Courses

• CAS AA 103: Introduction to African American Literature
  An introduction to the political, cultural, and historical roots of the African American experience through readings of a range of African American literature from Colonial to Contemporary. Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS. Also offered as CAS EN 129.
• CAS AA 207: Sociology of Race and Ethnicity
  Social definition of race and ethnicity. The adjustment of different ethnic groups and their impact upon U.S. social life. How prejudice and discrimination create class identities and how caste relations have affected patterns of integration during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Carries social science divisional credit in CAS. Also offered as CAS SO 207.
• CAS AA 215: Arts of Africa and Its Diaspora
  Exploration of a diversity of visual and performing arts from Africa, including ceramics, textiles, royal regalia, masquerades, and contemporary painting. Examines how the dispersal of Africans, due to the transatlantic slave trade and immigration, contributed to the cultural richness of the Americas. Also offered as CAS AH 215. Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS.
• CAS AA 297: African American Women's History
  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.
• CAS AA 304: Introduction to African American Women Writers
  Examines the African American female literary tradition through selected texts by African American women, written from slavery to the present. Also offered as CAS EN 370.
• CAS AA 305: Toni Morrison's American Times
  Examines four of the Nobel Laureate's novels, using primary and secondary materials to construct historical contexts and critical perspectives. Also offered as CAS EN 370.
• CAS AA 306: Experiencing Cuba: History, Culture, and Politics
  Expeditionary course, team taught by BU and local faculty in Havana, Cuba. Firsthand study of the island's history, culture, and politics, toward understanding of the local, international, and transnational processes that shaped and continue to shape this unique society. Also offered as CAS HI 395 E and CAS IR 246 E.
• CAS AA 310: History of the Civil Rights Movement
  Through historical scholarship, oral history, documentary film, and excursions to local historic sites, this course explores how African Americans created a dynamic and multifaceted movement for civil and human rights from the 1950s to the present. Also offered as CAS HI 299.
• CAS AA 313: The Politics and Policy of HBO's The Wire
  HBO's television series The Wire is used to explore politics and policy. A number of interdisciplinary topics are covered, including the war on drugs, urban elections, bureaucracy, rational choice theory, and the decline of American cities. Also offered as CAS PO 313.
• CAS AA 316: African Diaspora Arts in the Americas
  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 CAS AH 316.
• CAS AA 335: Sociology of Race, Class & Gender
  Examines race, class, gender, and sexuality as intersecting axes of stratification, identity, and experience. Draws heavily from feminist theories in both sociology and history in order to analyze how these intersections can be applied to understanding social problems and structures. Also offered as CAS SO 335.
• CAS AA 363: Race and the Development of the American Economy: A Global Perspective
  Surveys the economic history of African Americans within the context of the development of the American and global economies. Topics include the economics of slavery; race and industrialization; the Great Migration; anti-discrimination legislation; and the historical origins of contemporary racial inequalities. Also offered as CAS EC 363.
• CAS AA 371: African American History
  Surveys the history of African Americans from their African origins to the present, investigating their critical role in shaping the meaning of race, rights, freedom, and democracy during slavery, reconstruction, Jim Crow, and the civil rights era. Also offered as CAS HI 298.
• CAS AA 382: History of Religion in Pre-Colonial Africa
  The study of the development of religious traditions in Africa during the period prior to European colonialism. An emphasis on both indigenous religions and the growth and spread of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam in the continent as a whole. Also offered as CAS HI 349 and CAS RN 382.
• CAS AA 385: Atlantic History
  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 CAS HI 350.
• CAS AA 395: Power, Leadership, and Governance in Africa and the Caribbean
  Haitian Revolution; British Caribbean, leadership, governance, and power in Africa during the period of legitimate trade; visionaries, dictators, and nationalist politics in the Caribbean; chiefs, western elites, and nationalism in colonial Africa; road to governance in post-colonial Caribbean and Africa. Also offered as CAS HI 352 and IR 394.
• CAS AA 404: Seminar: The Family
  Explores the rise of "modern" families and the plurality of contemporary family forms and processes including gay and lesbian families and new reproductive technologies. Particular attention to social and economic inequalities and their implications for family life. Also offered as CAS SO 404.
• CAS AA 408: Seminar: Ethnic, Race, and Minority Relations
  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. Also offered as CAS SO 408.
• CAS AA 489: The African Diaspora in the Americas
  History of peoples of African descent in the Americas after end of slavery from an international framework. Examines development of racial categories, emergence of national identities in wake of the wars of independence, diverse Black communities in the twentieth century. Also offered as CAS HI 489.
• CAS AA 491: Directed Study in African American Studies
  

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