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, please visit the Hub website: https://www.bu.edu/hub/
Philosophical, Aesthetic, and Historical Interpretation
CAS AN 319 4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy Historical Consciousness
Examines the history and contemporary dynamics of religion and politics across the entire Muslim-majority world. Special attention to the changing nature of religious observance and authority, and its implications for citizenship, democracy, youth culture, and gender relations. 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 319S 4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy Historical Consciousness
Prereq: (CAS AN 101) or other anthropology course. 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.
CAS AN 321 4 credits. Fall and Spring
This class explores the relationship between culture and cognition. We place emphasis on the mechanisms of cultural change and how these affect features of human cognition. In turn, culture itself is shaped and constrained by human cognition. Effective Fall 2022, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Social Inquiry I, Critical Thinking.
CAS AN 323 4 credits. Fall and Spring
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. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Social Inquiry I.
CAS AN 327 4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy Historical Consciousness Research and Information Literacy
Examines the Islamization of Africa and the processes of adaptation of Islam in the continent. It examines the religious beliefs, cultures, and histories of Muslim communities in Morocco, Nigeria, Ghana, Uganda, Ethiopia, Senegal, and the Sudan, among others. Effective Spring 2022, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Historical Consciousness, Research and Information Literacy.
Scientific and Social Inquiry
CAS AN 262 4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy Social Inquiry I
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.
CAS AN 263 4 credits. Fall and Spring
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.
CAS AN 263S 4 credits. Summer
Explores 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 for Natural Science credit; as an elective in Biology with a Specialization in Behavioral Biology; 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.
CAS AN 272 4 credits.
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. Effective Spring 2025, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Creativity/Innovation, Scientific Inquiry II.
CAS AN 280 4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy Social Inquiry I Writing-Intensive Course
Undergraduate Prerequisites: First Year Writing Seminar (e.g., CASWR 100 or WR 120) or consent of instructor - Survey of the archaeological evidence of the diets of human societies, from earliest humans to the present. Emphasis on the remains of plants, animals, and humans and what they tell us about ancient food and drink within their social contexts. Effective Spring 2025, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Social Inquiry I, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Writing-Intensive Course.
Diversity, Civic Engagement, and Global Citizenship
CAS AN 262 4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy Social Inquiry I
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.
CAS AN 280 4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy Social Inquiry I Writing-Intensive Course
Undergraduate Prerequisites: First Year Writing Seminar (e.g., CASWR 100 or WR 120) or consent of instructor - Survey of the archaeological evidence of the diets of human societies, from earliest humans to the present. Emphasis on the remains of plants, animals, and humans and what they tell us about ancient food and drink within their social contexts. Effective Spring 2025, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Social Inquiry I, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Writing-Intensive Course.
CAS AN 280S 4 credits. Summer
BU Hub Learn More Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy Social Inquiry I Writing-Intensive Course
Undergraduate Prerequisites: First Year Writing Seminar (e.g., CASWR 100 or WR 120) or consent of instructor - Survey of the archaeological evidence of the diets of human societies, from earliest humans to the present. Emphasis on the remains of plants, animals, and humans and what they tell us about ancient food and drink within their social contexts. Effective Spring 2025, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Social Inquiry I, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Writing-Intensive Course.
CAS AN 283 4 credits. Fall and Spring
North American prehistory from initial peopling of continent to development of complex societies. Explores human entry into the New World; migration across North America; subsistence changes; human effects on landscape; encounters with Europeans; role of archaeology in contemporary Native cultures. 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
CAS AN 290 4 credits. Fall and Spring
Cross-cultural exploration of caregiving and child development from infancy to adolescence. Topics include beliefs about infants and children; the acquisition of culture; gender socialization; moral development; and the influence of schooling, nation-making, and media on childhood. 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.
Communication
CAS AN 506 4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Historical Consciousness Research and Information Literacy Social Inquiry II
Undergraduate Prerequisites: one archaeology course or consent of instructor. - Graduate Prerequisites: one archaeology course or consent of instructor. - Use of advanced computer (GIS) techniques to address regional archaeological problems. This applied course examines digital encoding and manipulation of archaeological and environmental data, and methods for testing hypotheses, analyzing, and modeling the archaeological record. Effective Fall 2023, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Social Inquiry II, Research and Information Literacy.
CAS AN 518 4 credits.
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.
CAS AN 533 4 credits. Fall and Spring
This course offers close readings of classic and recent ethnographic texts to ask: what distinguishes ethnography from other disciplinary traditions of writing about culture and human behavior' How do we see changes in anthropology's theoretical interests reflected (or not) in ethnographic writing' What are the different structural conventions, rhetorical tropes, allegorical patterns, and stylistic strategies used by authors considered to be master ethnographers' Effective Spring 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub area: Social Inquiry II.
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 557 4 credits. Fall and Spring
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.