For more information:

  • Visit MyBU to view the number of open seats available in each section and to register for classes.
  • View Registration FAQs here.
  • Consult the table below for an additional description of topics listed above.

Topic

Additional Description
1968–1969: Hope and Horror This course examines the social and political upheavals that rocked American society in 1968-1969.
AI Philosophy and Ethics An exploration of the ethical and philosophical challenges presented by developing AI technology.
American Environmental History We examine contested, complicated relationships between nature and culture’s historic interaction.
American Manifesto From Ben Franklin to Beyoncé, this class examines classic rags-to-riches narratives of many genres.
American Short Stories How has the American short story genre evolved? What can short stories teach us about ourselves?
Art and Justice in Boston We examine intersections between visual art, social justice, reform, and advocacy in our city.
Art and Social Change We explore the ways in which art can transform societal constrictions into new opportunities.
Art/Science Intersections We explore both art and science as inquisitive practices to better understand our world.
Artificial America From faux meat to plastic plants, this course explores the cultural politics of the fake.
Asians Are People of Color A writing course on race relations and identity politics focused on Asian American narratives.
Beyond Night: Elie Wiesel This class will NOT focus on Wiesel’s memoir Night but his plays, essays, Hasidic tales, and more.
At The Table Explore the cultivation of food, and how societal pressures change our relationship to it.
Black Female Lives Matter We examine contemporary representations of the lived experiences of Black girls/women in America.
Boston Brutalism Now What is Brutalist architecture and why does it matter? We explore the raw concrete of Boston.
Boston Community Art A look at social issues as art and neighborhoods come together through research/multimodal projects
Boston Films Now We learn and write about Boston through watching Boston films and make our own film about the city.
Boston Jazz Now We examine the evolution and history of Jazz and attend live Jazz performances in Boston.
Boston Nature Narratives Now Explore Boston’s green spaces! Write and read reflections on the natural world in an urban landscape
Boston Social Justice Now We explore gentrification, racism, city government, public education, with some off-campus events.
Boston Sports Now We explore Boston sports teams and venues and their historical and contemporary cultural roles.
Boston Wildlife Now We visit Boston greenspaces to explore how urban habitats and humans  transform animal behavior.
Boston’s Natural History Now We explore Boston’s greener and wilder spaces with outside-the-classroom adventures.
BU and the Culture of College Using social science methods, we study any aspect of college itself, with a focus on BU.
Burning Questions Students complete a semester-long research project on a topic of their choosing.
Business and Culture in the US This class explores the relationship between US business and culture from 1865 to the present.
Case Studies in Fairy Tales Study fairy tales and retellings from diverse critical viewpoints and research one tale in depth.
College Myths and Realities We explore myths about higher education to understand the experiences of modern college students.
Commodifying Care Explores classism, racism, and sexism in multimedia depictions of care workers.
Communicating Science Explore how scientific info evolves when communicated to diverse audiences through different media.
Conformity and Rebellion We explore the topic through psychological, literary, cultural, or other lenses and genres.
Contemporary Art in Boston We examine intersections between visual art, social justice, reform, and advocacy in our city.
Creative Nonfiction A deep dive into rebellious, genre-bending American journalists of the 1960s and 70s.
Dance as Resistance We study dance as resistance and rebellion against cultural oppression and censorship of languages.
Debating Hollywood We explore Hollywood as a site of artistic, scholarly, and critical debate shaped by diverse views.
Deception Across Disciplines We explore deception across three distinct academic disciplines.
Education and Social Issues We discuss education as a social and cultural practice with an emphasis on the role of meritocracy.
Education and Work A study of the relationship between American public and higher education and the world of work.
Environments and You Lit/film course explores dynamics between environmentalism, social contexts, and personal identity.
Ethical Missteps/Public Health We examine medical and public health challenges from their origins to ongoing racial and gender disparities.
Ethics in America Today We explore the philosophical dimensions of key ethical issues in contemporary American public debate
Family Snaps and Stories Family photography in three modes: student home archives, photojournalism, and art photography.
Food and Cultural Identity We investigate the role of food in culture, expression, and identity.
Food, Identity, and Society
Food for Thought We study food in a range of contexts, including cultural, environmental, political, and personal.
Future of Video Game Studies Are video games art—or addiction? Our class readings explore evolving global views on video games.
Garbage Culture How does our waste shape who we are? This course looks for answers in the trash can of US culture.
Gender and Narrative We explore authority in contemporary literature through a lens of gender and narrative theory.
Gender in Short Stories An exploration of the role of gender in short stories written by women in the first wave of feminism
Ghosts and the Undead This course explores ghosts and other undead figures (vampires, zombies) in literature and film.
Global Documentary We study how documentaries represent their own and other cultures.
Global Literature We read global literature in translation, analyze these texts, and write literature of our own.
Global Tragic Drama Philosophical & political analysis of plays (ancient Greece to modern nations like India, Iraq,etc.)
Hamilton versus Jefferson We examine Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson’s competing visions of America.
Hispanic New York City A study of the writers and artists of 20th and 21st century Hispanic New York City
Hollywood Contradicts Itself We examine Hollywood as an industry and a filmmaking style defined by contradictory ideas.
How Do We Write about the Net? Postmodern fiction captures the chaos of tech & media in our lives. How does it show us what’s next?
HumanPlus In HumanPlus, we explore the social and ethical implications of the prospect of human enhancement.
I Want to Believe We closely study the mythologies, cultural origins, and research on UFOs and Bigfoot.
Imagining Vietnam In this course, students write about the Vietnam War’s polarizing influence on American culture.
Improvisation Now! We study the role of improvisation in the creation of different types of art, including live comedy.
Indigenous Resistance What cultural and political interventions do Indigenous thinkers propose toward decolonization?
Intertwining Curious Minds Now Using field trips, we explore curiosity as collaborative adventure between humans and other species.
Israel:  Film and Literature We examine contemporary, diverse, and complicated Israeli society through film and literature.
Italian American Speech Examination of Italian American speech-‘Goombish’-in the context of speech norms and speech variety.
Italian Americans Examination of Italian American history and culture through film, literature and ethnography.
Japanese Anime: The Reality of Fantasy How do Japanese Anime directors use fantasy to speak to the realities of the human condition?
Language and Technology The class examines how our use and the form of our language has changed because of technology.
Lincoln & His Legacies Lincoln’s life, writing, & legacy. Is he hero, myth, leader, follower? Iconic symbol? White savior?
Literary Gender & Sexuality We examine what gender and sexuality in historical literature can teach us about identity today.
Living Writers Now With Boston’s literary scene as our classroom, we read the work of authors who visit our class.
Lyricism in Hip Hop and Rap In this class, we explore the poetics of hip hop and rap lyrics from the 1970s to present.
Making Film Reviews Through research, we learn to craft film reviews in formats including podcasts and videos.
Meat in America This course uses meat, in its various forms, to explore identity, ethics, labor, and appetite.
Medical Debates Students examine medical debates and their relationships to society.
Medicine and Ethics Issues and implications of ethics in medicine and healthcare.
Medieval/Renaissance Monsters We examine visual representations of human & non-human monsters in Medieval & Renaissance Europe.
Memoir as Art Form In this course, we read three memoirs and compose  memoirs, presentations and analyses.
Metaphor in Advertising We explore how metaphor is used to connect goods and services to fulfilling deeper human needs.
Migration culture We explore how migration is represented in culture–in what we read, watch, consume, and create.
Morality: 4 Anime Directors We consider the role of morality in the films of four Japanese Anime directors.
Museum Writing How can museum writing invite people in—or keep them out? Explore via art, objects, and exhibitions.
Myths at the Margins We explore myths in many genres that address problems of identity, reality, and social crisis.
Mystery Fiction Crime & Justice Explores mystery fiction from Poe to the Golden Age, investigating how crime and justice are framed.
Narrating the End of the World We examine depictions of climate catastrophe across American fiction and non-fiction.
Narratives of Race and Racism Why have racist narratives permeated American culture? Do counternarratives open new possibilities?
Nature Poetry In this seminar, we study how poets and writers have engaged with the natural world. 
Navigating College Today We explore the lives of modern college students and the various hurdles and challenges they face.
Nonsense in Literature & Film We examine the form and philosophy of the genre of nonsense in comics, film, and literature.
Ocean and Shorelines Through literature, art, and indigeneity, we explore diverse perspectives on our sea connections.
Oratory in America Orators challenge & inspire us. In speeches, podcasts, TedTalks, we hear & learn from new and old
Performing Class Examines cultural representations of social class as a performative and unstable identity.
Playing for Keeps Students design a board game and carry out a research project on a topic of their choosing.
Public Art We consider the form, function, and funding of works of art in outdoor, accessible spaces.
Queers on Campus!: LGBTQ+ This class looks at LGBTQIA+ coming-of-age stories at universities and private schools since 1970.
Race and Robots In this course, we explore how technology is racialized and gendered in science fiction narratives.
Race, Class, & Gender Today We explore class mobility, the meaning of “feminism,” and the myth of post-racial society in the US.
Radical Latinx Artists in USA Explore how cultural identities in the USA have been redefined & influenced by Latinx artists.
Rap: Race, Idenity, Justice Through the lens of  Hip Hop, students examine themes of identity, social justice and identity.
Reimagining Fairy Tales Write about classic and modern fairy tales from critical, creative, and social justice perspectives.
Reimagining Happiness We look for gaps in our understanding of happiness and explore happiness-enhancing strategies
Religions & Global Health We explore how religious traditions around the world inform, contest, and transform public health.
Reproduction in American Lit We explore various representations of reproduction and correlated topics/issues
Retelling Stories We examine how creators shape truth across journalistic, filmic, and comic adaptations.
Revolutionary Literature We explore art and social justice in times of political crisis from a global perspective.
Rewriting Mythologies Explore modern myth and folklore retellings across cultures and rewrite a myth of your choice.
Rhetorics of Remix Explore methods and meanings of remix and adaptation from ancient Greece to the digital present.
Science Fiction and Philosophy Science Fiction writing and media through the lens of philosophy
Science Fiction as Anthropology We examine the interaction of the familiar and strange through science fiction films and texts.
Science Writing and Society We examine the various ways that science is communicated among scientists and to the public.
Short Fiction We examine the world through the lens of fiction and how stories reflect or direct society.
Sí se puede: Latinos in the US Examines diverse Latiné identities, families and communities through literature, film and journalism
Sociology of Health & Illness Sociological perspectives on the social determinants of health and healthcare delivery in the U.S.
Standard English? We explore English accents and dialects and why they matter.
Storytelling Now From field trip to author visits, we explore storytelling traditions through  a social justice lens.
Street Corner Society A social study of Boston’s Italian North End in the context of William Foote Whyte’s ethnography.
Teaching College Writing Course supports GWFs in their first semester teaching WR 120 and prepares them to teach WR 15x.
Technology: Promises and Risks Study technology’s impact and future in media through discussion, writing, and hands-on projects.
The American Defense Industry In this course we explore the American defense industry from its inception to today.
The American Individualist This seminar explores the roots and evolution of American ideas about personal identity and community.
The Atomic Age We consider how humanity has—or has not—come to terms with apocalyptic annihilation.
The Charles River Now We explore the Charles River and its communities through outside-the-classroom adventures.
The Coens and Genres of Film We explore the celebrated films of the Coen brothers and their referencing of various genres of film.
The Educated Electorate The goal of the course “The Educated Electorate” is to teach writing through political participation.
The Ethical Imagination Philosophical and creative readings focus on the imagination’s role in determining global ethics.
The Graphic Memoir Graphic memoirs tell true stories of their authors’ lives through a combination of text and image.
The Graphic Self Explore the art of self-expression in words & images as we study memoirs created in the comics form.
The Horror of Hermes Horror literature and media and its relationship to the occult
The Korean Wave and Society This class uses K-Pop and contemporary Korean films to analyze urgent global concerns.
The Language of Identity We explore how language shapes our identities by writing about culture, race, gender, and class
The Modern Fairy Tale The influence of traditional fairy tale motifs on modern literature, art, and film.
The Oldest Story Ever Told We study and “update” the Epic of Gilgamesh in relation to themes of anxiety, power, and finding meaning.
The Power of Categories In this course, we explore the role of categories in language and cognition.
The Revolution Will Be Iambic We explore the intersection of poetry and social justice movements.
The TV Family We examine how the American TV family has evolved alongside gender, sexuality, race, and class.
The World of Higher Learning Exploration of higher education cross-culturally and through time, focusing on self and community.
These Films Are So Gay We investigate coded homosexuality in cinema history.
To Be Black in the West We explore African diasporic identities in Western cultures through literature, film, and new media
Transformative Visual Media From the printing press to social media reels, we explore how innovative tech disrupts mass media.
Translation and Adaptation We explore the translation or adaptation of diverse sources into other languages or genres.
Translation and Adaptation We explore the translation or adaptation of diverse sources into other languages or genres.
Tutoring College Writing We learn practical skills to support students from diverse backgrounds in writing consultations.
Twenty-First Century Terrors Write about how contemporary horror films explore societal fears in America and around the world.
Women Poets Now We study diverse women poets, write creatively and critically, and create a class poetry journal.
Women Writing the Great War We read women’s writing of WWI and explore how the war shifted attitudes about gender and society.
Wordless Texts This class explores wordless picturebooks as works of art and reflections of childhood.
Writing in the Disciplines We debunk the myths of discipline-specific writing and explore how effective writing is achieved.
Writing Irish Identities Encompassing 19th–21st-Century Irish narratives in literature and film.
Writing on Design We explore the connection between interior design and our emotional, physical and mental health.
Writing Race & the Environment We explore how texts we read & write can explain & confront environmental racism & global heating.
Writing the University We study the way the university works in popular culture and fiction.
Writing with a Sense of Taste Through research, writing, and thought-provoking tastings, this class takes you on a culinary journey.
Wrong Thinking: The Sources and Consequences of Error.

Note that course topics that end in “Now”  are part of our Boston Now initiative, which involves experiential learning and outside-the-classroom fieldwork.