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 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. May be repeated for credit as topics change.
• 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 598: Special Issues in Biological Anthropology
  Prerequisites: CASAN 102 or CASBI 107 or consent of instructor. Selected issues and debates in current biological anthropology.
• CAS AN 640: Shadow Empires
  Examines the political, economic and social structures of empires in Eurasia and North Africa from an anthropological perspective and explains how they became and remained the world’s largest polities for 2500 years only to collapse worldwide in the 20th century.
• CAS AN 701: Anthropology Across Sub-Disciplines
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: Graduate standing or consent of instructor. - An examination of current and historical perspectives across sub-disciplines of Anthropology: Social Anthropology, Biological Anthropology, and Archaeology. Explores how methodologies, theories and interpretations have changed as disciplines have developed.
• CAS AN 703: Anthropological Theory: History and Practice
  An intensive introduction to the foundations of the discipline focusing on classic works from the mid-19th to mid-20th centuries. A critical analysis of the development of the discipline of anthropology, its literature, history, and contemporary research problems.
• CAS AN 704: Sociocultural Theory: Contemporary Currents
  Graduate Prerequisites: Required of first-year graduate students and open to students in relat ed disciplines with the consent of the instructor. - Examination of major theoretical trends and debates in anthropological theory from the 1970s to present.
• CAS AN 705: Theory in Evolutionary Anthropology: The Biological and Historical Past
  Examination of major contributions and debates in biological anthropology focusing on human evolution and biology. Topics include evolutionary theory, fossil and living primates, human and primate evolution, life histories, behavioral ecology, physiology and the relationship between biology and culture.
• CAS AN 707: Turkey & 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, sociopolitical change and different articulations of tradition and modernity.
• CAS AN 708: Food in Place(s): Identity, Location, and Cultures of Taste
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: First Year Writing Seminar (e.g., WR 100 or WR 120). - Explores historical and cultural ecologies of foodways. Field trips focus on history, immigration and taste identity in Boston's neighborhoods. Main text: Wurgaft and White, Ways of Eating: Exploring Food through History and Culture. 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
• CAS AN 716: Contemporary European Ethnography
  What and where is Europe? Who is European? As authoritarianism rises, this class asks what is happening to belonging across Europe? Are old forms of racism and xenophobia returning? Or are new modes of exclusion appearing?
• 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.
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  • 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.
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  • 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
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  • 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.
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  • 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.