University at Buffalo (UB)
Reg.# 21811
Monday/Wednesday/Friday, 9:00-9:50am
218 Norton Hall
Instructor: Dr. Edith Gonzalez
Examines the romantic element in archaeology in the great sites of the world, such as the Tomb of King Tutankhamen, Teotihuacan, Stonehenge, and Sutton Hoo. Since the sites cannot be separated from their romantic portrayals in popular culture, we also consider the archaeologists (real and fictional), reporters, and other experts who are associated with them.
Reg. #15991
Monday/Wednesday/Friday, 5:00-5:50p
205 NSC
Instructor: Dr. Irene Ketonen Keating
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.# 15992
Monday/Wednesday/Friday, 10:00-10:50am
190 Norton
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.# 15993
Tuesday/Thursday 12:30-1:50p
Clemens 06
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. #16507
Tuesday/Thursday, 2:00-3:20pm
NSC 222
Instructor: Dr. Lacey Carpenter
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. 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.
In-Person Section:
Registration #19507
Tuesday/Thursday, 9:30-10:50am
Slee B1
Instructor: Dr. Colter Harper
Remote Section:
Registration #23780
Remote: not real time
Instructor: Dr. Colter Harper
This course meets the Area Studies requirement.
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.
Reg. #17661
Tuesday/Thursday 2:00-3:20p
NSC 218
Instructor: Dr. Oscar Gil
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. #21809
Monday/Wednesday/Friday, 12:00-12:50p
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. #13052
Monday, 5:00-7:40p
170 Academic Center
Instructor: Tracy Martin
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. #18690
Tuesday/Thursday, 2:00-3:20pm
351 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. #23336
Monday/Wednesday/Friday 10:00-10:50a
354 Academic Center
Instructor: Dr. Stephanie Poindexter
troduction to the field of primatology and the diversity of primates alive today. Students cover topics including primate taxonomy, ecology, evolution, and conservation. The course is taught using a combination of lectures, discussions, hands-on activities, and offsite visits to the Buffalo Zoo.
Reg. #23721
Tuesday/Thursday, 9:30-10:50a
354 Academic Center
Instructor: Dr. Lacey Carpenter
This course meets the Area Studies requirement.
Examines art, iconography, architectures, and archaeology of ancient Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize; also covers religious, political, and economic development from its beginning, around 2000 B.C.E.
Reg. #23358
Wednesday, 2:00-3:20p
354 Academic Center
Instructor: Deborah Reed-Danahay
Hybrid Course Note:
All enrolled students must attend the in-person class meetings on Wednesdays, 2:00-3:20pm, and take part in remote asynchronous instructional activities.
This course meets the Area Studies requirement.
This course introduces students to anthropological approaches to the study of contemporary European societies and cultures. Through readings and films, in addition to lectures in class, students will learn about the everyday lives of people in various European locations. Topics will include food, language, political systems, rural and urban life, and migration to and within Europe.
Reg. #23334
Wednesday, 12:30-3:10p
351 Academic Center
Instructor: Dr. Stephanie Poindexter
To balance the demands of living in ecologically variable environments, humans have evolved a collection of traits to minimize their risk of mortality and to maximize their ability to acquire food. Modern human life-history traits gradually appeared throughout our evolutionary history. In this course, we will look to our closest cousins to understand how human life-history traits evolved. To build a strong base in life-history theory, students will learn about each human life stage, including birth, infancy, childhood, juvenility, adolescents, adulthood, and old age. Topics in human life history evolution provide a unique perspective on human development, birth, and the physical measures used to characterize global human health.
Reg. #24080
Thursday, 2:30-5:10p
206 Baldy Hall
Instructor: Dr. Albert Fulton
Topic: Indigenous Paleoecology
This course explores the manner in which Indigenous peoples of eastern North America interacted with and were in turn influenced by the ecological systems within which they lived, from the end of the last Ice Age through the Contact period, approximately 12,000 – 200 years before present. During this period of time known as the Holocene epoch, the ecosystems of eastern North America responded in complex ways to multiple environmental modulators including climate perturbations, species migrations and extinctions, natural disturbance agents such as fire and storms, and human land-use impacts related to changing settlement systems and the adoption of novel subsistence economies. Human societies were in turn influenced by the regional diversity of and temporal variability in environmental contexts, which provided multiple dynamic pathways for cultural innovation and adaptation across space and time. By developing greater awareness of critical interactions among Indigenous Americans, the natural environment, and past climate change, we can develop more nuanced perspectives on how best to respond to current and future climatic and ecological transformations affecting all of humanity.
This course will appeal to advanced undergraduate and graduate students with interests in environmental science, physical geography, archaeology, Indigenous studies, biogeography, paleontology, paleoecology, historical ecology, environmental history, and human-environment interactions. Students seeking interdisciplinary perspectives on addressing paleoenvironmental reconstruction in their own research will especially benefit from this course.
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. #20633
Thursday, 4:00-6:40p
354 Academic Center
Instructor: Dr. Oscar Gil
Topic: Researching Immigrant Families in the Americas