Fall 2008 Undergraduate Courses
Spring 2008 Graduate Courses
* CORE COURSES: Only majors are allowed to register for these courses.
501 SIR - Teaching & Research Resources for Anthropology
- Dr. Sirianni
Reg. #466137- Sat. noon-2:00---158 Spauld.
Pedagogical aspects of instruction techniques, including laboratory and
dissection.
508 BAC – The Field Experience – Dr. Bacigalupo
Reg. #273714 – R 12:30-3:10---351 Film.
YOU MUST BE BEGINNING WORK ON A PROPOSAL TO TAKE THIS CLASS. This course
provides students with hands-on training in ethnographic methods and writing
in cultural anthropology. Students will learn how to construct a research
design, write a research proposal, and submit it to the humans subjects
review board for approval. Students will learn field techniques such as
participant observation, interviewing, social mapping, and the use of
documentation and media. The course will address research ethics, interpretation,
and representation of data, and provide a critical evaluation of the nature
of ethnographic research including the rethinking of site, voice and ethnographic
authority.
513 STV – Cultural Change – Dr. Stevens
Reg. #305519 – T, R 11:00-12:20---354 Film.
Survey of social science theories of socio-cultural change, 18th century
to present. Culture is considered as a dynamic system. Emphasis on the
impact of planned change and "development" on traditional systems,
and on anthropological understanding of change in the modern world.
Requirements: regular attendance, a short (c.1500 words) paper early in
the course, periodic submission of brief notes on assigned readings, and
a research project which will be presented orally to the seminar and submitted
as a term paper.
532 MCE – Advanced Ethnology Arctic – Dr. McElroy
Reg. #157597 – T, R 2-3:20---354 Film.
An ethnographic survey of arctic and subarctic populations, this course
focuses on Canada, Alaska, and Siberia, with supplementary materials on
Greenland and on the Saami of northern Scandinavia. The course covers
ecological patterns and biocultural adaptations of northern peoples; prehistory
and the history of contact between arctic peoples and Europeans; emerging
health, social, environmental, and economic problems of northern communities;
and the cultural distinctiveness and political commonalities of arctic
peoples. Students will write two take-home exams and prepare one project,
to be presented to the class in poster form or power point lecture.
540 MIL – History of Archaeology – Dr. Milisauskas
Reg. #283227 – W 3-5:40---354Film.
REQUIRED COURSE FOR GRADUATE STUDENTS SPECIALIZING IN ARCHAEOLOGY.
This course focuses on history of archaeology from the early 16th century
to the present.
The course will be taught in a seminar format.
543 FRA - Cognative Anthropology – Dr. Frake
Reg. # 436459 -W 2-4:40---351 Film.
Cognitive anthropology is a field that considers human thinking as a cultural
and social, as well as a psychological (or computational) phenomenon.
it regards cognition as closely interconnected with cultural forms, social
systems, and everyday activities. it also takes the very notion of "cognition"
itself as a cultural product whose social and historical origins require
investigation.
547 BER - Ethology Practicum - Dr. Berman
Reg. #034511- ARR- ARR---158 Spauld.
This is a methods course in ethology for students who would like to learn
how to go about observing animals and humans in a scientific manner. In
this course, you will learn both by doing and by reading and discussing.
Students attend lectures on observational methods used by animal behaviorists
in the field, in captive groups, and in the laboratory. With guidance,
they complete a semester-long research project of their own at the Buffalo
Zoo in which they pick an exhibit to observe, generate a research question
about the behavior of the animals in the exhibit, design a protocol to
answer their question, gather data, analyze them and write up the results
in the form of a scientific journal article. In the last class of the
semester, students present their projects to the class as they would at
a professional meeting.
550 TAY - Evolutionary Colloquium – Dr. Taylor
Reg. #016611 - T 12:30-1:50---850 NSC
This seminar is a focal point of the Graduate Group in Evolutionary Biology
and Ecology. Students and faculty will review recent research in evolutionary
processes by discussing topics in evolutionary theory, ecology, ethnology
and paleobiology. This will also be a forum for students to present their
research ideas and topics.
572 BOL - History, Archaeology, and the Past - Dr. Bolender.
Reg. #107473 –M 10am-12:40-261 Film
Throughout the twentieth century, archaeology has had an uneasy relationship
with history. These divisions have been particularly salient in the United
States where history has been allied with the humanities, archaeology
with the social sciences. At times, archaeologists have explicitly rejected
a role for history within the social sciences. The result has been a methodological
and theoretical divide between historical and prehistoric archaeologies
and the restriction of historical archaeology as a temporally and regionally
specific sub-discipline. In this seminar we will explore complementarities,
contradictions, and alternatives in historical and archaeological versions
of the past. We will examine how specific archaeological methodologies
and theoretical perspectives have shaped our conception of the past and
their relationship to trends in history and the social sciences including
19th century historicism, culture history, annales history, the American
anthropological tradition, and contemporary post-structural and historical
approaches to the archaeological record.
573 SIR - Primate Evolutionary Biology – Dr. Sirianni
Reg. # 038128 - ARR ARR--158 Spauld.
Primate specialization and taxonomy, fossil history, anatomy and behavior
in the
primate order, odontology and human origins. Lecture course with some
laboratory work.
587 BIE – Anthropology Archaeology Topics: Human Representations
in Prehistory – Dr. Biehl
Reg. #408977 – W 11-1:40---261 Film.
This course presents a systematic treatment of human representations from
the Old World ranging from ca. 40.000 years ago to the first millennium
BC. Within a coherent theoretical and methodological framework, the course
attempts to bring together a wide range of topics such iconography and
anthropomorphism, as well as the concepts of the body and embodiment,
identity, gender, agency and materiality.
591 BAC – Natnlsm, Global Culture – Dr. Bacigalupo
Reg. #180701 – T 12:30-3:10---351 Film.
This course explores the late development of "nationalism" as
an anthropological
problem. We will discuss the factors that generated the explosive popularity
of nationalism
in the1980s. We will also try to determine why (and if) this topic was
marginal to anthro-
pological theory before the 1980s. After reading influential commentaries
on nationalism
as culture--some general, others local--we will move to the next stage
of this rapidly
evolving topic: namely, the recent literature on transnationalism and
globalization. What are
these processes, how do they relate to nationalism, and why have they
replaced nationalism
as ethnography's latest boom topic? We will conclude by exploring new
ways to do field-
work in contexts that transcend (and sometimes transform) older notions
of culture, person-
ality, community, and self.
594 DUG – Adv. Physical Anthropology – Dr. Duggleby
Reg. #068317 – W 2-4:40---158 Spauld.
Designed for students who have a background in genetics, this seminar
addresses issues in molecular evolution. It will also cover areas of immunology
and embryology to explore genetic conflicts in human reproduction.
600 MASTER PROJECT/THESIS GUIDANCE – variable credit
ARR ARR---PERMISSION OF INSTRUCTOR
Graduate students should register for their major professor’s section
of this when they are writing their MA Project/Thesis.
601 INDIVIDUAL READINGS—Archaeology – variable credit
ARR ARR---PERMISSION OF INSTRUCTOR
If, after speaking to the Instructor and he/she agrees to work with you,
the graduate student must fill out an Independent Study Form (form available
outside the Anthropology Graduate Office), have the instructor and the
Director of Graduate Studies sign it then give it to Margaret to put in
your file which becomes part of your Application to Candidacy. Then the
student may register for the appropriate number of credit hours.
602 INDIVIDUAL READINGS—Cultural – variable credit
ARR ARR---PERMISSION OF INSTRUCTOR
If, after speaking to the Instructor and he/she agrees to work with you,
the graduate student must fill out an Independent Study Form (form available
outside the Anthropology Graduate Office), have the instructor and the
Director of Graduate Studies sign it then give it to Margaret to put in
your file which becomes part of your Application to Candidacy. Then the
student may register for the appropriate number of credit hours.
606 MCR – Anthropology of Reproduction – Dr. McElroy
Reg. #169466 – M 2-4:40---351 Film.
Cross-cultural, cross-national, and evolutionary survey of human sexuality,
fertility management, pregnancy and birth, and infant care. Historical
changes in the setting of birth and care providers; an anthropological
view of biotechnology for management of infertility and genetic diagnosis;
ethical issues in biomedicine and in population control programs. Seminar
format, with semester projects and oral presentations.
607 INDIVIDUAL READINGS--Physical – variable credit
ARR ARR---PERMISSION OF INSTRUCTOR
If, after speaking to the Instructor and he/she agrees to work with you,
the graduate student must fill out an Independent Study Form (form available
outside the Anthropology Graduate Office), have the instructor and the
Director of Graduate Studies sign it then give it to Margaret to put in
your file which becomes part of your Application to Candidacy. Then the
student may register for the appropriate number of credit hours.
610 THU - Archaeological Method & Theory – Dr. Thurston
Reg. #403665 - R 2:30-5:10---352 Film.
REQUIRED COURSE FOR GRADUATE STUDENTS SPECIALIZING IN ARCHAEOLOGY.
This seminar introduces archaeology graduate students to the critical
theoretical and methodological issues that are central to Anglo-Americanist
archaeology. Using a numerous primary sources, we will study the historical
development of the field, highlighting significant changes in the direction
and nature of archaeological research from the formation of the culture
history paradigm in the early 20th century, through the processual perspective
of the past 35 years, to the post processual approach that has
emerged since the 1980s. We will examine how theory and method together
explain cultural transforma-tions such as the origins of agriculture,
the development of social complexity, the rise and fall of states, and
other important issues in archaeology, and how explanations are derived
through specific approaches including neo-evolutionism, materialism, historicism,
functionalism, cultural ecology, behavioral archaeology, practice theory,
agency theory, queer theory, gender theory, interaction theory, hermaneutics,
interpretive archaeology, cognitive approaches, Neo-Darwinianism, and
archaeology as social action.
We will study the use of seriation, stylistic analyses and diversity analyses,
ethnographic analogy, and middle range theory. Throughout this course
we will consider the relationship between archaeology and the entire field
of anthropology as well as its relation to the social sciences and humanities
in general. We will focus attention on the presence of multiple theoretical
trajectories and how these perspectives can be combined eclectically to
study the complex issues surrounding the interpretation of the human past.
611 THU – Celt Anglo-Saxon Viking – Dr. Thurston
Reg. #311595 – M 2-4:40---354 Film.
Celts, Anglo-Saxons and Vikings: these names evoke many colorful ideas
and
legendary images, but who were these peoples and what do we really know
about them? This course explores over two millennia of dynamic times in
Europe. Celtic peoples can be traced to the late Bronze Age and have left
us spectacular archaeological remains: gold, silver and bronze works of
art, fantastically rich burials and monuments, trade with the Greeks,
then Romans. Anglo-Saxon cultures that existed from around AD 400 to 1000
were once thought of as constituting a 3dark age,2 but this period is
now known to have been a dynamic time, seeing the rise and fall of states,
economic expansion, innovative trade and manufacturing traditions, and
religious transformation, when Christianity spread and mingled with pre-Christian
beliefs. At the same time, pre-Viking and Viking cultures were developing
in Scandinavia, bursting upon the world at around AD 800. Often imagined
as bloodthirsty raiders, Vikings were also master craftspeople, traders,
explorers, and built their own state-level societies at home as they colonized
abroad.
Topics will include the rise of chiefdoms and states and their political
economies, technology, trade and cultural contact, plus social structure
and ideology, aesthetic expression, and religious beliefs. Readings will
include case studies of archaeological investigations and ethnohistoric
documents. Another aspect of the course will be to teach you how archaeologists
study the past, and how they determine the 3real story2 as opposed to
popular but erroneous conceptions.
In the final part of the course, we will examine current myths and stereotypes
about these cultures, and their role in modern national and ethnic identity
construction. Various nationalist movements, political ideologies, and
even reconstituted religious traditions have appropriated these cultures
for their own purposes. We will examine the roots of this trend and its
impact on the modern world.
622 JAC - Field Methodology – Dr. Jackson
Reg. #043114 - M 3:30-6:10---610 Clemens
Most literary research is grounded in documents already in place: books
on a shelf; manuscripts in an archive; letters collected, catalogued,
and boxed. But warehoused documents are not the only sources for literary
scholars, and they aren't even the primary sources for scholars in ethnography,
folklore, oral history, anthropology, sociology, and recent biography,
history and public policy. For those scholars, the stuff to be analyzed
and interpreted is found by going out and looking at the world and its
inhabitants and from interviews with living people—from fieldwork.
Participants in this seminar will design and carry out a project of field
research and will engage in extensive discussions of their work. Subject
matter and medium are completely open: you can document a poet, a rock
band, a crook, a cop, a cookie store, a process, a group, a place; you
can do it with still camera, notebook, audio or video tape recorder or
film. Whatever.
There is no syllabus. Our discussions will focus on research project definition
and design, fieldwork ethics, collection and management of data, and the
organization of data into a product—article, film, sound recording
or program, thesis. I'll ask you to read two books—one a superb
study of urban street life that includes smart discussions of methodology,
the observer's and writer's roles, and the ethical obligations of both;
the other a collection of essays by several interesting people on how
their fieldwork projects began to make sense to them, or how they learned
that what they thought they were doing wasn't what they in fact were doing.
We will probably add some reading as we go along—items that come
out of our specific discussions.
Some participants may finish a product during the semester, but a finished
product isn't a requirement (though at least a rough draft of one is);
our concern will be on designing and carrying out the field research,
and with understanding the substantive, methodological, and ethical questions
raised by one another's work.
Past participants in this seminar have been graduate students in American
Studies, English, Comparative Literature, Anthropology, Media Study, Communications,
Sociology and History.
*654 TED - Graduate Survey Social Anthropology – Dr. B.
Tedlock
Reg. #018680- R 12:30-3:10---261 Film.
This seminar will introduce you to the current theories and practices
commonly in use today within cultural anthropology. It will begin with
an historical overview of how we got to our current state of thinking
and practice. Topics to be discussed will include: ethnography and ethnographic
representation; participant observation and the observation of participation;
critical anthropology and theories of hegemony; practice theory and dialogical
anthropology; border studies including migration, immigration and diasporas;
feminist and womanist anthropology; masculinity studies; post-structuralism
and post-colonial scholarship.
694 DTE - Mythography – Dr. D. Tedlock
Reg. #475649 - T 12:30-3:10---540 Clemens
Mythography is the process by which myths become graphed, or narratives
become textualized. We will explore this process in its full range, from
ancient writing systems to sound recording, comparing the works of such
mythographers as playwrights, poets, novelists, and compilers of sacred
books, on the one hand, and those of folklorists, linguists, and ethnographers
on the other. Narrative, which can be highly lyrical, will be distinguished
from story, whose movement is determined by plot. Our attention will be
centered on narratives that are spoken rather than sung. In the folktale
(and not in the epic) may be found the oral analog (and source) of the
multivocal discourse of the novel, a fact which is missed by Bakhtin.
There will be exercises in the scripting of sound recordings. Term papers
may be based either on sound recordings or on narratives that have already
been textualized by means of writing. Writers and performers will be welcome
to put mythography directly into practice. Readings will include David
Antin, i never knew what time it was; M. M. Bakhtin, “Discourse
in the Novel”; Ed Dorn, Gunslinger; Robert Duncan, “The Truth
and Life of Myth”; Brenda M. Farnell, Do You See What I Mean? Plains
Indian Sign Talk and the Embodiment of Action; Claude Lévi-Strauss,
“The Structural Study of Myth”; Charles Olson, “Causal
Mythology”; Dennis Tedlock, Breath on the Mirror: Mythic Voices
and Visions of the Living Maya; and W. B. Yeats, Mythologies.
700 - PhD Dissertation Guidance – variable credit
ARR ARR---PERMISSION OF INSTRUCTOR
Graduate students should register for at least 1 credit hour of their
major professor’s section of this (every semester until the dissertation
is complete) when they are writing their PhD dissertation.
730 BAR - Advanced Problems In Areal Arch. – Dr. Barbour
Reg. #127626 – T 5-7:40---355 Film.
REQUIRED COURSE FOR GRADUATE STUDENTS SPECIALIZING IN ARCHAEOLOGY.
This course will cover New World archaeology. The focus of the course
will be current problems, theory and research methods utilized by archaeologists
working throughout the New World.
735 PER – Adv. Archeol. Techniques&Methods: Cultural
Resource Management – Dr. Perrelli
Reg. #220460 – T 1-3:40---251 Film.
Students in this course will learn to use advanced archaeological techniques
and methods to produce cultural resource management (CRM) reports in compliance
with current New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation
(OPRHP) standards. Other aspects of compliance-based archaeological research
and contracting will be addressed including, local project types, proposal
preparation, budgeting, research design, significance assessment and National
Register eligibility criteria. An array of field and lab techniques will
be employed in the production of a report that meets or exceeds OPRHP
standards. Techniques and methods may include historic map and documentary
research, field survey and mapping, site testing and excavation and artifact
processing and analysis. Additional discussion topics will include legislative
compliance, ethics, interactions between archaeologists and Native American
groups, state and federal agencies, and the local community. Case studies
from western New York will be used to illustrate common problems and the
potential for CRM archaeology to contribute to local and regional archaeological
research and public outreach and education.