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 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.
• CAS AN 640: Shadow Empires
  The political, economic and social structures of empires in Eurasia and North Africa from an anthropological perspective that examines how they became and remained the world’s largest polities for 2500 years only to all vanish 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 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.
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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.
• 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.
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  • 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.
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  • Creativity/Innovation
  • Quantitative Reasoning I
  • Scientific Inquiry II