Course material compares illness experiences, therapeutic practices, and medical systems in the context of different social and cultural settings. The course critically combines historical, political economic, social constructionist and interpretive perspectives. We will bring comparative ethnography and social theory to bear on this question. This seminar explores classic and contempory explanations and debates about capitalism as a cultural category. It focuses on how cultural differences reveal what is contingent and what is universal about it.
Readings are historical, theoretical and ethnographic.
They raise questions about where and when capitalism enters history, the role of desire and human nature, money and the politics and aesthetics of capitalism. ANT 412- Anthropological Approaches to the Study of Religion Prof. This course is a comparative study of religion and its global significance. We will look at religions as contemporary and relevant and not as exotic and alien - as was the case in traditional anthropology. We will examine the relevance of the anthropology of religion in understanding our time.