ANTH136 PO - Anthropology of/and Capitalism

When Offered: Each fall
Instructor(s): J. Nucho
Credit: 1

What is capitalism and how can anthropology help us better understand how it shapes and is shaped by human experiences around the world? Anthropological theories like “the fetish” are fundamental to critical accounts about capitalism (like Marx’s commodity fetishism). This class provides an overview of the ways that anthropologists study capitalism, raising questions about political economy, labor, the circulation of commodities, colonization, racial capitalism, structural adjustment and extraction, privatization and neoliberalism in our contemporary moment. We will explore how anthropologists have tried to understand capitalism as a political economic system from within, including through critiques of the “neoliberal university” and academic knowledge production.

Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
Area 2