Topic: Economic Anthropology

Catalog description

Economic anthropology is the comparative study of economic institutions and behaviors across cultures and through time. The course examines the subsistence strategies of and economic arrangements in hunting and gathering, pastoral, horticultural, and peasant societies, to gain a comparative perspective on agriculture in industrial societies. Topics include market and non-market societies, division of labor, gender, social organization, gifts and commodities, and common property management. The course investigates the cultural bases of economic values and traces economic change in various communities. History of and current theories in economic anthropology will be discussed and an ethnographic case study will be read in depth to show the holism: how the economy is embedded in society. Students will work on a mini-ethnographic project, describing and analyzing economic activities, as well as their underlying cultural values, of individuals living in contemporary households in New York City.