Anthropology of Stuff

Catalog description

Our lives are surrounded by objects we make, gift, sell and buy. What can these objects tell us about who we are as humans? This course will introduce students to material anthropology, exploring what objects can tell us about culture, society and experience. We will talk about gifts, commodities, counterfeits, and copyrights. Students will learn how people make objects, how objects make people, and how the circulation of objects has connected people historically and in the present. Students will also have the opportunity to learn some ethnographic methods to talk about the meaning of objects in the world around them.