Overview of the Graduate Programs

The Department of Anthropology offers a broad range of graduate studies in theoretical and methodological areas of anthropology in the subfields of archaeology, cultural anthropology, and physical anthropology. Subfield studies can be combined or complemented with work in other disciplines. The purpose of our program is to provide students with the critical skills necessary for successful professional careers as anthropologists. From the first year, students combine required course offerings with research and coursework tailored to their needs. The Department of Anthropology is housed on the North Campus of the University at Buffalo. Our facilities provide extensive laboratory, office, classroom, and museum space in support of the graduate program.

Students may specialize in archaeology, cultural anthropology, or physical anthropology. In addition to the traditional subfields, the department offers opportunities to specialize in the following areas:

Archaeological Survey

The Archaeological Survey is the contract arm of the Department of Anthropology and handles the cultural resources management (CRM) work for state, federal, and private contractors in Western New York. The survey conducts archaeological reconnaissance, testing, and mitigation projects. The work provides an opportunity for students to gain hands-on field and laboratory experience in CRM. In the past thirty years, the survey has conducted studies on sites that range in age from Paleo-Indian to Late Woodland. In recent years, there has been work on historic sites occupied by early settlers in this area. The data collected and the reports summarizing the results of the projects are a valuable resource for students and scholars interested in the prehistory and history of Western New York.

Archaeometry Research Graduate Group

Archaeometry is the field in which analytical techniques and scientific methods from such fields as chemistry, geology, geophysics, biology, and engineering are applied to a variety of archaeological problems. Participation provides experience in the entire range of group activities, including problem conception, research design, funding solicitation, experimental layout, laboratory work, paper delivery at national and international conferences, and publication of reports. This is an interdisciplinary graduate group that receives recognition and funding from the Office of the Vice Provost for Research and Graduate Education.

Cognitive Interpretive Research Group

The Cognitive Interpretive Research Group is an interactive group of faculty and advanced graduate students who work in the areas of ethnographic semantics, discourse, and cognitive theory. Within the group, there are strong interests in translation, representation, dialogue, and practice theory. The areas of spatiotemporal orientation, ethnopsychiatry, and culture and astronomy through history are particular strengths.

Contemporary Problems and Cultural Change

There are several faculty members in this department concerned with problems that arise in complex societies. Education, law and justice, medicine, government, economics, and minority relations are some specific areas in which these problems are seen. Faculty interest and experience in these topics and our urban location provide the opportunity for applied skills training.

Evolution of Sociopolitical Complexity

A subject of interest to several members of the archaeology faculty is the emergence and subsequent evolution of sociopolitical hierarchies. This central process in human cultural change is addressed most effectively by archaeological observation, since it occurred over long periods and usually in the absence of written records. Archaeologists in the Department of Anthropology investigate this issue through fieldwork, as well as through comparative study. Courses are offered in the emergence of sociopolitical complexity, comparative urbanism, and the iconography of complex societies. Several areal surveys also take up these topics.

Graduate Program in Evolutionary, Ecology and Behavior

This associated graduate program is an interdisciplinary group of faculty and students interested in the ecological, behavioral and evolutionary processes that give rise to biological and behavioral diversity among plant and animal species. Members are drawn from anthropology, biology, geology, geography, psychology, and anatomy. Our activities include core courses in evolution and ecology, research seminars, journal clubs, and a distinguished speakers series. This graduate program awards Ph.D. and MS degrees, and students in other programs, including Anthropology, can also earn a certificate in Evolution, Ecology and Behavior.

Human Biology Program

Our human biology program is focused on developing and field-testing biological/behavioral models. The general objective is to explain how adverse or challenging conditions-whether cold, undernutrition, poor health, or stressful work-affect our well-being. To do that, we must find efficient measures of biological and behavioral responses and understand the complexity of our analysis. Within the anthropology department, human biology and medical anthropology are in active collaboration. Research efforts on age and fragility in northern China and in Western New York are in development, as is a research project on the effects of muscle and body proportion on cold resistance.

Medical Anthropology

The study of environmental and sociocultural factors in disease and disability applies anthropological theory and methods to understanding human health issues. Applied research addresses problems in health care among ethnic communities; age groups at special risk; and populations undergoing change, such as refugees and immigrants. Three specialties are available: M.A./Ph.D. track in human biological anthropology, M.A./Ph.D. track in cultural anthropological study of health-care systems, and an M.A. in Anthropology with a concentration in Medical Anthropology.

The Anthropology of Traditional Healing

This program focuses on the anthropological issues surrounding traditional healing practices, beliefs, and settings. PATH focuses on healing rather than "illness," on practices rather than essences; this shift is critical in a human world in which healing is a cultural response to a wide variety of forms of suffering, not merely to "disease" in a biomedical model. PATH represents an intersection of scholarly and research interests of several department members, including shamanism and religion, ethnomedicine, and the politics of identity in the postcolonial world. PATH also offers important interdisciplinary opportunities as well; a number of UB faculty working in departments such as History, English and Comparative Literature, Psychology, and Political Science are pursuing research interests that intersect with PATH, and participate in the curriculum.

Morphology

The study of biological form and function has a strong emphasis at UB. Our program is supported by one of the largest undergraduate comparative primate anatomy courses in the nation, as well as by the research interests of our departmental faculty and those of our adjunct faculty in both the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, and the School of Dental Medicine. Research training and opportunities include anthropometrics, bone biology, human and nonhuman primate functional anatomy, dental morphology, and human osteology.

Primate Behavior, Social Organization, and Population Dynamics Research Group

This research group studies the origins and biological basis of human social behavior through investigations of the social behavior, feeding behavior, group structure, behavioral ecology, and population structure of nonhuman primates. In this department, nonhuman primate behavior is studied within the larger frameworks provided by the disciplines of ethology, behavioral ecology, anatomy, and population genetics. Our emphasis is on natural behavior patterns in the field, particularly social development of immature primates, parent-offspring relations, mating patterns and their genetic consequences, communication patterns, and sex differences in behavior. Most students specializing in these areas receive research training in the field, working with the free-ranging population of rhesus monkeys on Cayo Santiago, Puerto Rico.