesthetic Exploration, Creativity/Innovation.

HUB Digital/Multimedia Expression, Aesthetic Exploration, Creativity/Innovation

Mon/Wed/Fri 10:10pm-11:00pm

Survey of African American women’s history from the slave trade to the present, investigating its critical role in shaping the meaning of race, gender, and sexuality during slavery, Jim Crow, and the civil rights era. Also offered as CAS HI 297 and CAS WS 297. Effective Fall 2024, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Digital/Multimedia Expression, Historical Consciousness, Social Inquiry I.

HUB Digital/Multimedia Expression, Historical Consciousness, Social Inquiry I

Tues/Thurs 5:00pm-6:15pm

Undergraduate Prerequisites: First-Year Writing Seminar (e.g., WR 120) – Examines the African American female literary tradition through selected texts by African American women, written from slavery to the present. Themes include Women in Bondage (Harriet Jacobs and Octavia Butler); Into the Twentieth Century (Frances E. W. Harper, Zora Neale Hurston, and Gwendolyn Brooks); and The Diaspora (Toni Morrison, Jamaica Kincaid, and Paule Marshall). Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Critical Thinking, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy. Effective Fall 2022, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Critical Thinking, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Writing-Intensive Course.

HUB Critical Thinking, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Writing-Intensive Course

Mon/Wed 2:30pm-3:45pm

How many people are affected by the criminal justice system? What is the relationship between crime and race? What criminal justice policies, if any, should change? In this course, students will grapple with these questions. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Social Inquiry I, Ethical Reasoning, Critical Thinking.

HUB Social Inquiry I, Ethical Reasoning, Critical Thinking

Tues/Thurs 11:00am-12:15pm

Introduces students to the art of the Caribbean region. The course is not a survey of the region’s art history, but rather introduces students to major themes that link this region. We begin by thinking through the Caribbean as a space/place that includes parts of Central and South America, as well as diasporas in North America and Europe, then proceed loosely chronologically from the autonomous period to the present day. We also consider the implications of insights from Caribbean Studies, postcolonial studies and Black studies for the field of art history.

HUB Aesthetic Exploration, Historical Consciousness, Research and Information Literacy

Meets with CASAH 324

Tues/Thurs 9:30am-10:45am

Examination of hip-hop culture and its historical evolution. Situates hip-hop in the history of African Americans, the United States and the broader African diaspora from the 1960s to the present.

HUB Aesthetic Exploration, Historical Consciousness

Meets with CASHI 340

Mon/Wed/Fri 4:40pm-5:30pm

Surveys the history of African diaspora peoples in the Americas from their African origins and the rise of the Atlantic slave trade through the age of emancipations, investigating the varied meanings of race, resistance, migration, and freedom. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Digital/Multimedia Expression, Historical Consciousness, Teamwork/Collaboration. Also offered as CAS HI 298.

HUB Digital/Multimedia Expression, Historical Consciousness, Teamwork/Collaboration

Meets with CASHI 298

Mon/Wed/Thurs 12:20pm-01:10pm

This course introduces students to religions of the African Diaspora, with a specific focus on the Caribbean and the Americas. Religious traditions such as Africanized Christianity, Cuban Santería, Haitian Vodou, Brazilian Candomblé, and African American Spiritualism will be explored. Effective Fall 2022, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: The Individual in Community, Historical Consciousness, Research and Information Literacy.

HUB Critical Thinking HUB The Individual in Community, Historical Consciousness, Research and Information Literacy

Thursdays 12:30pm-3:15pm

Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CASAA207 OR CASSO207) or consent of instructor. – 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.

Tuesdays 12:30am-3:15pm

This course comparatively explores how artists, writers, and activists of African descent and those of Asian descent have struggled against the political-economic, spiritual, psychological and cultural aggressions of global white supremacy and imagined and invented new modes of human liberation.

Meets with CASHI 490

Thursdays 12:30pm-3:15 pm

Prerequisites, First-year Writing Seminar, History, AABDS major or minor or instructor permission

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.

Meets with CASHI 516

Wednesdays 2:30pm-5:15pm

This course examines the African Diaspora in art history, addressing debates on its definition and study. It challenges students to explore diaspora’s impact on artistic and scholarly practice, introducing key debates shaping the sub-field of African Diaspora Art History.