This course introduces students to the anthropology of finance, defining finance broadly as the use and management of money and financial instruments and the study of these issues. Anthropological research on finance is relatively little known both within and beyond the discipline. With its elitist nature and foundations in neoclassical economics and mathematics, finance appears positively alien to the anthropological habitus. Despite these appearances, anthropologists, often in a lively dialogue with other disciplines, increasingly employ their theoretical heritage and distinct methodology to make substantial contributions to the much-needed study of both Western and non-Western finance as, first and foremost, forms of social relations and social constructions. The course presents key topics and issues in the anthropology of finance, including: theories of money; financial theories, models and devices; ethnographies of financial practices, organizations and communities; moralities and ideologies of finance; finance and globalization; financialization; concepts and approaches to risk; central banking; public debt and austerity; household finance; financial derivatives; finance and magic; Islamic finance; and non-Western and colonial forms of finance. It also familiarizes students with the ways in which anthropologists of finance have been drawing on major theoretical and analytical traditions, such as Maussian, Latourian, Marxist or Weberian.
Literaturempfehlung: Ho, Karen. 2009. Liquidated: An Ethnography of Wall Street. Durham and London: Duke University Press.
Studienleistung: Two short presentations (Impulsreferat, 10-20 minutes)
Modulleistung: Hausarbeit
Besonderheiten: Der Kurs wird auf Englisch unterrichtet. Alle Studien- und Modulleistungen werden auf Englisch erbracht.
Admission settings
The course is part of admission "Beschränkte Teilnehmendenanzahl: Seminar: Anthropology of Finance".
The following rules apply for the admission:
A defined number of seats will be assigned to these courses.
The seats will be assigned in order of enrolment.
