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
CAS AN 305 4 credits.
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 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 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.
CAS AN 311 4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Ethical Reasoning Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings Writing-Intensive Course
Undergraduate Prerequisites: First Year Writing Seminar (e.g., WR 100 or WR 120). - The class explores some biotechnological innovations and the cultural variability around the ethical dilemmas those innovations provoke. It asks what this variability might mean for thinking about the supposedly fixed dichotomy between “nature” and “culture”? Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Ethical Reasoning, Writing-Intensive Course. Effective Fall 2024, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU HUB areas: Writing-Intensive Course, Ethical Reasoning, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings.
Scientific and Social Inquiry
CAS AN 235 4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Creativity/Innovation Oral and/or Signed Communication Scientific Inquiry I
This course focuses on the major special senses of primates, and how they have evolved in an ecological context. Students study the major sensory systems including vision, hearing, smell, and taste from a morphological, neurological, behavioral, and evolutionary perspective. Effective Fall 2022, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Oral and/or Signed Communication, Scientific Inquiry I, Creativity/Innovation.
CAS AN 240 4 credits.
Introduction to legal anthropology that investigates the role of law and legal systems in a variety of historical and contemporary societies from a cross-cultural perspective. It examines how different societies generate and maintain mechanisms to deal with competition and conflict. (Counts towards the Minor in African American & Black Diaspora Studies.) Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Social Inquiry I, Ethical Reasoning.
CAS AN 243 4 credits.
Shamans in global and theoretical perspectives. The origins and construction of the category of shamanism. Modern theories and debates about the category and the appropriateness of applying it cross-culturally. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Social Inquiry I.
CAS AN 260 4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy Research and Information Literacy Social Inquiry I
Cross-cultural examination of gender roles, expectations, and practices. Focuses on economic, social, political, and ideological determinants that structure the hierarchy of power and privileges accorded the activities and experiences of women, men, and non-binary people in various societies. Effective Fall 2019, 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,
CAS AN 260S 4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy Research and Information Literacy Social Inquiry I
Cross-cultural examination of changing gender roles, expectations, and practices. Focuses on economic, social, political, and ideological determinants that structure the hierarchy of power and privileges accorded the thoughts, activities, and experiences of women and men in various societies. Carries social science divisional credit in CAS. Effective Fall 2019, 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.
Diversity, Civic Engagement, and Global Citizenship
CAS AN 250 4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy The Individual in Community
Overview of the Aztecs, Mayas, and other native peoples of Mexico and Central America, including the chronological development of cultures and key topics. Focus on variability in individuals and groups by age, gender, ethnicity, class, and polities pre- and post-conquest. Effective Fall 2023, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: The Individual in Community, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy.
CAS AN 252 4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More The Individual in Community Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Explores anthropological approaches to community, belonging, and difference using case studies from Asia, Africa, and the Americas. Special attention paid to how contemporary economic and political changes impact the ways people think about and belong to communities. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: The Individual in Community, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy. Effective Fall 2024, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: The Individual in Community, Philosophical Inquiry and Life¿s Meanings
CAS AN 252S 4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More The Individual in Community Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Explores anthropological approaches to community, belonging, and difference using case studies from Asia, Africa, and the Americas. Special attention paid to how contemporary economic and political changes impact the ways people think about and belong to communities. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: The Individual in Community, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy. Effective Fall 2024, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: The Individual in Community, Philosophical Inquiry and Life¿s Meanings.
CAS AN 260 4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy Research and Information Literacy Social Inquiry I
Cross-cultural examination of gender roles, expectations, and practices. Focuses on economic, social, political, and ideological determinants that structure the hierarchy of power and privileges accorded the activities and experiences of women, men, and non-binary people in various societies. Effective Fall 2019, 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,
CAS AN 260S 4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy Research and Information Literacy Social Inquiry I
Cross-cultural examination of changing gender roles, expectations, and practices. Focuses on economic, social, political, and ideological determinants that structure the hierarchy of power and privileges accorded the thoughts, activities, and experiences of women and men in various societies. Carries social science divisional credit in CAS. Effective Fall 2019, 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.
Communication
CAS AN 379 4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy Research and Information Literacy Social Inquiry II
Examines daily life in China and Taiwan, tracing how opposed economic and political paths transformed a common tradition. Topics include capitalism and socialism; politics and social control; dissidence; gender relations; religion, arts, and literature; and pollution. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Social Inquiry II, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Research and Information Literacy.
CAS AN 379S 4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy Research and Information Literacy Social Inquiry II
Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Social Inquiry II, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Research and Information Literacy.
CAS AN 440 4 credits.
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. Effective Spring 2025, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Research and Information Literacy, Social Inquiry II.
CAS AN 461 4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Oral and/or Signed Communication Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Undergraduate Prerequisites: junior or senior standing in the major. Required of majors. - Examines foundational social scientific and anthropological theories and methods from the late 19th century through the mid-20th century. Discussion focuses on precursors to contemporary anthropological thought, including historical materialist, evolutionist, functionalist, structuralist, symbolic, and culture-and-personality theories and approaches. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Oral and/or Signed Communication, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings.
CAS AN 462 4 credits.
Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CASAN461) and First Year Writing Seminar (e.g., WR 100 or WR 120) - Required of majors. Examines current anthropological theory and method. Discussion focuses on recent ethnographies and the anthropological debates they have provoked. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Social Inquiry II, Writing-Intensive Course.