91 - 100 of 271 results for: ANTHRO

We live in politically turbulent times, and so much of the confounding social and political movements of our times seem to position themselves against 'the elite': feminist movements against patriarchal states, autonomists against neoliberal capitalism and the police, White nationalists, nativists and populist strongmen against 'liberals', etc. These expressions of social and political discontent stand oddly at their political opposites (Left v. Right), share common grievances around the lack of structural responses by the states and the international community towards climate change, neoliberalism, racism and the like. They also all use decentralized, global networks and mediascapes to make themselves present. This course looks at social formations that emerge at the absence, or in opposition to, state and elite control. We will begin by delving into the anthropological record to understand how people throughout history have developed forms of counter-power that delegitimized or put the elites in check. Then, we will look into contemporary ethnographic studies of social and political mobilization that might adopt such strategies of counter-power for different and often contradictory and antagonistic goals. Case-studies will be drawn from Europe, Southeast Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East.

In this advanced interdisciplinary seminar we will examine the ways that technologies aimed to make human lives better (healthier, freer, more connected, and informed) often also harbor the potential to exacerbate social inequalities. Drawing from readings in the social sciences on power and ethics, we will pay special attention to issues of wealth, race, ethnicity, sex, gender, globalization and humanitarianism.

What role does technology play in society, and vice-versa? This course considers the question from an anthropological perspective, pairing different conceptual models of social-technical relations (Social Constructivism, Actor-Network Theory, Cyborg Anthropology) with real world examples. Through such technologies as factory machines, trains, Bakelite, slot machines, computers, missiles, and PET scanners, students will gain insights both on how the social suffuses the mundane objects around us, and how technologies have radically redefined how we see the world.

What is masculinity? How are masculinities invested with power and meaning in cultural contexts? How is anthropological attention to them informed by and extending inquiry across the academy in spheres such as culture studies, political theory, gender studies, history, and science and technology studies? Limited enrollment.

In recent years, we have witnessed a growing number of social and political upheavals around the world. With new organizational principles, diversified ways of participation and mediation, and expanding themes and goals, these cases, in bringing the political near to us, also challenge our familiar ways of thinking and doing politics. They are testing the limit of our imagination of a bounded ¿social movement¿ in the forms such as street protest and civil obedience, as well as the limit of analysis. This course explores the uses of anthropological theories in engaging with a politically animated world.

This course explores how identities of gender and sexuality are linked to particular ways of speaking and using language, and how language itself becomes the site of the politics of gender and sexuality. Enrolled students should have completed prior coursework in Anthropology, Linguistics, or Feminist Studies. Prerequisite: by instructor consent.

Mass movements of people across the world is not a new phenomenon. And yet, in the contemporary moment, the pace of migration from global business networks to displacements from violence and climate change as well as the interconnectivity of social networks is unprecedented. In this discussion seminar class, we will focus on the movements and migrations of people in North America. Though we will focus on the contemporary era, we start with examining the multiple ways that anthropologists understand, document, and make sense of the ways in which people have moved throughout history from bioanthropological, linguistic, archaeological, and ethnographic methodologies. We will further unpack some of the key theoretical discourses around the movement of people, and the frames of analysis that are commonly applied. By considering this topic through multiple lenses we will begin to appreciate the complexities of studying the movement of people and the relevance that these questions have to the present day. In addition to understanding the myriad of debates and case studies around movement and migration, students will develop their own research projects, learning essential skills in executing ethnographic approaches and applying the knowledge we survey throughout the course.

This course looks at human mobility from an anthropological perspective. We will read texts that ethnographically explore the experiences of refugees, labor migrants, tourists and seafarers, among others. In particular, we will look at the intersection of physical mobility and social mobility, as people often move in order to improve their life, to increase safety or economic security, or to gain social capital. However, the mobility perspective has also been criticized for depoliticizing and celebrating movement without critical attention to its socio-political and economic context. While mobility as a term points to the ability to move, human migration is at least as often characterized by restrictions and obstacles to movement, such as borders. We will think critically about the deep inequalities that exist in terms of why and how people move, and who are able to mobilize resources to move.

This upper-division undergraduate seminar focuses on recent studies by anthropologists and scholars in related disciplines on global supply chains and consumption practices.The goal of the course is to assess concepts and methods for integrating a cultural analysis of transnational production with a cultural analysis of transnational consumption. We will review ethnographic studies of the production and consumption of commodities linked by transnational and global networks. The class will thenpursue collaborative research on the global production, distribution, and consumption of a selected commodity. Prerequisite: junior or senior standing and previous coursework in cultural anthropology or permission of instructor.