Topics in Anthropology

3 units

From streets to wifi signals, electricity grids to pipes, infrastructures surround us and shape the society we inhabit. Whether it's brushing your teeth, checking your e-mail, or taking the bus, you use infrastructures regularly. Yet people pay little attention to them-until they break down. From the inconvenience of your bus being late to the emergency of deadly power outages or floods, infrastructures are vital. This seminar is an anthropological study of infrastructure's role in governance, livelihood, sociality, & cultural meaning in urban life. By looking at different forms of and experiences with infrastructure around the world, we will discuss varying understandings of infrastructure, theorize what it does, and analyze its politics. We begin by drawing from anthropology, political theory, and science & technology studies to think about what studying infrastructure entails; thereafter, the course centers on anthropological engagements with infrastructure in the Global South to rethink what infrastructure is and does. Throughout, weekly writing exercises will hone observational, methodological, and writing skills while pushing students to think about infrastructure and daily life in new ways through experiences on campus and in St. Louis.