Anthropology

• CAS AN 556: The Evolution of the Human Diet
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CASAN102 OR CASBI107 OR CASBI108) or consent of instructor. - An investigation of human dietary evolution including primate and human dietary adaptations, nutritional requirements, optimal foraging, digestive physiology, maternal and infant nutrition, hunting and cooking in human evolution, and impacts of food processing and agriculture on modern diets and health. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing-Intensive Course, Scientific Inquiry II, Research and Information Literacy.
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  • Research and Information Literacy
  • Scientific Inquiry II
  • Writing-Intensive Course
• CAS AN 557: Anthropology of Mental Health
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CASAN101 OR CASAN210) or consent of instructor. - Advanced seminar examining global and local challenges and connections that shape patterns of illness/health around the world, including international responses to mental health crises and moral quandaries through ethnographies of mental health care in different settings and treating different conditions. Effective Spring 2023 this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Oral and/or Signed Communication, Ethical Reasoning.
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  • Ethical Reasoning
  • Oral and/or Signed Communication
• CAS AN 558: The Evolutionary Biology of Human Sex Differences
  Are sex and gender instantiated in the body? This seminar explores evolutionary approaches to investigating sex differences in human behavior and physiology from phylogenetic, mechanistic, and developmental perspectives. Topics include gender expression, non-binary sex/gender, aggression, mate choice, cognition, and more. Effective Spring 2024, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Oral and/or Signed Communication, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Research and Information Literacy.
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  • Oral and/or Signed Communication
  • Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
  • Research and Information Literacy
• CAS AN 559: Evolutionary Endocrinology
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CASAN102) or equivalent. - Focuses on current research in the field of evolutionary endocrinology. Examines how hormones act as mediators of a variety of fundamental evolutionary phenomena from circadian rhythms to sexuality. Explores how and why natural selection shaped the "inputs" and "outputs" of the endocrine system. Effective Fall 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Oral and/or Signed Communication, Scientific Inquiry II, Teamwork/Collaboration.
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  • Oral and/or Signed Communication
  • Scientific Inquiry II
  • Teamwork/Collaboration
• CAS AN 563: Religion and Politics across Cultures
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: junior or senior standing; or consent of instructor. - Explores the role of religion, religious movements, and secularism in modern politics, citizenship, gender politics, and public life. Case studies draw from Muslim-majority lands, Africa and Latin America, East-Southeast Asia, and the modern West. Effective Spring 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Social Inquiry II.
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  • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
  • Social Inquiry II
• CAS AN 565: Memory in 3-D: Memorials, Then and Now
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: junior standing. - Memorials and the spaces around them are charged zones, time portals where past and present co-exist. In this course we focus on the development of memorial culture in America, along with a comparative examination of the worlds of ancient Greece and Rome. The distance afforded by stepping outside our own time and place provides perspectives on aspects of form and message, as well as on how the meanings of memorial can change. Effective Spring 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Digital/Multimedia Expression, Historical Consciousness, Creativity/Innovation.
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  • Creativity/Innovation
  • Digital/Multimedia Expression
  • Historical Consciousness
• CAS AN 568: Symbol, Myth, and Rite
  Historical overview of ritual behavior, the role of symbolism in the study of culture, and the narrative quality of worldview and belief. Emphasis on verbal performance and public display events in specific cultural contexts. Effective Spring 2024, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Social Inquiry II, Research and Information Literacy.
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  • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
  • Research and Information Literacy
  • Social Inquiry II
• CAS AN 571: Anthropology of Emotion
  Advanced seminar on the study of emotion as culturally and historically specific experience, cognition and symbolic system. Focus on specific emotions including shame, anger, melancholy, hope, hate and love. Special attention to affect and the politics of emotion. Effective Fall 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Social Inquiry II, Creativity/Innovation.
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  • Creativity/Innovation
  • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
  • Social Inquiry II
• CAS AN 573: The Ethnography of China and Taiwan (area)
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: junior or senior standing or consent of instructor; First Year Writing Seminar (e.g., WR100 or WR120). - Reading of major ethnographies and modern histories as a basis for examining changing Taiwanese and Chinese culture and society. Attention to ethnography as a genre, as well as to the dramatic changes of the past century. (Counts towards the East Asian Studies minor.) 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, Social Inquiry II.
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  • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
  • Social Inquiry II
  • Writing-Intensive Course
• CAS AN 588: Project Design and Statistics in Biological Anthropology
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CASAN102 OR CASBI107 OR CASBI108 OR CASAR101) or consent of instructor. - This seminar teaches students project design and statistics using R and Rstudio. Students will become competent in coding, version control, data reports and commenting code, and implement both basic and advanced statistics to be used in student research projects. Effective Fall 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Quantitative Reasoning II, Scientific Inquiry II, Teamwork/Collaboration.
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  • Quantitative Reasoning II
  • Scientific Inquiry II
  • Teamwork/Collaboration
• CAS AN 590: Theory, Method, and Techniques in Fieldwork
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: consent of instructor. - Graduate Prerequisites: consent of instructor. - Hands-on experimentation with and theoretical implications of a variety of methods for anthropological ethnographic field research, including posing research questions, research design and ethics, data collection, analysis, and initial write-up.
• CAS AN 593: Special Topics in Cultural Anthropology
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: junior or senior standing or consent of instructor. - Selected issues and debates in current anthropology. Topic for Fall 2023, Section A1: Migration, (Im)mobilities and Precarity. Addresses the regulation of human mobility and practices of inclusive exclusion in a globalized era and given the immediacy of climate displacement. Explores the interconnections between differentiated citizenship, economic precarity, cultural marginalization and political mobilization.
• CAS AN 594: Seminar: Topics in Cultural Anthropology
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: junior or senior standing of consent of instructor. - Selected issues and debates in current anthropology.
• CAS AN 595: Methods in Biological Anthropology
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CASAN102 OR CASBI107 OR CASBI108) or consent of instructor. - An exploration of field and laboratory methods used in biological anthropology, with students participating in hands-on exercises. Topics include health assessment, body composition, diet, energetics, morphological adaptations, reproductive status, habitat composition, spatial movements, and conservation. Professional skills are also developed. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Quantitative Reasoning II, Scientific Inquiry II, Teamwork/Collaboration.
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  • Quantitative Reasoning II
  • Scientific Inquiry II
  • Teamwork/Collaboration
• CAS AN 596: Anthropology and History
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: junior or senior standing, or consent of instructor. - Examines the use of ethnographic materials and models of alternative social or economic organization to interpret historical materials as well as the use of history to provide dynamic models of change in anthropological analysis.
• CAS AN 597: Special Topics in Biological Anthropology (Fall)
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CASAN102) and consent of instructor. - Special issues and debates in current biological anthropology. Past topics have included human growth and development; primate and human sexuality; evolution of the human family; project design and statistics in biological anthropology; and evolutionary endocrinology.
• CAS AN 598: Special Issues in Biological Anthropology (Spring)
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CASAN102) and consent of instructor. - Special issues and debates in current biological anthropology. Past topics have included human growth and development; primate and human sexuality; evolution of the human family; project design and statistics in biological anthropology; and evolutionary endocrinology.