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 331 4 credits. Fall and Spring
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.
CAS AN 337 4 credits.
A critical survey of the creation/evolution dispute in historical and intellectual context. By discussing key texts and issues, participants will gain understanding of the history of science, its relationship to ethical and religious ideas, and the polarization of American society. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Scientific Inquiry I, Critical Thinking.
CAS AN 344 4 credits. Fall
BU Hub Learn More Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy Historical Consciousness Writing-Intensive Course
Undergraduate Prerequisites: First Year Writing Seminar (e.g., WR 100 or WR 120) - 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. 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.
Scientific and Social Inquiry
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 285 4 credits. Fall and Spring
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.
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.
CAS AN 290S 4 credits. Summer
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.
Diversity, Civic Engagement, and Global Citizenship
CAS AN 290S 4 credits. Summer
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.
CAS AN 301 4 credits. Spring
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Ethical Reasoning Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
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.
CAS AN 302 4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy The Individual in Community Writing-Intensive Course
Undergraduate Prerequisites: First Year Writing Seminar (e.g., WR 100 or WR 120). CAS AN 101 and/or AN 210 recommended. - Seminar anthropologically compares the role of science and medicine in society and troubles what is natural and moral, e.g., about gender, personhood, kinship, and community, using case studies of reproductive and end-of- life technologies in Asia, the Middle East, and North America. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Ethical Reasoning, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy. Effective Fall 2024, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, The Individual in Community, Writing- Intensive Course.
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
Communication
CAS AN 558 4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Oral and/or Signed Communication Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings Research and Information Literacy
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.
CAS AN 559 4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Oral and/or Signed Communication Scientific Inquiry II Teamwork/Collaboration
Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CASAN102) or equivalent. - Focuses on current research in the field of evolutionary endocrinology. Examines how hormones act as mediators of a variety of fundamental evolutionary phenomena from circadian rhythms to sexuality. Explores how and why natural selection shaped the "inputs" and "outputs" of the endocrine system. Effective Fall 2021, 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 563 4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy Social Inquiry II
Undergraduate Prerequisites: junior or senior standing; or consent of instructor. - Explores the role of religion, religious movements, and secularism in modern politics, citizenship, gender politics, and public life. Case studies draw from Muslim-majority lands, Africa and Latin America, East-Southeast Asia, and the modern West. Effective Spring 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Social Inquiry II.
CAS AN 565 4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Creativity/Innovation Digital/Multimedia Expression Historical Consciousness
Undergraduate Prerequisites: junior standing. - Memorials and the spaces around them are charged zones, time portals where past and present co-exist. In this course we focus on the development of memorial culture in America, along with a comparative examination of the worlds of ancient Greece and Rome. The distance afforded by stepping outside our own time and place provides perspectives on aspects of form and message, as well as on how the meanings of memorial can change. Effective Spring 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Digital/Multimedia Expression, Historical Consciousness, Creativity/Innovation.
CAS AN 568 4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy Research and Information Literacy Social Inquiry II
Historical overview of ritual behavior, the role of symbolism in the study of culture, and the narrative quality of worldview and belief. Emphasis on verbal performance and public display events in specific cultural contexts. Effective Spring 2024, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Social Inquiry II, Research and Information Literacy.