Anthropology of Love

4 credits

This course interrogates the association of romantic love with modernity, egalitarianism, and choice. The focus is on how cultural political economy shapes desires and structures relationships. We consider how race, class, nation, gender, and sexuality reinforce or undermine status hierarchies. For example, we examine the concept of racial and transnational hypergamy, in which women, men, and trans people from lower status ethnic groups and developing countries “marry up.” Prerequisites: graduate standing.