AN 101 – Introduction to Sociocultural Anthropology
Thompson: MWF 10:10 – 11:00 am
| Introduction to the basic concepts, principles, and problems of sociocultural anthropology, emphasizing the study of traditional and complex societies. Special attention to the organization and meaning of religion, economic life, kinship and political order; and the problem of cultural variation in the contemporary world. Carries social science divisional credit in CAS. 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, Research and Information Literacy. |
AN 102 – Human Biology, Behavior & Evolution
Hodges-Simeon: MWF 11:15 – 12:05 pm
| Introduces basic principles of evolutionary biology, human origins, genetics, reproduction, socio-ecology, and the evolution of primate and human behavior and adaptions. Section activities include examination of fossil and skeletal material, and hands-on projects involving human and primate behavior and biology. Carries natural science divisional credit (with lab) in CAS. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Scientific Inquiry I, Social Inquiry I, Critical Thinking. Effective Fall 2024, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Scientific Inquiry I, Critical Thinking. |
AN 202 – Archaeological Mysteries: Pseudoscience and Fallacy in the Human Past
Runnels: TR 9:30 – 10:45 am
| Investigation through case studies of pseudoscientific claims about the past. Purported solutions to archaeological mysteries are subjected to the test of evidence using the scientific method. Topics include Atlantis, ancient extraterrestrials, Pyramids, Stonehenge, crop marks, and Noah’s Ark. Effective Fall 2023, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Social Inquiry II. |
AN 210 – Introduction to Medical Anthropology
Ergun: TR 12:30 – 1:45 pm
| This lecture and discussion-driven course uses ethnographic case materials and active learning strategies to introduce students to socio-cultural anthropological modes of understanding and analyzing health-related experiences and institutions, including political and ethical dimensions of illness and suffering around the globe. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Social Inquiry II, Ethical Reasoning, Research and Information Literacy. |
AN 220 – Urban Anthropology
Parla: TR 11:00 – 12:15 pm
| An introduction to classic and contemporary definitions of the city and ethnographic approaches to the study of urban life. Examines urban inequalities and the stratification of space by immigration, gender, racialization, and poverty. Participants conduct mini-ethnographic projects in the city of Boston. 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. |
AN 233 – The Evolutionary Biology of Human Variation
Durgavich: TR 12:30 – 1:45 pm
| Addresses human biological variation. An introduction to the fundamentals of comparative biology, evolutionary theory, and genetics and considers how research in these fields informs some of our most culturally-engaged identities: race, sex, gender, sexuality, and body type. Carries natural sciences divisional credit (without lab) in CAS. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Scientific Inquiry I, Ethical Reasoning, Critical Thinking. |
AN 240 – Legal Anthropology
Barfield: MWF 10:10 – 11 am
| An introduction to the anthropologist’s approaches to law. Investigates the relationship among society, culture, and law focuses on how different societies generate and structure competition and conflict. Examines the range of social and symbolic mechanisms for regulating dispute. Carries social science divisional credit in CAS. (Counts towards African Studies minor.) Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Social Inquiry I, Ethical Reasoning. |
AN 250 – The Aztecs, Maya, and their Predecessors: Archaeology of Mesoamerica
Carballo: MWF 1:25 – 2:15 pm
| Overview of the Aztecs, Mayans, and other native peoples of Mexico and Central America, including the chronological developments 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. |
AN 260 Sex and Gender in Anthropological Perspective
LaPorte: TR 12:30 – 1:45 pm
| 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. |
AN 262 – The Evolution of Culture and Society
Glowacki: MWF: 10:10 – 11 am
| 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. |
AN 263 – Behavioral Biology of Women
Harwell: TR: 2:00 – 3:15 pm
| 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. |
AN 272 – Introduction to Evolutionary Medicine
Hodges-Simeon: MWF 10:10 – 11:00 am
| 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. |
AN 285 – Coping with Crisis in Contemporary Africa (area)
Shipton: MWF 2:30 – 3:20 pm
| 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. |
AN 301 – African Diaspora Archaeology
Cunningham: TR 2 – 3:15 pm
| 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. |
AN 305 – Paleolithic Archaeology
Runnels: TR 12:30 – 1:45 pm
| 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. |
AN 308 – Food in Place(s): Identity, Location, and the Cultures of Taste
TBA: MWF 1:25 – 2:15 pm
| 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. |
AN 312 – People and Cultures of Africa
Ngom: MWF 11:15 – 12:05 pm
| Explores the ethnolinguistic diversity of Africa, traditions of the Akan, Joola, Wolof, Yoruba, and other African ethnolinguistic groups, the coexistence between Muslims and non-Muslims in Africa, and the historical events and figures that have shaped the continent. Effective Spring 2022, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, The Individual in Community, Research and Information Literacy. |
AN 330 – From Conception to Death: The Evolution of Human Life History
Durgavich: TR 9:30 – 10:45 am
| Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CASAN102 OR CASBI107) – 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 fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Scientific Inquiry II, Research and Information Literacy. |
AN 331 – Human Origins
Garrett: MWF 1:25 – 2:15 pm
| Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CASAN102 OR CASAR101 OR CASBI107) or equivalent. – Introduction to human paleontology and methods for reconstructing the ancestry, structure, diet, and behavior of fossil primates and humans. Survey of primate and hominid fossils, primate comparative anatomy, radioactive dating, molecular and structural phylogenies, climactic analyses, and comparative behavioral ecology. Effective Spring 2022, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Scientific Inquiry I, Critical Thinking. |
AN 348 – Investigating Contemporary Globalization
LaPorte: TR 3:30 – 4:45 pm
| Historical and contemporary ethnographic investigation of globalization. Special attention to impact of global capitalism on indigenous communities; identity and reflexivity; transnational populations; women and work; cultural authenticity, and the relationship between social media and changing cultural norms and experiences. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Social Inquiry I, The Individual in Community, Critical Thinking. |
AN 357 – Bioarchaeology and the Body
Cunningham: TR 3:30 – 4:45 pm
| 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. |
AN 362 – Culture and Environment
Schwartz: TR 2 – 3:15 pm
| 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. |
AN 363 – Food and Water: Critical Perspectives on Global Crises
Shipton: MWF 10:10 – 11:00 am
| 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. |
AN 372 – Psychological Anthropology
Shohet: TR 11 – 12:15 pm
| A cross-cultural, discussion-driven examination of psychological anthropology studies of the practices and meanings of care, including how these relate to cultural conceptualizations of gendered mind-bodies, medicine, ethics, justice, politics, and the social relations between individuals and their communities and institutions. |
AN 440 – Shadow Empires
Barfield: MWF 1:25 – 2:15 pm
| The political, economic and social structures of empires in Eurasia and North Africa from an anthropological perspective that examines how they became and remained the world’s largest polities for 2500 years only to all vanish 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. |
AN 462 – Ethnography and Anthropological Theory 2
Parla: TR 2 – 3:15 pm
| 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. |
AN 508 – Landscape Archaeology
Campbell: F 8 – 10:45 am
| A seminar-style introduction to “landscape archaeology,” a theoretical and methodological approach that explores how past and present communities create (and are in turn affected by) “cultural landscapes” formed through the interplay of sociocultural values and the natural environment. |
AN 510 Proposal Writing for Social Science Research
Marston: W 8 – 10:45 am
| Undergraduate Prerequisites: consent of instructor. – Graduate Prerequisites: graduate student standing in the social sciences or humanities. – Workshop-based course designed to turn students’ intellectual interests into answerable, field-based research questions. Goal is the production of a doctoral level research project proposal and/or dissertation prospectus. |
AN 518 – Zooarchaeology
West: F 11:15 – 2 pm
| Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CASAR101) – Introduction to the study of archaeological animal bones. Provides theoretical background and methodological skills necessary for interpreting past human- animal interactions, subsistence, and paleoecology. Laboratory sections focus on skeletal identification. Effective Fall 2023, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Quantitative Reasoning I, Social Inquiry II. |
AN 521 – Sociolinguistics
Ngom: MWF 2:30 – 3:20 pm
| Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CASAN351 OR CASLX250) or consent of instructor. – Introduction to language in its social context. Methodological and theoretical approaches to sociolinguistics. Linguistic variation in relation to situation, gender, socioeconomic class, context, and ethnicity. Integrating micro- and macro-analysis from conversation to societal language planning. |
AN 552 – Primate Evolution and Anatomy
Garrett: MWF 12:20 – 1:10 pm
| Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CANAN331 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. |
AN 558 – The Evolutionary Biology of Human Sex Differences
Harwell: TR 11 – 12:15 pm
| Are sex and gender instantiated in the body? This seminar explores evolutionary approaches to investigating sex differences in human behavior and physiology from phylogenetic, mechanistic, and developmental perspectives. Topics include gender expression, non-binary sex/gender, aggression, mate choice, cognition, and more. Effective Spring 2024, 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, Research and Information Literacy. |
AN 562 – The Origins of War
Glowacki: F 11:15 – 2 pm
| Undergraduate Prerequisites: First-Year Writing Seminar (WR120 or equivalent) – Did humans evolve to have war? Is war in human nature? We explore the foundations of war through reviewing studies of non-human animals and hunter-gatherers. Focus is on understanding how and why war evolved. Effective Fall 2022, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing-Intensive Course, Philosophical Inquiry and Life’s Meanings, Scientific Inquiry II. |
AN573 – The Ethnography of China and Taiwan (area)
Weller: M 2:30 – 5:15 pm
| Undergraduate Prerequisites: junior or senior standing or consent of instructor; First Year Writing Seminar (e.g., WR100 or WR120). – Reading of major ethnographies and modern histories as a basis for examining changing Taiwanese and Chinese culture and society. Attention to ethnography as a genre, as well as to the dramatic changes of the past century. (Counts towards the East Asian Studies minor.) 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, Social Inquiry II. |
AN593 – Special Topics in Cultural Anthropology
Schwartz: T 3:30 – 6:15 pm
| Undergraduate Prerequisites: junior or senior standing or consent of instructor. – Selected issues and debates in current anthropology. May be repeated for credit as topics change. Topic for Spring 2026: This course explores the relationship between environment, health, and society. It examines the burdens of environmental contamination and subsequent health disparities experiences by communities across the globe. It reviews debates on environmental health through ethnographic case studies that cover themes such as climate change, toxicity, water, energy, waste, disasters, knowledge production, and development. |
AN640 – Shadow Empires
Barfield: MWF 1:25 – 2:15 pm
| 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. |