Courses in anthropology help students develop all six essential capacities outlined by BU’s Hub program. Browse our courses by Hub essential capacity below. To learn more about Hub requirements for anthropology students, visit our Hub Resources page here .
Philosophical, Aesthetic, and Historical Interpretation
Scientific and Social Inquiry
CAS AN 550 4 credits.
Undergraduate Prerequisites: CASAN 102 or CASAN 331 or consent of instructor. - Development and structure of the human skeleton in anthropological and archaeological contexts. Basic processes of bone biology and how they are affected by lived experience. Meetings are lab-oriented and develop skill in whole and fragmentary skeletal identification. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub area: Scientific Inquiry I. Effective Fall 2024, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub areas: Ethical Reasoning, Scientific Inquiry I.
CAS AN 552 4 credits.
Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CASAN331 OR CASAN332 OR CASBI302) or consent of instructor. - The evolutionary history of the primate radiation- particularly that of non-human primates -is examined through investigation of the musculoskeletal anatomy of living primates and their fossil relatives. Comparative and biomechanical approaches are used to reconstruct the behavior of extinct species. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Scientific Inquiry I, Critical Thinking.
CAS AN 553 4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings Scientific Inquiry I
Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CASAN102) or consent of instructor. - Language, labor, culture, self-awareness, symbolizing, and other traits have been called uniquely human. But if these things have no animal antecedents, how could they have evolved' Course participants examine this "continuity paradox" and its proposed solutions from Darwin onward. Effective Spring 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Scientific Inquiry I, Critical Thinking.
CAS AN 555 4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Oral and/or Signed Communication Scientific Inquiry II Teamwork/Collaboration
Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CASAN102 OR CASBI107) or equivalent, and one additional biological anthropology course; or c onsent of instructor. - Why do we get sick' Evolutionary medicine seeks to answer this question by applying modern evolutionary theory to understanding health and disease among contemporary human populations. Topics include chronic and infectious disease, mental illness, allergies, autoimmunity, and drug addiction. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Oral and/or Signed Communication, Scientific Inquiry II, Teamwork/Collaboration.
CAS AN 556 4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Research and Information Literacy Scientific Inquiry II Writing-Intensive Course
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.
Diversity, Civic Engagement, and Global Citizenship
CAS AN 532 4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy Historical Consciousness Research and Information Literacy
Examines the Islamization of Africa and literary traditions. Students learn about African texts written in the Arabic script (Ajami) and the spread of Islam and its Africanization throughout the continent. Texts written by enslaved Africans in the Americas are examined. Effective Fall 2024 fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship, Historical Consciousness, Research and Information Literacy.
CAS AN 550 4 credits.
Undergraduate Prerequisites: CASAN 102 or CASAN 331 or consent of instructor. - Development and structure of the human skeleton in anthropological and archaeological contexts. Basic processes of bone biology and how they are affected by lived experience. Meetings are lab-oriented and develop skill in whole and fragmentary skeletal identification. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub area: Scientific Inquiry I. Effective Fall 2024, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub areas: Ethical Reasoning, Scientific Inquiry I.
CAS AN 557 4 credits.
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.
CAS AN 560 4 credits.
Explores the various ways that nation-states, cultural communities, and individuals negotiate the ethics and use of biomedical technologies, old and new. Asks what kinds of "moral registers," including religious traditions, state histories, political ideologies, and forms of market engagement shape when and why certain biotechnological developments are denounced as ethical threats or embraced as empowering forms of progress. Effective Fall 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Ethical Reasoning, The Individual in Community.
CAS AN 563 4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy Social Inquiry II
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.