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 461 Ethnography and Anthropological Theory 1
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Oral and/or Signed Communication Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Undergraduate Prerequisites: junior or senior standing in the major. Required of majors. - Examines foundational social scientific and anthropological theories and methods from the late 19th century through the mid-20th century. Discussion focuses on precursors to contemporary anthropological thought, including historical materialist, evolutionist, functionalist, structuralist, symbolic, and culture-and-personality theories and approaches. Effective Fall 2020, 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.
CAS AN 506 Regional Archaeology and Geographical Information Systems
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 532 Literacy and Islam in Africa
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy Historical Consciousness Research and Information Literacy
Examines the Islamization of Africa and literary traditions. Students learn about African texts written in the Arabic script (Ajami) and the spread of Islam and its Africanization throughout the continent. Texts written by enslaved Africans in the Americas are examined. Effective Fall 2024 fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship, Historical Consciousness, Research and Information Literacy.
CAS AN 553 Human Uniqueness
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings Scientific Inquiry I
Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CASAN102) or consent of instructor. - Language, labor, culture, self-awareness, symbolizing, and other traits have been called uniquely human. But if these things have no animal antecedents, how could they have evolved? Course participants examine this "continuity paradox" and its proposed solutions from Darwin onward. Effective Spring 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Scientific Inquiry I, Critical Thinking.
CAS AN 562 The Origins of War
4 credits. Fall
BU Hub Learn More Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings Scientific Inquiry II Writing-Intensive Course
Undergraduate Prerequisites: First-Year Writing Seminar (WR 120 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.
Scientific and Social Inquiry
CAS AN 331 Human Origins
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 333 Human Population Genetics
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Quantitative Reasoning II Research and Information Literacy Scientific Inquiry II
Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CAS AN102 OR AN233 OR CAS BI108 AND either BI206 OR BI216). - This course uses human genomic variation as a framework for better understanding our evolutionary history. Using hands-on population genetic analyses, we will analyze real human genomic data from the 1000 Genomes Project to investigate the evolutionary patterns underlying human diversity. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Quantitative Reasoning II, Scientific Inquiry II, Research and Information Literacy.
CAS AN 335 The Ape Within: Great Apes and the Evolution of Human Behavior
4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Quantitative Reasoning I Research and Information Literacy Scientific Inquiry II
Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CASAN102 OR CASBI107 OR CASBI119) or consent of instructor. - Introduction to primate social behavior, focusing on the apes. Examines how great ape behavior helps us understand what is unique about human behavior and how we evolved. Topics include diet, juvenile development, social relationships, sexual behavior, aggression, culture, and cognition. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Scientific Inquiry II, Quantitative Reasoning I, Research and Information Literacy.
CAS AN 335S The Ape Within
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Quantitative Reasoning I Research and Information Literacy Scientific Inquiry II
Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CASAN102 OR CASBI107 OR CASBI119) or consent of instructor. - Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Scientific Inquiry II, Quantitative Reasoning I, Research and Information Literacy.
CAS AN 336 Primate Evolutionary Ecology
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Creativity/Innovation Quantitative Reasoning I Scientific Inquiry II
Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CASAN102) - Introduction to the various theoretical approaches to understanding the diversity and evolutionary ecology of wild non-human primates. Using lemurs, marmosets, chimpanzees and more, this course delves into behavioral ecology, genetic approaches to mating systems, foraging theory, community ecology, and conservation. Effective Fall 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Quantitative Reasoning I, Scientific Inquiry I, Creativity/Innovation.
Diversity, Civic Engagement, and Global Citizenship
CAS AN 362S Culture and Environment
4 credits.
Examines how the social construction of environment, nature, and culture varies cross-culturally and historically as well as how it influences economic change, environmental movements, international politics, and public policy. Primary examples include several African countries, Papua New Guinea, and the United States; as well as contemporary global climate change.
CAS AN 363 Food and Water: Critical Perspectives on Global Crises
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy Social Inquiry II Teamwork/Collaboration
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.
CAS AN 368E AUSTRL CULT&SOC
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy Historical Consciousness Research and Information Literacy
AUSTRL CULT&SOC
CAS AN 369 Indigenous Archaeology
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Ethical Reasoning Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
Introduction to Indigenous archaeology, which seeks to realize a more ethical engagement with Indigenous communities by conducting research "with, for, and by" Indigenous descendant communities. Reviews key theoretical frameworks (e.g., traditional knowledge systems, collaboration, repatriation) and explores the ways this approach is being put into action through case studies. Effective Spring 2023, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub area: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Ethical Reasoning, Critical Thinking.
CAS AN 375 Culture, Society, and Religion in South Asia
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Aesthetic Exploration Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
Ethnographic and historical introduction to the Indian subcontinent with a focus on the impact of religion on cultural practices and social institutions. Effective Spring 2023, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Aesthetic Exploration.