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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  • CAS AM 546: Places of Memory: Historic Preservation Theory and Practice
    Covers key aspects of the history, theory, and practice of historic preservation. Preservation is discussed in the context of cultural history and the changing relationship between existing buildings and landscapes and attitudes toward history, memory, invented tradition, and place. Also offered as CAS AH 546 and CAS HI 546.
  • CAS AM 554: Preservation Planning
    Introduces students to local, state, and national government policies and practices intended to protect historically and aesthetically significant structures. In addition, the course covers planning approaches aimed at managing redevelopment in established neighborhoods, to create livable and sustainable communities.
  • CAS AM 555: Boston Architectural and Community History Workshop
    Focuses on class readings, lectures, and research on a single neighborhood or community in Boston (or Greater Boston). Greatest emphasis is on using primary sources-- land titles and deeds, building permits, fire insurance atlases and other maps. Explores places and sources that help assess and narrate the rich history of architectural and urban development.
  • CAS AM 567: Topics in American Material Culture
    An interdisciplinary research seminar exploring a topic in American material culture. Specific content will vary by semester and may be repeated for credit as topics change. Topic for Spring 2022: Material Culture of the Twentieth-Century United States.
  • CAS AN 101: Introduction to Sociocultural Anthropology
    Introduction to the basic concepts, principles, and problems of sociocultural anthropology, emphasizing the study of traditional and complex societies. Special attention to the organization and meaning of religion, economic life, kinship and political order; and the problem of cultural variation in the contemporary world. Carries social science divisional credit in CAS. 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, Research and Information Literacy.
    • Social Inquiry I
    • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
    • Research and Information Literacy
  • CAS AN 102: Human Biology, Behavior, and Evolution
    Introduces basic principles of evolutionary biology, human origins, genetics, reproduction, socio-ecology, and the evolution of primate and human behavior and adaptions. Section activities include examination of fossil and skeletal material, and hands-on projects involving human and primate behavior and biology. Carries natural science divisional credit (with lab) in CAS. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Scientific Inquiry I, Social Inquiry I, Critical Thinking.
    • Scientific Inquiry I
    • Social Inquiry I
    • Critical Thinking
  • CAS AN 103: Anthropology Through Ethnography
    Examines the diversity of human lifeways and cultures across a variety of societies and through time, as well as the social processes that shape individuals. Seminar-style introduction to cultural anthropology through the reading of ethnography, with discussion and debate. (For anthropology majors, this course can serve as a substitute for AN 101.) Carries social science divisional credit in CAS. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Social Inquiry I, The Individual in Community, Critical Thinking.
    • Social Inquiry I
    • The Individual in Community
    • Critical Thinking
  • CAS AN 210: Introduction to Medical Anthropology
    This lecture and discussion-driven course uses ethnographic case materials and active learning strategies to introduce students to socio-cultural anthropological modes of understanding and analyzing health-related experiences and institutions, including political and ethical dimensions of illness and suffering around the globe. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Social Inquiry II, Ethical Reasoning, Research and Information Literacy.
    • Ethical Reasoning
    • Social Inquiry II
    • Research and Information Literacy
  • CAS AN 211: Humans Among Animals
    Examines how humans understand (other) animals and their thought, feeling, and communication and the ways we humans in varied cultures and societies use animals for interaction and self-understanding. Interdisciplinary approach that considers language, aesthetics, ideology, practice, and regulation. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills units in the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Ethical Reasoning, and Critical Thinking.
    • Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
    • Ethical Reasoning
    • Critical Thinking
  • CAS AN 220: Urban Anthropology
    An introduction to classic and contemporary definitions of the city and ethnographic approaches to the study of urban life. Examines urban inequalities and the stratification of space by immigration, gender, racialization, and poverty. Participants conduct mini- ethnographic projects in the city of Boston. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Social Inquiry I, The Individual in Community, Research and Information Literacy.
    • Social Inquiry I
    • The Individual in Community
    • Research and Information Literacy
  • CAS AN 233: The Evolutionary Biology of Human Variation
    Addresses human biological variation. An introduction to the fundamentals of comparative biology, evolutionary theory, and genetics and considers how research in these fields informs some of our most culturally-engaged identities: race, sex, gender, sexuality, and body type. Carries natural sciences divisional credit (without lab) in CAS. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Scientific Inquiry I, Ethical Reasoning, Critical Thinking.
    • Scientific Inquiry I
    • Ethical Reasoning
    • Critical Thinking
  • CAS AN 234: Evolutionary Psychology
    Can evolutionary theory shed light on human psychology and behavior? This introductory course explores the evolution of mind: emotion and expression, learning and cognition, sex and reproduction, parenthood and family, cooperation and coalitions, aggression and warfare, mental health, and more. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Scientific Inquiry I, Social Inquiry I.
    • Scientific Inquiry I
    • Social Inquiry I
  • CAS AN 235: Introduction to the Primate Senses
    This course focuses on the major special senses of primates, and how they have evolved in an ecological context. Students study the major sensory systems including vision, hearing, smell, and taste from a morphological, neurological, behavioral, and evolutionary perspective. Effective Fall 2022, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Oral and/or Signed Communication, Scientific Inquiry I, Creativity/Innovation.
    • Scientific Inquiry I
    • Oral and/or Signed Communication
    • Creativity/Innovation
  • CAS AN 240: Legal Anthropology
    An introduction to the anthropologist's approaches to law. Investigates the relationship among society, culture, and law focuses on how different societies generate and structure competition and conflict. Examines the range of social and symbolic mechanisms for regulating dispute. Carries social science divisional credit in CAS. (Counts towards African Studies minor.) Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Social Inquiry I, Ethical Reasoning.
    • Social Inquiry I
    • Ethical Reasoning
  • CAS AN 243: Shamans and Shamanism
    Shamans in global and theoretical perspectives. The origins and construction of the category of shamanism. Modern theories and debates about the category and the appropriateness of applying it cross-culturally. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Social Inquiry I.
    • Historical Consciousness
    • Social Inquiry I
  • CAS AN 252: Ethnicity and Identity
    Explores anthropological approaches to community, belonging, and difference using case studies from the South Pacific, Europe, North America, and Africa. Special attention paid to how contemporary economic and political changes impact the ways people think about and belong to communities. Carries social science divisional credit in CAS. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: The Individual in Community, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy.
    • The Individual in Community
    • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
  • CAS AN 260: Sex and Gender in Anthropological Perspective
    Cross-cultural examination of changing gender roles, expectations, and practices. Focuses on economic, social, political, and ideological determinants that structure the hierarchy of power and privileges accorded the thoughts, activities, and experiences of women and men in various societies. Carries social science divisional credit in CAS. Effective Fall 2019, 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.
    • Social Inquiry I
    • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
    • Research and Information Literacy
  • CAS AN 262: The Evolution of Culture and Society
    Where do culture and society come from? Are there common patterns that underlie social diversity? This course explores the origins of human societies, from our hunter-gatherer ancestors to the development of contemporary industrial nations. Effective Fall 2022, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Social Inquiry I (SO1), Critical Thinking.
    • Social Inquiry I
    • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
    • Critical Thinking
  • CAS AN 263: The Behavioral Biology of Women
    An exploration of female behavioral biology focusing on evolutionary, physiological, and biosocial aspects of women's lives from puberty through pregnancy, birth, lactation, menopause, and aging. Examples are drawn from traditional and industrialized societies, and data from nonhuman primates are considered. (Counts as an elective in Biology with a Specialization in Behavioral Biology. Counts towards the minor in Women's, Gender, & Sexuality Studies.) (Counts for Natural Science credit; as a Biology - Specialization in Behavioral Biology - elective; and towards the Women's, Gender, & Sexuality Studies minor.) Carries natural science divisional credit in CAS. Effective Spring 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Scientific Inquiry I, Social Inquiry I, Critical Thinking.
    • Scientific Inquiry I
    • Social Inquiry I
    • Critical Thinking
  • 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.
    • Historical Consciousness
    • Social Inquiry I

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