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 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
• 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 747: Afghanistan (area)
  Ethnographic and historical examination of Afghanistan's traditional social, political and economic organization as a basis for understanding an era of political turmoil, civil wars and foreign interventions in that country over the past 50 years and the country’s future. Effective Fall 2023, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU HUB area: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy.
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  • 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 772: Psychological Anthropology
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: CAS AN 101 and/or CAS AN 210 recommended. Seminar-like, discussion-driven cross-cultural examination of psychological anthropology studies of care, personhood, emotions, gender and the body/mind, medicine, ethics, justice, politics, and the social relations between individuals and their communities or institutions. Effective Spring 2024, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Teamwork/Collaboration, Writing-Intensive Course.
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  • Teamwork/Collaboration
  • Writing-Intensive Course
• 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.
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  • Aesthetic Exploration
  • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
• 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.
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  • Historical Consciousness
  • Social Inquiry I
• CAS AN 791: Theory in Archaeology
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: at least two archaeological studies courses at the 200 level or above, senior status, or consent of instructor. - Seminar dealing with the intellectual history of the discipline, research methods, concepts, and problems in archaeological theory, and the formulation of research designs. Effective Fall 2024 fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Critical Thinking, Global Citizenship, Social Inquiry II.
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  • Critical Thinking
  • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
  • Social Inquiry II
• CAS AN 794: Scientific Applications in Archaeology
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: CAS AR 307. Seminar exploring new ways of addressing archaeological questions through the application of scientific techniques, focusing on cutting-edge methodologies and the most recent literature in the field. Students pursue questions of individual interest through readings, discussions, presentations, and research papers.
• CAS AN 797: Anthropology and Film: Ways of Seeing
  Considers the history and development of anthropological, ethnographic, and transcultural filmmaking. In-depth examination of important anthropological films in terms of methodologies, techniques, and strategies of expression; story, editing, narration, themes, style, content, art, and aesthetics. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Historical Consciousness.
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  • Aesthetic Exploration
  • Historical Consciousness
• CAS AN 901: Directed Study in Anthropology
  DIR STUDY ANTHR
• CAS AN 902: Directed Study in Anthropology
  DIR STUDY ANTHR