Unit name | Anthropology and Contemporary Capitalism |
---|---|
Unit code | ARCH20065 |
Credit points | 20 |
Level of study | I/5 |
Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24) |
Unit director | Dr. Amy Penfield |
Open unit status | Not open |
Pre-requisites |
None |
Co-requisites |
None |
School/department | Department of Anthropology and Archaeology |
Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
Whether waiting in long queues, extracting oil or offering money to ghosts, an anthropological lens can reveal unexpected insights into the mundane and extraordinary workings of economic life. This unit offers an anthropological approach to the contemporary economic context of capitalism, placing particular emphasis on lived experiences in different economic settings. Grounded in core theories of economic anthropology, the unit explores these approaches through a range of ethnographic case studies from around the world. The broader theme of the unit will enable students to engage with some of the latest themes and thriving debates within the discipline, including the topics of money, consumption, bureaucracy, transnationalism, finance, the Anthropocene, resource extraction and cosmo-economics. Lectures and class discussions will promote critical thinking and challenge students to interrogate many of their assumptions about capitalism, globalisation and economic life.
Unit aims:
On completing the unit, successful students will be able to:
Weekly lectures
Fortnightly seminars to include a show and tell activity
Asynchronous accompanying activities (e.g. a half-day ethnographic activity, film screening
Ganti, Tejaswini. 2014. Neoliberalism. Annual Review of Anthropology. 43: 89-104.
Graeber, David. 2016. The Utopia of Rules: On Technology, Stupidity, and the Secret Joy of Bureaucracy. London: Melville House Publishing.
Ho, Karen. 2009. Liquidated: An Ethnography of Wall Street. London: Duke University Press.
Kirsch, Stuart. 2014. Mining capitalism: the relationship between corporations and their critics. Berkeley: California University of California Press.
Tsing, Anna Lowenhaupt. 2015. The Mushroom at the End of the World: On the Possibility of Life in Capitalist Ruins. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.