Fall 2016

Cultures of Money

Listed in: Anthropology and Sociology, as ANTH-324

Faculty

Nusrat S. Chowdhury (Section 01)

Description

This course explores money as an ethnographic object.  It focuses on anthropological writing about the everyday uses of money from “exotic” fields to places much closer to “home,"  from colonial encounters to household budgeting and the world of finance, for example. Anthropology has long been interested in the diverse ways in which people attach meanings, desires, and value to the idea that is money. If modern money is a universally recognized object of value, what can the histories and cultures of its circulation say about the making of the contemporary world? The course answers the question by approaching money not simply as equal and interchangeable as it is generally understood, but full of cultural significance.  Together we will see how money is a powerful medium through which one can understand important social and cultural phenomena, such as morality, violence, faith, gender, power, and resistance.

Limited to 25 students.  Fall semester.  Professor Chowdhury.

If Overenrolled: Preference given to Anthropology and Sociology majors. In case of overenrollment, priority will be given to department majors.

Keywords

Attention to Issues of Class, Attention to Issues of Gender and Sexuality, Attention to Issues of Race

Offerings

2022-23: Not offered
Other years: Offered in Fall 2016, Spring 2018