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.

• GRS AN 708: Food in Place(s): Identity, Location, and Cultures of Taste
  Explores culinary cultures, histories, diet and food ecology with special attention to Asian societies and Boston's food culture. Examines the use of food and its places as a focus for identity production, national development, and social change. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing-Intensive Course, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Aesthetic Exploration.
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  • Aesthetic Exploration
  • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
  • Writing-Intensive Course
• GRS AN 709: Boston: An Ethnographic Approach (Area)
  An anthropological introduction to Boston using the city as a site of recovery and discovery as students develop ethnographic skills and an understanding of the interplay between geography, history, and demography in the social mapping of urban spaces.
• GRS AN 710: Studies in North American Ethnography
  A survey including an appreciation of the traditional background and heritage of native North Americans, an analysis of the history and contact with Europeans and governmental policies, and an examination and evaluation of the contemporary situation.
• GRS AN 718: Southeast Asia: Tradition and Modernity (Area)
  Provides an in-depth introduction to the culture, politics, religions, and gender realities of modern Southeast Asia. Using both literature and film media, pays particular attention to the forces that have made Southeast Asia the dynamic and deeply plural region it is 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.
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  • Social Inquiry I
  • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
• GRS AN 719: Anthropology of Muslim Cultures and Politics (Area)
  Explores Muslim societies' ongoing struggle over the forms and meanings of Muslim culture and politics. Examines the implications of these struggles for religious authority, gender ideals, citizenship, civil society, and democracy. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy.
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  • Historical Consciousness
  • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
• GRS AN 720: 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
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  • Social Inquiry I
  • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
  • Research and Information Literacy
• GRS AN 726: Oral Tradition as Verbal Art
  Exploration of religious and secular poetry worldwide with emphasis on the ethnography of communication. A focus on performance in oral tradition and its consequences for literary form, as well as the impact of mass media and literacy on orality.
• GRS AN 730: From Conception to Death: The Evolution of Human Life History
  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 carries a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Scientific Inquiry II, Research and Information Literacy.
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  • Scientific Inquiry II
  • Research and Information Literacy
• GRS AN 731: Human Origins
  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.
• GRS AN 733: Human Population Genetics
  This course uses human genomic variation as a framework for better understanding our evolutionary history. Using hands-on population genetic analyses, we will analyze real human genomic data from the 1000 Genomes Project to investigate the evolutionary patterns underlying human diversity. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Quantitative Reasoning II, Scientific Inquiry II, Research and Information Literacy.
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  • Scientific Inquiry II
  • Quantitative Reasoning II
  • Research and Information Literacy
• GRS AN 735: The Ape Within: Great Apes and the Evolution of Human Behavior
  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.
• GRS AN 736: Primate Evolutionary Ecology
  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.
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  • Scientific Inquiry II
  • Quantitative Reasoning I
  • Creativity/Innovation
• GRS AN 739: Primate Biomechanics
  An introduction to the physical principles and anatomies underlying primate behavior, especially locomotion. Topics include mechanics, skeletal anatomy, primate locomotion, and the primate fossil record. Emphasis on bone biology and human bipedalism.
• GRS AN 744: Modern Japanese Society: Family, School, and Workplace (Area)
  Approaches diversity and change in contemporary Japanese society through a focus on the life course, family, school, and workplace. Also explores popular and material culture, and the social history of urban life. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing-Intensive Course, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Historical Consciousness.
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  • Historical Consciousness
  • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
  • Writing-Intensive Course
• GRS AN 745: Moving Experiences: Cultures of Tourism and Travel
  Movement of people carries cultural, personal and political meaning. Ancient Chinese travelers, medieval pilgrims, colonialists, missionaries, women explorers reveal meanings of boundaries and movement through their journals and historical documents, amplified through anthropological studies of tourism and travel.
• GRS AN 747: Afghanistan (Area)
  Ethnographic and historical examination of Afghanistan's traditional social and political organization, ecology and economy, and relationship among ethnic groups. Also addresses civil wars and foreign interventions over the last thirty years, the current situation in Afghanistan, and prospects for the country's future.
• GRS AN 751: Seminar in Linguistic Anthropology
  An in-depth exploration of current issues in the field of linguistic anthropology. Readings focus on theories and approaches to language as a form of action through which cultural forms, political ideologies, and social identities are constructed and enacted.
• GRS AN 755: Religious Fundamentalism in Anthropological Perspective
  Anthropological study of the global phenomenon of religious fundamentalism. A product of the modern world, fundamentalism is perceived as counter- cultural and anti-nationalist. Cases drawn from North America and the Islamic Middle East, with special attention to women's interpretation of religion. Effective Spring 2022, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub area: The Individual in Community.
• GRS AN 772: Psychological Anthropology
  Introduces students to some key theoretical perspectives and controversies in the cross-cultural study of psychology. Readings from classic texts and cross-cultural studies of emotion, sexuality, concepts of the person, national character, consciousness, authority, and religion.
• GRS AN 775: Culture, Society, and Religion in South Asia (Area)
  Ethnographic and historical introduction to the Indian subcontinent with a focus on the impact of religion on cultural practices and social institutions.

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