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.
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.
CAS AN 368E 4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy Historical Consciousness Research and Information Literacy
AUSTRL CULT&SOC
Scientific and Social Inquiry
CAS AN 290 4 credits.
Explores caregiving and child development from infancy to adolescence in different societies around the world. Topics include cultural concepts of childhood; the acquisition of language and culture; gender socialization and moral development; and the impact of modern 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
Explores the way various cultures shape the lives and social development of children. Topics include cultural concepts of childhood; the acquisition of culture; socialization and moral development; cognition, emotion, and behavior in childhood; children's language and play; and the cultural shaping of personality. 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 291 4 credits. Fall and Spring
People have lived in the Arctic for 40,000 years and continue to thrive in this challenging environment. We use archaeological, oral history, historic, and ethnographic data to examine this long history, and to address the ways in which themes from the past can be used to highlight contemporary issues in Arctic communities. Effective Spring 2024, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU HUB areas Historical Consciousness, Social Inquiry I.
CAS AN 305 4 credits. Fall and Spring
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.
CAS AN 310 4 credits.
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. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Social Inquiry I, Critical Thinking.
Diversity, Civic Engagement, and Global Citizenship
CAS AN 316 4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy Social Inquiry II Writing-Intensive Course
Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CASAN101) First Year Writing Seminar (e.g., WR 100 or WR 120) - What is Europe's "problem" with migrants? Are old forms of racism and xenophobia returning? Or are contemporary Islamophobia and anti-Semitism new modes of exclusion? What and where is Europe anyway? And what exactly might it mean to be European today? 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, Writing-Intensive Course.
CAS AN 318 4 credits.
Examines the dynamics of politics, religion, class, and gender across Southeast Asia today. Using both literature and film media, pays particular attention to the forces that have made Southeast Asia one of the most dynamic regions in the world today. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Social Inquiry I.
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 320 4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy Research and Information Literacy Social Inquiry I
A cross-cultural approach to the diversity and complexity of women's lives in the Muslim world, including the United States. Looks at issues such as gender equality, civil society and democracy, sex segregation and sexual politics, kinship and marriage, and veiling. Effective Spring 2020, 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.
Communication
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.
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.
CAS AN 571 4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Creativity/Innovation Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy Social Inquiry II
Advanced seminar on the study of emotion as culturally and historically specific experience, cognition and symbolic system. Focus on specific emotions including shame, anger, melancholy, hope, hate and love. Special attention to affect and the politics of emotion. Effective Fall 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Social Inquiry II, Creativity/Innovation.
CAS AN 573 4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy Social Inquiry II Writing-Intensive Course
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.