Reg.# 23241
Monday/Wednesday/Friday, 9:00-9:50am
355 Academic Center
Instructor: Dr. Edith Gonzalez
Examines the romantic element in archaeology in the great sites of the world.
Reg.# 16390
Monday/Wednesday/Friday, 1:00-1:50pm
170 Academic Center
This class is a general introduction to the field of anthropology, the study of humanity. It is designed to pique your interest in the broad diversity of human behavior and lifestyles across the world and throughout time. This course will take a look at the four major subfields - archaeology, linguistic anthropology, physical anthropology, and cultural anthropology - and include discussions on our "youngest" subfield, applied anthropology. The goal of this class is to understand the wide range of issues covered by the fields of anthropology, the ways in which these issues are studied by specialists in the field, and the practical effects of the questions covered by anthropological study.
Reg.# 16391
Monday/Wednesday/Friday, 10:00-10:50am
Knox 109
Instructor: Dr. Meghana Joshi
What is culture and how does it affect our understanding of the world and the ways we behave? How do cultural anthropologists approach the study of human societies and what methods do they use to do research? These are some of the questions that we will examine in this class. The course introduces students to ethnographic methods and theories of cultural anthropology. The aim is to enhance our knowledge of our own culture and of other cultures around the world. All majors are welcome.
Reg.# 16392
Tuesday/Thursday 9:30-10:50am
Clemens 17
Instructor: Dr. Noreen von Cramon-Taubadel
For centuries preceding modern times, our uniqueness as a species was taken as a sign of special creation; we were not seen to be a part of nature. But as knowledge of human evolution, our closeness to other primates, and our adaptations to specific environments emerged, we have taken our place in the animal kingdom. Here, we learn how those insights developed, and about current methods of understanding human origins and the natural forces that have shaped us.
Reg. #16957
Tuesday/Thursday, 2:00-3:20pm
NSC 228
Instructor: Dr. Douglas Perrelli
Archaeology is the study of the human past through its material remains. So much evidence of human activity on earth exists outside the realm of written records that archaeology is of primary importance in reconstructing past human life ways. Bridging the gap between the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities, archaeologists integrate many types of evidence in order to shed light on the origins of our species, Homo sapiens sapiens and development through time of so many different cultural manifestations. Introduction to Archaeology provides an overview of the methods, theories and models used by archaeologists to better understand past human societies, from the formulation of a research question, through the processes of survey and excavation, to the analysis of data, and the interpretation of the results.
Reg. #16108
Monday/Wednesday/Friday, 2:00-2:50pm
170 Academic Center
Instructor: Dr. Roger Woodard
In this course, we will investigate mythic and religious traditions of ancient Greece and Rome. Our study of myth and religion will, however, be comparative in emphasis. We will thus have a twofold goal: (1) to encounter the Greco-Roman traditions themselves and (2) through our comparative investigations, to attempt to identify the mythic and religious traditions which the Greeks and especially the more conservative Romans inherited from their Indo-European ancestors. We will also turn our full gaze upon comparative materials, but even as we are engaged in discovering the mythic and religious traditions of the ancient Indic, Iranian Celtic, Germanic and Hittite cultures, we will continue to encounter new materials and motifs from Greece and Rome.
Registration #20345
Tuesday/Thursday, 9:30-10:50am
355 Academic Center
Instructor: Dr. Colter Harper
This course takes a global perspective in studying musical practice and meaning with the goal of better understanding how music functions as an integral part of all societies. The semester will be organized into nine sections that explore widely diverse musical traditions as they relate to topics such as place, ethnic identity, politics, industry, conflict, and technology. No formal musical training is required though students will be expected to develop critical listening skills.
This course meets the Area Studies requirement. Note: This course does not automatically populate in HUB as an area course. Please email the Undergraduate Coordinator to request the course be used to fulfill this requirement.
Reg. #18241
Monday/Wednesday/Friday, 11:00-11:50am
NSC 216
Instructor: Dr. Meghana Joshi
People in all societies experience illness, but their understandings of the causes of disease and approaches for restoring health differ greatly. This course examines the social and cultural dimensions of health, illness, and healing. Through a variety of case studies, we will learn about the ways medical anthropologists study explanations of disease, experiences of suffering, and the social organization of health care. Western medicine, also called “biomedicine,” will also be an object of our analysis. We will discuss how the delivery of biomedical health care involves particular understandings of the body and appropriate social relationships. Emphasis will also be placed on how the stories that individuals and institutions circulate about human agency in suffering shape people’s convictions about how to care, and for whom to care. The course aims to teach students to think about health, disease, and medicine in national, cross-cultural and global terms.
Reg. #23237
Monday/Wednesday/Friday, 1:00-1:50pm
354 Academic Center
Instructor: Dr. Meghana Joshi
In this class, we focus on how reproduction is shaped by cultural meanings while simultaneously entangled in religious, economic and political discussions. Course material includes an analysis of ethnographic fieldwork on topics that include the increasing medicalization of pregnancy and childbirth, the role of technology in assisting reproductive bodies, and performance and ‘gifting’ in reproduction and men and reproduction. Through the use of an anthropological perspective, we will learn more about “intimate” life processes in both local and cross-cultural contexts. Specific case studies include examples from North America, South and Southeast Asia and Latin America.
Reg. #24167
Tuesday/Thursday 12:30-1:50pm
354 Academic Center
Instructor: Dr. Stuart Rockefeller
Topic: Urban North America
This course takes an anthropological approach to understanding the life of cities in North America. We will focus both on small-scale urban realities of the sort that anthropology specializes in (neighborhoods, urban subcultures), and also explore how anthropology can approach large-scale urban realities, such as urban policy, class divisions, segregation and the shared stories that create a sense of local identity. We will take advantage of our access to the city of Buffalo by making field trips and bringing in class visitors who study or run the city.
This course meets the Area Studies requirement. Note: This course does not automatically populate in HUB as an area course. Please email the Undergraduate Coordinator to request the course be used to fulfill this requirement.
Reg. #13261
Monday, 4:00-6:40p
170 Academic Center
Instructor: Dr. Joyce Sirianni
Covers fundamentals of human skeletal anatomy through lecture, demonstration, and laboratory work. Considers procedures and applications in contemporary and historical human biology and in archaeology, stressing both technical approach and theoretical application. This lecture and laboratory course demonstrates the fundamentals of human skeletal biology and anatomy. Stresses procedures and applications used in evaluating archaeological and contemporary human populations. Considers forensic applications.
Reg. #19375
Tuesday/Thursday, 2:00-3:20pm
354 Academic Center
Instructor: Dr. Stephen Lycett
The Palaeolithic covers the timeframe from when our ancestors first began to manufacture stone tools in Africa (around three million years ago) through the point at which the last glacial period ended (i.e. up to the beginning of the Holocene). It is a fundamental phase, in which matters of biological and cultural evolution led eventually to the appearance of our species.
This course explores the evidence for changing patterns of hominin behavior during this phase of our evolution. We will consider the major sites and material evidence that is used in current debates. We will evaluate the factors that might shape patterns in the distribution and form of Palaeolithic data. Critical thought will also be given to the use of behavioral models drawn from primatology (e.g. chimpanzee behavior) as well as anthropology (e.g. ethnographically recorded hunter-foragers) in the study of fossil hominin behavior. Questions will also be asked of the potential requirement for multidisciplinary engagement with associated fields, such as psychology. Key sites and case studies will be discussed, tracking the dispersal of hominins across the globe and the appearance of key behavioral innovations. The course will also consider the (frequently heated) debates regarding the emergence of "behavioral modernity." Issues of cultural transmission and cultural evolution will also be covered.
Reg. #23870
Tuesday/Thursday, 11:00am-12:20pm
354 Academic Center
Instructor: Dr. Ana Mariella Bacigalupo
This course meets the Area Studies requirement.
This course will focus on the spiritual and healing traditions of Native South American people and why this is a central component of our contemporary experience. We will examine the images, forms, and meanings that are common to the spiritual and healing experience of many Native South Americans: concepts of order, time, space, power, destruction, and renewal that allow us to group them together despite their geographical and sociopolitical diversity. We will also analyze some specific ethnographic examples of their manifestation through funerary cannibalism; shamanism; sorcery; animal spirits and metaphors; the use of tobacco, narcotics, and hallucinogens; rituals for healing, fertility, and collective well-being; and the process of syncretism. We will relate each one of these phenomena to the legacy of colonialism, state power, environmental destruction, indigenous activism, and global communities.
Classes will consist of lectures, films, and discussions. Students will also create stories and perform myths using the world view, logic, and aesthetic forms of Native South American people.
Reg. #18424
Tuesday, 4:00-6:40pm
158 Spaulding Quad
Instructor: Dr. Joyce Sirianni
This seminar will address the topic of Human Paleopathology, i.e. the study of disease in ancient populations. After a brief introduction to the history of paleopathology, and to what constitutes pathology vs. pseudopathology, students will learn the distinctive features of various infectious diseases which effect bone, skeletal trauma, and dental disease.
This course meets the Medical Anthropology elective requirement. Please email the Undergraduate Coordinator to request the course be used to fulfill this requirement.
Reg. #23238
Monday, 9:00-11:40am
354 Academic Center
Instructor: Dr. Frederick Klaits
This course is an introduction to disability studies, an integrative subfield representing research by medical anthropologists, sociologists, psychologists, and historians, as well as clinical and social interventions by social workers, occupational and physical therapists, and public health agents. What unifies these disciplines is the search for understanding of societal and cross-cultural attitudes and policies regarding impairment, illness, and difference, especially those whose physical or behavioral differences have been stigmatized through negative social or medical labels.
Among the topics to be considered are the meanings and perceptions of impairment in various cultures and how these perceptions influence the rights and status of people living with disability. We will look at how individuals and their families experience disability, severe injury, stigmatized illnesses, and severe trauma and come to develop new identities through these experiences. And we will consider community support systems and government policies that positively or negatively affect traumatized and disabled individuals and their families.
Reg. #21565
Tuesday/Thursday, 9:30-10:50am
354 Academic Center
Instructor: Dr. Nicholas Holowka
Topic: Human Evolution and Modern Health
In this seminar we will examine major modern health problems through the lens of human evolution. First, we will use information from living and fossil species to try to figure out what the human body evolved to do. We will tackle big questions like what is a ‘natural’ human diet, and how physically active should we be? We will then assess the dramatic changes that have occurred with the development of agriculture and industry, and the extent to which human biology is poorly adapted to our new post-industrial environments. We will discuss the implications of this ‘mismatch’ for human health, and how knowledge of human evolution can help us develop new strategies to address major modern health problems.
