Area Courses

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.

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.

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. This course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Social Inquiry I, Critical Thinking.

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.

From the effects of European colonization to the causes of transnational migration, anthropologists have found Latin America a rich place to study key themes for the discipline. Contemporary ethnography is used to trace the region’s contribution to anthropological debates.

The Indian image in literature and historical accounts; conquerors and Latinos in Indian ritual and mythology. Indian communities and the reality of being an Indian in present-day Latin America: exploitation, discrimination, and class. Indian rebellions and pressure groups. Colonization and lowland Indians.

Considers how power and authority are expressed and reproduced in the Middle East. Provides an overview of underlying principles and tensions in Middle Eastern history and social organization; shows how these principles and tensions are expressed in religious, communal, gender, and political relationships. [Counts towards MENA Major]

Provides an in-depth introduction to the culture, politics, religions, and gender realities of modern Southeast Asia. Using both literature and film media, pays particular attention to the forces that have made Southeast Asia the dynamic and deeply plural region it is today. This course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Social Inquiry I, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy.

Examines Muslim societies’ ongoing struggle over the forms and meanings of Muslim culture and politics, as well as its implications for religious authority, gender ideals, and new notions of citizenship, civil society, and democracy. This course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy.

Explores East Africa and its people’s ways of understanding time, space, and social order. Topics include issues such as settlement order, birth order, inter-generational relations, ritual and ceremony—as challenged, upheld, and reformed—and questions of power, authority, belief, and ethics involved. This course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Social Inquiry I.

A comparative examination of family, concentrating on marriage, reproduction, power, and relations with kin. Three Asian societies are treated: Japan, India, and the People’s Republic of China. Ethnographic materials are used, and lectures provide a theoretical focus.

Contemporary Japanese society examined through social institutions such as family, school and workplace. Looking at social and historical change through critical moments in Japan’s modern history, we examine the experiences of individuals through social class, gender, and the impact of globalization. This course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Writing Intensive Course. (Counts towards the Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies minor.)

Ethnographic and historical examination of Afghanistan’s traditional social and political organization, ecology and economy, and relationship among ethnic groups. Also addresses civil wars and foreign interventions over the last thirty years, the current situation in Afghanistan, and prospects for the country’s future.

Survey of the cultural history of Asian immigrants in the United States from the 1850s to the present. Focus on family structure, gender, generational differences, religion, and education. Examines implications of the Asian experience for understanding  American culture and Asian-American cultural forms. [Counts towards Asian Studies Minor].

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. fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Social Inquiry II, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Research and Information Literacy.

Provides a theoretical basis for the anthropological investigation of American culture. After an introduction to the classical literature, readings focus on the suburban experience, sexuality and family life, and class in the contemporary United States.

Examines how women have affected and been affected by economic and cultural changes in China, Japan, and India.  Particular attention paid to women’s education, health, child rearing, and labor force participation.(Counts towards the Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies minor and East Asian Studies minor.)

Explores classic and contemporary studies of Nilotic- and Bantu-speaking cultures of the middle and upper Nile (Nuer, Dinka, Shilluk, Luo, and others) and through them, the British African tradition of ethnography and theory central to anthropology.  [Counts towards African Studies Minor]

Explores four themes of twentieth-century change in Africa: demographic growth, the redistribution of population through migration and urbanization, the intensification of resource use, and disasters and recoveries. Classic theories of these processes are related to African data.

An introduction to the main themes, states, empires, faiths, and ideologies of the Muslim world.

Prereq: Junior standing or consent of instructor. This course is focused on the reading of major ethnographies and modern histories on Taiwan and China as a basis for examining changing Taiwanese and Chinese culture and society. Course lectures and discussion will also attend to a consideration of ethnography as a genre. SS 4 cr. [Counts towards Asian Studies Minor]

This course explores ecological adaptation, kinship, social organization, religious thought and practice, and creative expression. Special focus is placed on the history of theory, method, and narrative style in the construction of African ethnographies. SS 4 cr.

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.

An anthropological introduction to Boston using the city as a site of recovery and discovery as students develop ethnographic skills and an understanding of the interplay between geography, history, and demography in the social mapping of urban spaces.

Provides an in-depth introduction to the culture, politics, religions, and gender realities of modern Southeast Asia. Using both literature and film media, pays particular attention to the forces that have made Southeast Asia the dynamic and deeply plural region it is today.

Explores Muslim societies’ ongoing struggles 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.

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.

Ethnographic and historical examination of Afghanistan’s traditional social and political organization, ecology and economy, and relationship among ethnic groups. Also addresses civil wars and foreign interventions over the last thirty years, the current situation in Afghanistan and prospects for the country’s future.

Survey of the cultural history of Asian immigrants in the United States from the 1850s to the present. Focus on family structure, gender, generational differences, religion, and education. Examines implications of the Asian experience for understanding American culture and Asian-American cultural forms.