Friendship: Other Loves, Other Selves

Catalog description

Disciplines as different as anthropology, literary studies, philosophy, and sociology have developed a strong interest in the theory and practice of friendship in recent years; friendships are seen on TV, Facebook is based on the concept of “friends” connecting. Whereas definitions of friendship traditionally emphasized proximity, similarity, and mutuality, new readings and representations find distance, difference, and asymmetry at the core of this relation. The seminar will explore friendship as a radically different form of relationship and community. Taught in English.