Spring 2027 Courses
*Indicates course provides BU Hub units
CAS WS 179 - Introduction to Trans Literature (also offered as CAS EN 179)
Is there such a thing as trans literature’ While “Trans Studies” as a field of study in academia is relatively new, trans literature is not. In this course we engage with a wide-ranging trans literary tradition that spans time, genre, and language. We ask questions about authorship, community, and the social and political conditions which allow and bar the flourishing of trans culture. We will ask: What can the word ¿trans¿ mean, and how does its multiple meanings open space to imagine new ways of becoming’ How can literature expand how the world might be, rather than what it is’
*CAS WS 200 - Thinking Queerly
Explores historical and contemporary debates regarding LGBTQ identity, community, and politics through the relevant interdisciplinary (and often, competing) theories and research. Students gain skills in digital/multimedia expression through the development of a collaborative LGBTQ online magazine. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: The Individual in Community, Digital/Multimedia Expression.
*CAS WS 201 - Introduction to Trans Studies
This course introduces students to the field of trans studies alongside the increasing precarity and hypervisibility of trans bodies in public life. Students become familiar with intersectional issues of trans representation, healthcare, cissexism, bathroom legislation, book bans, and more. Effective Fall 2025, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Creativity/Innovation, Digital/Multimedia Expression, The Individual in Community.
*CAS WS 233 - The Evolutionary Biology of Human Variation (also offered as CAS AN 233)
Addresses human biological variation. An introduction to the fundamentals of comparative biology, evolutionary theory, and genetics and considers how research in these fields informs some of our most culturally-engaged identities: race, sex, gender, sexuality, and body type. Carries natural sciences divisional credit (without lab) in CAS. Also offered as CAS AN 233. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Scientific Inquiry I, Ethical Reasoning, Critical Thinking.
*CAS WS 263 - The Behavioral Biology of Women (also offered as CAS AN 263)
An exploration of female behavioral biology focusing on evolutionary, physiological, and biosocial aspects of women’s lives from puberty through pregnancy, birth, lactation, menopause, and aging. Examples are drawn from traditional and industrialized societies, and data from nonhuman primates are considered. Also offered as CAS AN 263. Effective Spring 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Scientific Inquiry I, Social Inquiry I, Critical Thinking.
*CAS WS 327 - Immigrant Women in Literature: Found in Translation? (also offered as CAS LR 327 and CAS XL 327)
This course explores literature about migration created by women primarily from Eastern Europe. We read autobiographical narratives that focus on the shaping of transcultural identity with an eye to the problem of translation as a linguistic, cultural, and personal phenomenon. Also offered as LR 327 and XL 327. Effective Spring 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Historical Consciousness, Critical Thinking.
*CAS WS 345 - Shariah Law (also offered as CAS RN 345)
Shariah Law looks behind the stereotypes and headlines–despotic rulers, barbaric punishments, women’s oppression–to understand the origins, history, and structure of Islamic law. Explores its implementation in various times and places, modern transformations, and contemporary debates over legal reform. Effective Spring 2025, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Oral and/or Signed Communication, Ethical Reasoning, Research and Information Literacy.
*CAS WS 347 - Feminist Inquiry
Prereq: sophomore, junior, or senior standing. A survey of feminist theories and development of strands of feminist inquiry in the academy, movements, and politics. Considers the commonalities and contrast in gender relations across cultures and tensions between major feminist schools of thought. Effective Fall 2024, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Social Inquiry I, Oral and/or Signed Communication, Creativity/Innovation.
*CAS WS 375 - Growing Up as Korean Women(also offered as CAS LK 375)
By exploring memoirs, autobiographies, prose fiction, poetry, films, and graphic novels by (broadly defined) Korean women, this course examines how Korean women’s narratives have evolved and what changes they have enabled. Effective Spring 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy.
*CAS WS 380 - Gender and Identity in Contemporary Middle Eastern Film (also offered as CAS XL 380)
An exploration of representations of gender and identity in contemporary Middle Eastern films by male and female directors reflecting on the impact of modernization, globalization, war and trauma through different visual genres. Also offered as XL 380. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Digital/Multimedia Expression.
*CAS WS 396 - Philosophy of Gender and Sexuality (also offered as CAS PH 256 and CAS PO 396
This course analyzes gender and sexuality from an intersectional perspective. We focus on metaphysics, epistemology, and semantics to understand gender and sexuality as they exist within interlocking systems of oppression including racism, sexism, transphobia, homophobia, and fatphobia. Also offered as CAS PH 256 and CAS PO 396. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life’s Meanings, The Individual in Community, Critical Thinking.
*CAS WS 400 - Gender and Healthcare (also offered as SAR HS 400
Prereq: CAS WR 120; or equivalent. This course focuses on strengthening students’ knowledge, skills, and ability to construct a critical appraisal of all the determinants, distribution, causes, mechanisms, systems, and consequences of health inequities related to gender including how gender influences and is influenced by healthcare systems. Also offered as SAR HS 400 A1. Effective Summer 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: The Individual in Community, Research and Information Literacy.
CAS WS 412 - Critical Death Studies (also offered as CAS SO 432)
Prerequisite: junior standing and above for undergraduate students. – This course examines how death reveals social inequalities, colonial legacies, and geopolitical forces. It analyzes the conditions shaping mourning and the creative, cultural, and political responses that follow, while drawing on interdisciplinary, academic, and popular materials from diverse geographic contexts.
*CAS WS 420 - Queer Theory (also offered as CAS XL 420
Surveys major texts and arguments in queer theory from Butler’s Gender Trouble to contemporary discussions of cisnormativity, homonationalism, affect, pinkwashing, crip theory, and queer-of-color critique. Explores different uses of queer theory in legal debates, literary analysis, and cultural criticism. Also offered as XL 420. 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.
*CAS WS 432 - S24: Gender, Sexuality, and Buddhism (also offered as CAS RN 432
Examines gender and sexuality in various Buddhist cultures from a broad range of time periods such as ancient India, medieval China, and modern America. Topics include: family, the body, lust, abortion, and menstruation. Also offered as RN 432. Effective Spring 2024, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Aesthetic Exploration, Critical Thinking.
*CAS WS 460 - Topics in LGBTQ History
Undergrad prerequisites: First Year Writing Seminar (e.g., CAS WR100 or WR120). – Seminar examines topics in the history of LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer) people and cultural or political movements. May be repeated for credit if topics vary. Topic for Fall 2024: Queer America. Effective Fall 2024, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Oral and Signed Communication, Research and Information Literacy.
*CAS WS 465 - Interesctionalities: Theories, Methods, Praxis (also offered as CAS SO 465)
Examines neurobiological and genetic factors that influence sex and violence. Students review primary literature from the past century that highlights major scientific discoveries that have reconceptualized our understanding of the origins of sexual-determination, -attraction and – aggression. Also offered as SO 465, SO 865, and WS 665. Effective Spring 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Oral and/or Signed Communication, Historical Consciousness, Scientific Inquiry II.
*CAS WS 480 - Japanese Women Writers (also offered as CAS LJ 480)
Classic texts by Japanese women, including the “Tale of Genji” and “The Pillow Book,” and their modern legacy, read alongside important philosophical and theoretical texts in queer and feminist thought. Lectures and texts in English. Also offered as LJ 480. Effective Spring 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Philosophical Inquiry and Life’s Meanings, Critical Thinking.
CAS WS 545 - Seminar: Black Feminist Art and Performance (also offered as CAS AA 545, CAS AH 545)
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 WS 559 - Feminist Killjoys & Cynical Queers (also offered as CAS EN 558)
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.
Spring 2027 Courses Approved For Credit
The following non-WGS courses have been pre-approved for credit for the WGS minor. If you take one of these courses for credit, please email Director of Undergraduate Studies Sarah Miller during the first week of the Fall semester.
*Indicates course provides BU Hub units
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