Courses

The listing of a course description here does not guarantee a course’s being offered in a particular term. Please refer to the published schedule of classes on the MyBU Student Portal for confirmation a class is actually being taught and for specific course meeting dates and times.

• CAS 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.
• CAS AN 716: Contemporary European Ethnography
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CASAN101) - Approaches Europe and European societies through an exploration of significant social shifts: the creation of the European Union, the decline of the national welfare state, the rise of regionalist movements, and the socio-political transformation of post-socialist states.
• CAS AN 717: Power and Society in the Middle East
  Graduate Prerequisites: CAS AN 101 or consent of instructor - 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 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.
  BU Hub Learn More

  • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
  • Social Inquiry I
• CAS AN 719: Anthropology of Muslim Cultures and Politics (Area)
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: graduate standing. CAS AN 101 or another anthropology course is strong ly recommended. - 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.
  BU Hub Learn More

  • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
  • Historical Consciousness
• CAS 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
  BU Hub Learn More

  • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
  • Research and Information Literacy
  • Social Inquiry I
• CAS 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.
  BU Hub Learn More

  • Research and Information Literacy
  • Scientific Inquiry II
• CAS 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 hominin fossils, primate comparative anatomy, radioactive dating, molecular and structural phylogenies, climactic analyses, and comparative behavioral ecology.
• CAS AN 733: Human Population Genetics
  Graduate Prerequisites: CAS AN 102; or CAS BI 107 and one of BI 119, BI 211, BI 303; or consen t of instructor. - 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.
  BU Hub Learn More

  • Quantitative Reasoning II
  • Research and Information Literacy
  • Scientific Inquiry II
• CAS AN 735: The Ape Within: Great Apes and the Evolution of Human Behavior
  Graduate Prerequisites: graduate standing. - 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.
• CAS AN 736: Primate Evolutionary Ecology
  Graduate Prerequisites: graduate standing. - 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.
  BU Hub Learn More

  • Creativity/Innovation
  • Quantitative Reasoning I
  • Scientific Inquiry II
• CAS 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.
• CAS 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.
  BU Hub Learn More

  • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
  • Historical Consciousness
  • Writing-Intensive Course
• CAS AN 747: Afghanistan (area)
  Ethnographic and historical examination of Afghanistan's traditional social organization, ecology and economy, political organization, and ethnic groups. What has happened to this complex world through 50 years of domestic political turmoil and foreign interventions? Whither Afghanistan today? Effective Fall 2023, this course fulfills a single unit in the following Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy.
  BU Hub Learn More

  • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
• CAS AN 751: Seminar in Linguistic Anthropology
  Graduate Prerequisites: consent of instructor. - 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.
• CAS 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.
  BU Hub Learn More

  • The Individual in Community
• CAS AN 772: Psychological Anthropology
  A cross-cultural, discussion-driven examination of the practices and meanings of care and how it relates to cultural conceptualizations of (gendered) subjectivity, mind-bodies, medicine, ethics, justice, politics, and the psychological and social relations between individuals and their communities and institutions.
• CAS AN 775: Culture, Society, and Religion in South Asia
  Ethnographic and historical introduction to the Indian subcontinent with a focus on the impact of religion on cultural practices and social institutions. Effective Spring 2023, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Aesthetic Exploration.
  BU Hub Learn More

  • Aesthetic Exploration
  • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
• CAS AN 782: Wealth, Poverty, and Culture
  Explores vital cultural dimensions of production, exchange, and consumption in varied settings. Asks how social ties relate to property, wealth, and poverty. Examines how people classify, control, and allocate resources, and how resources in turn influence people.
• CAS AN 784: Anthropology of Religion
  Myth, ritual, and religious experience across cultures. Special attention to the problem of religious symbolism and meaning, religious conversion and revitalization, contrasts between traditional and world religions, and the relation of religious knowledge to science, magic, and ideology. This course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Social Inquiry I.
  BU Hub Learn More

  • Historical Consciousness
  • Social Inquiry I