Commodities and Consumption

Undergraduate / Graduate

In this discussion-based, reading- and writing-intensive seminar, we will explore "consumption" and "commodities" from an anthropological perspective. Drawing from a range of works from anthropology and other disciplines, and thinking with material from many different cultural contexts, we will reflect critically on everyday practices of consumption and relationships with things that are so often taken for granted. We will investigate the enchanting aspects of commodities; how things can materialize claims about identity or status and produce and reproduce social relationships; shopping and fashion and their relationships to capitalism, gender, and colonialism; ethical, political, and ecological aspects of various kinds of consumption; and more. Previous coursework in anthropology, while beneficial, is not required to do well in this class.