Financial Lives

Catalog description

This course focuses on the expansion of financial services on daily life in both U.S. and non-U.S societies. We will use ethnographic case-studies to explore different institutions and mechanisms by which people organize their debt and credit relations. The first part of the course will be an overview of anthropological concepts and frameworks for understanding debt and sociality. The second part will focus on the diverse meanings of homeownership in U.S. society, Brazil, and China.