Social Sciences

The University at Buffalo will present the American Museum of Natural History's Margaret Mead Traveling Film and Video Festival, the longest-running showcase for independent cultural documentaries in the United States, encompassing a broad spectrum of work from indigenous community media to experimental nonfiction, Sept. 22 to Nov. 10.

The hundreds of thousands of refugees from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina join 25 million people worldwide displaced by environmental catastrophes, events and processes, according to Lynda Schneekloth, professor of architecture at the University at Buffalo.

While the victims of Hurricane Katrina have begun to grieve by expressing their anger at the shortcomings of relief efforts intended to help them, they can not yet mourn the losses they have incurred because they themselves are still struggling to survive, says Thomas T. Frantz, a University at Buffalo professor who is an expert on bereavement counseling and grief education.

The media, especially TV media, are clearly uncomfortable discussing issues of race or racism in its coverage of the survivors of Hurricane Katrina, according to Elayne Rapping, a media critic and pop-culture expert at the University at Buffalo.

A federal policy of urban neglect is partly to blame for the extensive damage done to New Orleans by Katrina and the disastrous conditions left in its wake, according to Mark Gottdiener, Ph.D., an expert on urban culture and policy.

While Louisiana and Mississippi residents struggle to evacuate, to relocate and -- above all else, to survive -- many of the youngest among them face years of recovery from a variety of traumas Hurricane Katrina has dispersed upon them.

The hundreds of thousands of Gulf coast residents left homeless by Hurricane Katrina have not only lost their homes, possessions and possibly loved ones, they also have lost their sense of security, says Hilary Weaver, associate professor of social work at the University at Buffalo.

The wisdom of attempting to resettle the Gulf region "is highly questionable," according to Alfred Price, associate professor and interim chair of the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at the University at Buffalo.

Widespread devastation in the wake of Hurricane Katrina reminds Americans who are used to localized disasters being dealt with adequately that the U.S. is susceptible to catastrophes in which the ability to respond is itself severely damaged, says Ernest Sternberg, Ph.D., University at Buffalo professor of urban and regional planning.

A large percentage of the survivors of Hurricane Katrina and its catastrophic aftermath will suffer from Acute Stress Disorder, according to Nancy J. Smyth, Ph.D., LCSW, a University at Buffalo expert on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).