[[ENV 877/ANTH 561] () ] / 2024-2025

Anthropology of the Global Economy for Conservation and Development

This seminar explores topics in the anthropology of the global economy that are relevant to development and conservation policy and practice. Anthropologists are often assumed to focus on micro- or local-level research, and thus to have limited usefulness in the contemporary, global world of conservation and development policy. In fact, however, they have been examining global topics since at least the 1980s, and little current anthropological research is limited to the village level. More importantly, the anthropological perspective on the global economy is unique and important. This course examines the topics that make up this perspective, including using a single commodity to study the global economy, world system, and other 1970s theories of the world economy; the moral relation between economy and society, models for thinking about power in the global economy, articulations between rural households and the global economy, rural-urban relations in the global economy; the process of becoming a commodity, the commons debate, credit and debt, contracting and flexible accumulation; and the metrics and mobiles of globalization. Readings for the course come from the subfields of environmental anthropology, economic anthropology, the anthropology of development, and the anthropology of conservation. This class is a prerequisite for ENV 693b. Though designed for master’s and doctoral students, it is open to advanced undergraduates. Three hours lecture/seminar.

ENV 877 is a prerequisite for:
ENV 693: Advanced Readings: Social Science of Development and Conservation