Nature/Culture

3 units

What do we mean by nature or by designating something as natural? How do we distinguish nature from culture and where does such a distinction break down, become political or controversial? Is the distinction between nature and culture itself universal, or does it emerge from a particular history and reflect particular preconceptions and understandings? And how do new technologies reconfigure this distinction? In this course, we will explore such questions, paying special attention to the ways anthropology, as a discipline, has relied on, reinforced, and legitimated this great divide.