The following courses are offered within the anthropology department. Please see the BU Bulletin for the most up-to-date information regarding course offerings, meeting times, and locations.
CAS AN 262 4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy Social Inquiry I
Where do culture and society come from' Are there common patterns that underlie social diversity' This course explores the origins of human societies, from our hunter-gatherer ancestors to the development of contemporary industrial nations. Effective Fall 2022, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Social Inquiry I (SO1), Critical Thinking.
CAS AN 263 4 credits. Fall and Spring
An exploration of female behavioral biology focusing on evolutionary, physiological, and biosocial aspects of women's lives from puberty through pregnancy, birth, lactation, menopause, and aging. Examples are drawn from traditional and industrialized societies, and data from nonhuman primates are considered. (Counts as an elective in Biology with a Specialization in Behavioral Biology. Counts towards the minor in Women's, Gender, & Sexuality Studies.) (Counts for Natural Science credit; as a Biology - Specialization in Behavioral Biology - elective; and towards the Women's, Gender, & Sexuality Studies minor.) Carries natural science divisional credit in CAS. Effective Spring 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Scientific Inquiry I, Social Inquiry I, Critical Thinking.
CAS AN 263S 4 credits. Summer
Explores female behavioral biology, focusing on evolutionary, physiological, and biosocial aspects of women's lives from puberty through pregnancy, birth, lactation, menopause, and aging. Examples are drawn from traditional and industrialized societies, and data from nonhuman primates are considered. (Counts for Natural Science credit; as an elective in Biology with a Specialization in Behavioral Biology; and towards the Women's, Gender, & Sexuality Studies minor.) Carries natural science divisional credit in CAS. Effective Spring 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Scientific Inquiry I, Social Inquiry I, Critical Thinking.
CAS AN 272 4 credits.
Why did natural selection leave us so vulnerable to illness' In this course, we explore how human evolution illuminates our susceptibility to illness and disease. Students apply principles of evolutionary biology to understanding physical and mental health. Effective Spring 2025, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Creativity/Innovation, Scientific Inquiry II.
CAS AN 280 4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy Social Inquiry I Writing-Intensive Course
Undergraduate Prerequisites: First Year Writing Seminar (e.g., CASWR 100 or WR 120) or consent of instructor - Survey of the archaeological evidence of the diets of human societies, from earliest humans to the present. Emphasis on the remains of plants, animals, and humans and what they tell us about ancient food and drink within their social contexts. Effective Spring 2025, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Social Inquiry I, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Writing-Intensive Course.
CAS AN 280S 4 credits. Summer
BU Hub Learn More Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy Social Inquiry I Writing-Intensive Course
Undergraduate Prerequisites: First Year Writing Seminar (e.g., CASWR 100 or WR 120) or consent of instructor - Survey of the archaeological evidence of the diets of human societies, from earliest humans to the present. Emphasis on the remains of plants, animals, and humans and what they tell us about ancient food and drink within their social contexts. Effective Spring 2025, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Social Inquiry I, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Writing-Intensive Course.
CAS AN 283 4 credits. Fall and Spring
North American prehistory from initial peopling of continent to development of complex societies. Explores human entry into the New World; migration across North America; subsistence changes; human effects on landscape; encounters with Europeans; role of archaeology in contemporary Native cultures. Effective Fall 2023, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Social Inquiry I
CAS AN 285 4 credits. Fall and Spring
Explores the ways ordinary Africans are coping with problems of security, environmental degradation, forced migration, economic decline, and disease. Readings and lectures contrast outsiders' interpretations of these "crises" with the way they are experienced by those they affect. Staff. 4 cr. Either sem. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Social Inquiry I.
CAS AN 287 4 credits. Fall
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Digital/Multimedia Expression Historical Consciousness
Examines the space between freedom and enslavement known as recaptivity. Course discussions focus on conceptions of freedom and their relationship to recaptive status. Reviews recaptivity contexts in both the historical and archaeological record. Also examines the theme of return. Effective Fall 2024 fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Critical Thinking, Digital/Multimedia Expression, Historical Consciousness.
CAS AN 290 4 credits. Fall and Spring
Cross-cultural exploration of caregiving and child development from infancy to adolescence. Topics include beliefs about infants and children; the acquisition of culture; gender socialization; moral development; and the influence of schooling, nation-making, and media on childhood. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Social Inquiry I, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy.
CAS AN 290S 4 credits. Summer
Cross-cultural exploration of caregiving and child development from infancy to adolescence. Topics include beliefs about infants and children; the acquisition of culture; gender socialization; moral development; and the influence of schooling, nation-making, and media on childhood. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Social Inquiry I, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy.
CAS AN 291 4 credits. Fall and Spring
People have lived in the Arctic for 40,000 years and continue to thrive in this challenging environment. We use archaeological, oral history, historic, and ethnographic data to examine this long history, and to address the ways in which themes from the past can be used to highlight contemporary issues in Arctic communities. Effective Spring 2024, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU HUB areas Historical Consciousness, Social Inquiry I.
CAS AN 301 4 credits. Spring
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Ethical Reasoning Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
Introduction to the archaeology of the African diaspora, the global displacement of African people and their descendants. Reviews findings, methodology, and theory around key burial contexts. Emphasis on shifting dialogues, such as human remains stewardship, community engagement, and reburial. Effective Spring 2025, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas Critical Thinking, Ethical Reasoning, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy.
CAS AN 302 4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy The Individual in Community Writing-Intensive Course
Undergraduate Prerequisites: First Year Writing Seminar (e.g., WR 100 or WR 120). CAS AN 101 and/or AN 210 recommended. - Seminar anthropologically compares the role of science and medicine in society and troubles what is natural and moral, e.g., about gender, personhood, kinship, and community, using case studies of reproductive and end-of- life technologies in Asia, the Middle East, and North America. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Ethical Reasoning, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy. Effective Fall 2024, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, The Individual in Community, Writing- Intensive Course.
CAS AN 305 4 credits. Fall and Spring
Introduction to emergence of culture and reconstruction of early human lifeways from archaeological evidence. Topics include early humans in Africa, Asia, and Europe; Neanderthals; the first Americans; and the prelude to agriculture. Effective Fall 2023, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Scientific Inquiry I, Critical Thinking.
CAS AN 307 4 credits. Fall and Spring
Explores the social and cultural diversity of the modern Middle East with particular attention to Turkey. Focus on state power, minority governance, gender, and the interplay of sociopolitical change and different articulations of tradition and modernity.
CAS AN 308 4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Aesthetic Exploration Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy Writing-Intensive Course
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: Aesthetic Exploration, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Writing-Intensive Course.
CAS AN 308S 4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Aesthetic Exploration Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy Writing-Intensive Course
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: Aesthetic Exploration, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Writing-Intensive Course
CAS AN 309 4 credits. Fall and Spring
Undergraduate Prerequisites: First Year Writing Seminar (e.g., WR 100 or WR 120) - Using the tools of ethnographic practice, explores Boston's multiple identities. Boston's patterns of immigration and demographic change are mapped through fieldwork and historical documentation. On site observations will help students understand local meanings of place and community. Effective Spring 2022, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing- Intensive Course, Social Inquiry II.
CAS AN 309S 4 credits.
Undergraduate Prerequisites: First Year Writing Seminar (e.g., WR 100 or WR 120) - An ethnographic approach to the city of Boston. Explores Boston as a set of ideas surrounding identity, ethnicity, race, class, religion, and politics. Topics for lecture and discussion include Boston's peculiar patterns of geographical development, industrialization, and immigration. The tools of anthropological observation and ethnography will provide students with the capacity to understand community, diversity, and the human geography of Boston.
CAS AN 310 4 credits.
A survey including an appreciation of the traditional background and heritage of native North Americans, analysis of the history and contact with Europeans and governmental policies, and an examination and evaluation of the contemporary situation. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Social Inquiry I, Critical Thinking.