Reading and composition courses based on the anthropological literature. These courses provide an introduction to issues distinctive of anthropological texts and introduce students to distinctive forms of anthropological writing, such as ethnography and anthropological prehistory. Readings will be chosen from a variety of texts by authors whose works span the discipline, from bioanthropology to archaeology and sociocultural anthropology. Satisfies the second half of the Reading and Composition requirement.

The history of money is inextricably interwoven with the history of writing. Early forms of money are among the oldest known examples of written text. Like writing systems, monetary systems are assemblages of signs: written letters stand in for the linguistic phonemes they represent; monies, in their many diverse forms, represent the values of the objects we use them to buy and sell. Just as the written word acts as a technological extension of human memory, transforming fleeting utterances of speech into frozen, durable objects called texts, which take on a paradoxical new life by virtue of their ability to be copied, circulated, and re-arranged, so too does money create textual records of the values of things, which can then be recorded, accumulated, transferred from person to person, and, crucially, counted. And, like writing, money has not been a universal and ubiquitous feature of human life at all times and places. Writing doubtless transforms the way we think about and experience language. How, then, does money transform the way we think about and experience the value of things, ourselves, and one another? Are there other ways of valuing things that money obscures, and are there distinct ways of valuing things that money enables? This reading and composition course will highlight anthropologists (and anthropology-adjacent thinkers) who have applied ethnographic, historical, and psychoanalytic lenses to these questions. Over the semester, we will focus on three books which deal with questions of money and value through studies, respectively, of gifts, debt, and desire. The course is designed with the hope of integrating writing into the process of reading these and other related texts. Using a range of in-class activities, journaling exercises, and cumulative writing assignments, our goal will be to treat reading not as a series of unconnected homework assignments, but rather as part of the ongoing process by which you will author your own written ideas and voices.

Repeat Rules

Course is not repeatable for credit.

Requirements class fulfills