Economic behaviour is an important subject of study in anthropology, and this course introduces students to how people in various socio-cultural settings engage in economic activity and provides them with a critical reading of basic assumptions about the economy. Economies are not isolated from other spheres of social life, and hence the ways in which people produce, distribute, and consume goods and services are embedded in social, cultural, and political institutions. Taking this as a point of departure, the first part of the course examines the historical debates that shaped economic anthropology as well as various theoretical approaches to understanding economic life, showing along the way that economic anthropology addresses issues regarding not only anthropology but also human nature itself, for among the questions it asks are how people make decisions and how these decisions are affected by personal considerations and socio-cultural factors alike. In the second part, the course turns towards introducing students to the study of economic life in post-socialism, with a regional focus on the countries of Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, before it broadens, in part 3, its geographic lens to include a variety of economic phenomena from across the globe. Throughout the course, students will engage with original ethnographic work which captures the diversity of systems of production, distribution, and consumption found throughout the globe and deals with a range of themes including gift, exchange, property, money, value, informality, morality, and consumerism.
Literaturempfehlung: Hann, C., and K. Hart. 2011. Economic Anthropology: History, Ethnography, Critique. Cambridge and Malden, MA: Polity.
Studienleistung: Wird in der ersten Stunde bekannt gegeben.
Modulleistung: Hausarbeit
Besonderheiten: Der Kurs wird auf Englisch unterrichtet. Alle Studien- und Modulleistungen werden auf Englisch erbracht.
