Anthropology 390

COURSE DESCRIPTION: The course traces prominent conversations in anthropology and their roots in classical social theory. To do this, the syllabus moves between contemporary and historical theoretical writings, as well as between theoretical and ethnographically oriented texts. Throughout the course we return to certain pivotal questions concerning the practice of anthropology and the conceptualization of culture: What is the relationship of the individual to the social world? How do power and conflict affect the way individuals conceive of their social world and the way anthropologists conceive of the worlds they study? Finally, what is culture and where should anthropologists look to find it?