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 719 4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy Historical Consciousness
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.
CAS AN 744 4 credits. Fall
BU Hub Learn More Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy Historical Consciousness Writing-Intensive Course
Approaches diversity and change in contemporary Japanese society through a focus on the life course, family, school, and workplace. Also explores popular and material culture, and the social history of urban life. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing-Intensive Course, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Historical Consciousness.
CAS AN 775 4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Aesthetic Exploration Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
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.
CAS AN 784 4 credits. Fall and Spring
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.
CAS AN 797 4 credits. Fall and Spring
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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Scientific and Social Inquiry
CAS AN 349 4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy Social Inquiry I
Examines imaginings and stereotypes of savagery in change, comparing and contrasting them with real humans. Treats African, Native American, and European civilizations and their interrelations of perception, prejudice, and performance. Links history and human geography; connects culture, society, and psychology. 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, Critical Thinking.
CAS AN 351 4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More The Individual in Community Research and Information Literacy Social Inquiry I
Examines the ways that language both reflects and shapes thought, culture, and relations of power. Particular emphasis is placed on three broad topical areas: language, ethnicity and race; language and the performance of gender; and the linguistic performance of youth identities. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Social Inquiry I, The Individual in Community, Research and Information Literacy.
CAS AN 357 4 credits. Spring
Introduction to the study of human remains in bioarchaeological contexts. Course reviews key theoretical frameworks and methodologies in interpreting valuable information about demography, gender differences, social identities and the daily lives of past peoples, as well as ongoing ethical concerns in bioarchaeological practice. Effective Spring 2025, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU HUB areas: Ethical Reasoning, Social Inquiry I.
CAS AN 384 4 credits. Fall and Spring
Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CASAN101) or consent of instructor. - Introduction to the anthropological study of 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. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Social Inquiry I.
Diversity, Civic Engagement, and Global Citizenship
CAS AN 357 4 credits. Spring
Introduction to the study of human remains in bioarchaeological contexts. Course reviews key theoretical frameworks and methodologies in interpreting valuable information about demography, gender differences, social identities and the daily lives of past peoples, as well as ongoing ethical concerns in bioarchaeological practice. Effective Spring 2025, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU HUB areas: Ethical Reasoning, Social Inquiry I.
CAS AN 362 4 credits. Fall and Spring
Examines mutually transformative relations between human societies and their environments. Shows how social constructions of environment, nature, and culture vary cross-culturally. Topics include: political ecology, environmental conservation, agriculture, climate, bioprospecting, relations with other animals, pollution. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Ethical Reasoning, Social Inquiry II.
CAS AN 362S 4 credits.
Examines how the social construction of environment, nature, and culture varies cross-culturally and historically as well as how it influences economic change, environmental movements, international politics, and public policy. Primary examples include several African countries, Papua New Guinea, and the United States; as well as contemporary global climate change.
CAS AN 363 4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy Social Inquiry II Teamwork/Collaboration
Examines how people, past and present, have interacted with food and water. Explores multiple causes and consequences of global food and water inequities. Considers the cultural politics of food/water production, consumption, and distribution in different parts of the world. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Social Inquiry II, Teamwork/Collaboration.
Intellectual Toolkit
CAS AN 369 4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Ethical Reasoning Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
Introduction to Indigenous archaeology, which seeks to realize a more ethical engagement with Indigenous communities by conducting research "with, for, and by" Indigenous descendant communities. Reviews key theoretical frameworks (e.g., traditional knowledge systems, collaboration, repatriation) and explores the ways this approach is being put into action through case studies. Effective Spring 2023, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub area: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Ethical Reasoning, Critical Thinking.
CAS AN 372 4 credits. Fall and Spring
Undergraduate Prerequisites: First Year Writing Seminar (e.g., CASWR 100 or WR 120), CASAN 101 and/or CASAN 210 are 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.
CAS AN 379 4 credits. Fall and Spring
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.