Courses
The listing of a course description here does not guarantee a course’s being offered in a particular semester. Please refer to the published schedule of classes on the Student Link for confirmation a class is actually being taught and for specific course meeting dates and times.
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- African American Studies
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- CAS AA 100: Topics in African American Studies
May be repeated for credit as topic varies. - CAS AA 103: Introduction to African American Literature
What is the African American literary tradition? How does it change over time? This course is to introduce you to the cultural, political, and historical contexts of the African American experience through readings of literature. We will read poetry, slave narratives, essays and speeches, tales, short stories, and novels, and as we examine these texts, we will consider how culture, politics, and history shape African American literature. Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Critical Thinking. - CAS AA 112: Black Power in the Classroom: The History of Black Studies
Centers Black experiences, cultures, knowledge production and identity formation in the United States and in the African Diaspora across time and space. Examines and traces the genealogies of Black Studies as a discipline: its political, ideological, and practical foundations on college campuses and in communities. Also explores earlier traditions and contemporary work in Black radical thought and activism that lay the groundwork for and build on the founding principles of Black Studies by mobilizing an intersectional and diasporic lens. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Social Inquiry I, Research and Information Literacy. - CAS AA 113: Introduction to Antiracism
This course introduces students to the concept of antiracism, particularly its historical contours in the United States. Effective Fall 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: The Individual in Community, Historical Consciousness, Critical Thinking. - CAS AA 132: Write Back Soon: Blackness and the Prison
This course interrogates the theme of black containment from slavery and Jim Crow to, principally, mass incarceration. The topic is explored in tandem with the development of open letter writing skills. This epistolary form allows both for the intimate engagement of individual, familiar contact and the deft inclusion of targeted eavesdroppers in order to raise the consciousness of listeners and affirm the value of personal relationships. Course texts include letters to and from prison, poetry, short stories, memoir, social science, documentaries, and critical theory. 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. - CAS AA 200: Topics in African American Studies
May be repeated for credit as topic varies. Topic for Fall 2021: African American Literature and the Classical Tradition. Traces the history of adaptions and allusions to antiquity in Black writers from the eighteenth century to today, in a wide range of genres: poetry, essays, travel writing, novels, drama, and film. - CAS AA 207: Sociology of Race and Ethnicity
This course 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 and the deep historical roots of those problems through a sociological lens. Carries social science divisional credit in CAS. Also offered as CAS SO 207. 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. - CAS AA 210: American Minstrelsy
An American entertainment historically rooted in commodified performance of "blackness", this course engages with the complicated history of minstrelsy as both a racist and progressive art form. Course material surveys the minstrel tradition and its influence on popular entertainment. Effective Spring 2022, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing-Intensive Course, Aesthetic Exploration, Research and Information Literacy. - CAS AA 215: Arts of Africa and Its Diaspora
Exploration of a diversity of visual and performing arts from Africa, including 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. Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Critical Thinking. - CAS AA 234: African Americans in Global Perspective: Slavery and the Creation of Race
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. - CAS AA 296: Religion and Hip Hop
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. - CAS AA 300: Topics in African American Studies
May be repeated for credit as topic varies. Topic for Fall 2021: Latinx Identities, Families and Communities. Through literature, journalism, and film, this course explores the various races and ethnicities that comprise Latinx identities in the US. Topics include immigration, multiculturalism, colorism, family expectations, the college experience, mental health, gentrification, and the media representation of Latinx peoples. - CAS AA 303: African Americans and the Humanities
Examines political, cultural, and historical roots of the African American experience through readings in African American literature. Topic for Spring 2021: African Americans in Popular Culture: Commodifying the Black Image. Explores the history of black people's images in American popular culture. Attention to how blacks have represented themselves and how those representations reflect historical periods as well as specific political and cultural events. - CAS AA 304: Introduction to African American Women Writers
This course studies the cultural contexts and the ongoing relevance of significant works by African American Women Writers. Works by Jacobs, Butler, Harper, Hurston, Brooks, Kincaid, Morrison and Marshall complemented by critical articles lay out this rich tradition. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Critical Thinking. - CAS AA 305: Toni Morrison's American Times
Using historical and literary sources to make visible the interactions between the world of the novel and that of American history, the course examines how Morrison's Song of Solomon, Beloved, Jazz, and Love depict crucial times in American history. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Critical Thinking. - 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 308: Race and Politics
Combining research from history, political science, sociology, and economics, this course examines the role of race and ethnicity in shaping American politics and policy. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Social Inquiry II, Ethical Reasoning, Critical Thinking. - CAS AA 309: African American History in Global and Comparative Perspective
In-depth study of selected topics in African American history from the seventeenth century to the present. Topic for Fall 2019: Slavery and the Making of Race. Study of the processes of racialization in the making of the New-World. Asks how do contemporary constructions of race, from social tensions to political movements draw on histories of the past? - CAS AA 310: Civil Rights History
This course examines the U.S. Civil Rights and the struggle for black freedom movements. From the late nineteenth century through the twenty-first century, we consider events, organizations, "leaders" and organizers, legal campaigns, and political protests to answer the questions: What were the race, class, and gender dynamics within the movements? What were the changing definitions of freedom? The course treats the movement's roots, goals, ideologies, and cultures, and includes a comparison of the struggles for equal rights of Mexican Americans, Native Americans, LGBT folks, and other groups. Effective Spring 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: The Individual in Community, Historical Consciousness, Teamwork/Collaboration. - CAS AA 311: African American Religious History
This course offers a historical survey of religions practiced by people of African descent living in North America. Students explore the diverse terrain of African American religiosity, which includes Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Spiritualism, and African-derived religions.
