Anthropology
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- Anthropology
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- African American & Black Diaspora Studies
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CAS AN 285: Coping with Crisis in Contemporary Africa (area)
Explores the ways ordinary Africans are coping with problems of security, environmental degradation, forced migration, economic decline, and disease. Readings and lectures contrast outsiders' interpretations of these "crises" with the way they are experienced by those they affect. Staff. 4 cr. Either sem. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Social Inquiry I. -
CAS AN 290: Children and Culture
Explores caregiving and child development from infancy to adolescence in different societies around the world. Topics include cultural concepts of childhood; the acquisition of language and culture; gender socialization and moral development; and the impact of modern schooling, nation-making, and media on childhood. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Social Inquiry I, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy. -
CAS AN 291: Peoples of the Arctic
People have lived in the Arctic for 40,000 years and continue to thrive in this challenging environment. We use archaeological, oral history, historic, and ethnographic data to examine this long history, and to address the ways in which themes from the past can be used to highlight contemporary issues in Arctic communities. -
CAS AN 302: Transforming Life: Anthropology of Gender and Medical Technologies
Undergraduate Prerequisites: First Year Writing Seminar (e.g., WR 100 or WR 120). CAS AN 101 and/or AN 210 recommended.
Seminar anthropologically compares the role of science and medicine in society and troubles what is natural and moral, e.g., about gender, personhood, kinship, and community, using case studies of reproductive and end-of- life technologies in Asia, the Middle East, and North America. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Ethical Reasoning, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Ethical Reasoning, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Writing- Intensive Course. -
CAS AN 305: Paleolithic Archaeology
Introduction to emergence of culture and reconstruction of early human lifeways from archaeological evidence. Topics include early humans in Africa, Asia, and Europe; Neanderthals; the first Americans; and the prelude to agriculture. Effective Fall 2023, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Scientific Inquiry I, Critical Thinking. -
CAS AN 307: Turkey and Middle East in Comparative Perspective (area)
Explores the social and cultural diversity of the modern Middle East with particular attention to Turkey. Focus on state power, minority governance, gender, and the interplay of sociopolitical change and different articulations of tradition and modernity. -
CAS AN 308: Food in Place(s): Identity, Location, and the Cultures of Taste
Undergraduate Prerequisites: First Year Writing Seminar (e.g., WR 100 or WR 120)
Explores foodways, culinary history, personal, social, and cultural identity, as well as sensory experiences of taste. Special attention given to communities in the Boston area as locations of cultural and culinary diversity. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Writing-Intensive Course. -
CAS AN 309: Boston: An Ethnographic Approach (area)
Undergraduate Prerequisites: First Year Writing Seminar (e.g., WR 100 or WR 120)
Using the tools of ethnographic practice, explores Boston's multiple identities. Boston's patterns of immigration and demographic change are mapped through fieldwork and historical documentation. On site observations will help students understand local meanings of place and community. Effective Spring 2022, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing- Intensive Course, Social Inquiry II. -
CAS AN 311: Culture and Biotech: Beyond the Nature/Culture Divide
Undergraduate Prerequisites: First Year Writing Seminar (e.g., WR 100 or WR 120).
Biotechnologies--e.g., organ transplants, gene editing, life support--challenge the boundaries between what is "natural" and what is "man made," what is "given" and what is "cultured." We explore some of these innovations, their associated ethical dilemmas, and how they help make "culture" and "nature" in different contexts. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Ethical Reasoning, Writing-Intensive Course. -
CAS AN 312: Peoples and Cultures of Africa (area)
Explores the ethnolinguistic diversity of Africa, traditions of the Akan, Joola, Wolof, Yoruba, and other African ethnolinguistic groups, the coexistence between Muslims and non-Muslims in Africa, and the historical events and figures that have shaped the continent. Effective Spring 2022, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, The Individual in Community, Research and Information Literacy. -
CAS AN 317: Power and Society in the Middle East (area)
Peoples and cultures of the Middle East from Afghanistan to Morocco and from the Caucasus to Yemen. Focuses on social organization, family structure, the relationship between the sexes, and the development and maintenance of authority. -
CAS AN 318: Southeast Asia: Tradition and Modernity (area)
Examines the dynamics of politics, religion, class, and gender across Southeast Asia today. Using both literature and film media, pays particular attention to the forces that have made Southeast Asia one of the most dynamic regions in the world today. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Social Inquiry I. -
CAS AN 319: Anthropology of Muslim Cultures and Politics (area)
Examines the history and contemporary dynamics of religion and politics across the entire Muslim-majority world. Special attention to the changing nature of religious observance and authority, and its implications for citizenship, democracy, youth culture, and gender relations. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy. -
CAS AN 320: Women in the Muslim World
A cross-cultural approach to the diversity and complexity of women's lives in the Muslim world, including the United States. Looks at issues such as gender equality, civil society and democracy, sex segregation and sexual politics, kinship and marriage, and veiling. Effective Spring 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Social Inquiry I, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Research and Information Literacy. -
CAS AN 321: Cognition and Culture
This class explores the relationship between culture and cognition. We place emphasis on the mechanisms of cultural change and how these affect features of human cognition. In turn, culture itself is shaped and constrained by human cognition. Effective Fall 2022, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Social Inquiry I, Critical Thinking. -
CAS AN 327: Islam in Africa
Examines the Islamization of Africa and the processes of adaptation of Islam in the continent. It examines the religious beliefs, cultures, and histories of Muslim communities in Morocco, Nigeria, Ghana, Uganda, Ethiopia, Senegal, and the Sudan, among others. Effective Spring 2022, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Historical Consciousness, Research and Information Literacy. -
CAS AN 330: From Conception to Death: The Evolution of Human Life History
Undergraduate Prerequisites: CAS AN 102 or CAS BI 107.
Life History is the story of the human lifespan. This course uses an evolutionary and comparative framework to understand fundamental features of the human life course, such as birth, growth, sexual maturity, and death. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Scientific Inquiry II, Research and Information Literacy. -
CAS AN 331: Human Origins
Undergraduate Prerequisites: CAS AN 102 or CAS AR 101 or CAS BI 107; or equivalent.
Introduction to human paleontology and methods for reconstructing the ancestry, structure, diet, and behavior of fossil primates and humans. Survey of primate and hominid fossils, primate comparative anatomy, radioactive dating, molecular and structural phylogenies, climactic analyses, and comparative behavioral ecology. Effective Spring 2022, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Scientific Inquiry I, Critical Thinking. -
CAS AN 335: The Ape Within: Great Apes and the Evolution of Human Behavior
Undergraduate Prerequisites: CAS AN 102 or CAS BI 107 or CAS BI 119; or consent of instructor.
Introduction to primate social behavior, focusing on the apes. Examines how great ape behavior helps us understand what is unique about human behavior and how we evolved. Topics include diet, juvenile development, social relationships, sexual behavior, aggression, culture, and cognition. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Scientific Inquiry II, Quantitative Reasoning I, Research and Information Literacy. -
CAS AN 336: Primate Evolutionary Ecology
Undergraduate Prerequisites: CAS AN 102.
Introduction to the various theoretical approaches to understanding the diversity and evolutionary ecology of wild non-human primates. Using lemurs, marmosets, chimpanzees and more, this course delves into behavioral ecology, genetic approaches to mating systems, foraging theory, community ecology, and conservation. Effective Fall 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Quantitative Reasoning I, Scientific Inquiry I, Creativity/Innovation.
