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Seminar: Contemporary Topics in Economic Anthropology 2025 <br>
<br> André Thiemann<br> Thursdays 12.30-14.00 (20.2.-15.5.)<br> Room: C221 in Celetná 20 <br> <br> Description of the course:<br> <br> The seminar will introduce students to a wide array of topics related to economic practices in capitalism and other socio-<br> economic systems, such as working, buying, selling and relating to other humans and the environment. The aim is to show <br> that ‘the economy’ is not something abstract, distant and complex but something that we experience in our everyday <br> interactions and that is tightly intertwined with local social and cultural practices even in a globalised world. Environmental <br> issues have become pressing topics for economic analysis, so we ask if land and the earth can be bought and sold, how <br> global consumption and commodity chains impact and interact with the environment, what effects fossil fuel production <br> and consumption have on the economy and the environment, and whether working less effectively reduces our carbon <br> footprint. By the end of the course, you will have acquired the theoretical, conceptual, methodological and ethical toolkit to <br> analyse and study “all things economic”; you will be looking at your everyday interactions and existing social structures <br> and norms critically and be inspired by ethnographic examples and alternative practices to think of novel social solutions. <br> <br> <br> Course assignments and evaluation<br> <br> 1) Participation and attendance 20%: <br> <br> The target group are students of Anthropology, Central European and Balkan Studies. Since our sessions will be based <br> on an interactive method of teaching, every student is expected to participate actively in working groups and discussions. <br> Regular preparation of the required readings is mandatory. Additional readings are voluntary and especially directed to <br> those students seeking to write a paper on the topic. I recommend that you print out the readings and your presentations. <br> If you decide to bring these materials on an electronic device, make sure it is put on flight mode before the class begins. <br> <br> The course consists of a 90-minute session. If you have missed more than two classes, you will need to write analytical <br> summaries for texts of every next missed class. All summaries have to be submitted by 15 May 2025. <br> <br> 2) A mini-essay (400 words) 20%<br> <br> in the following format:<br> 1) Concisely summarise the main arguments of the reading<br> 2) Analyse the significance of given texts to economic anthropology and society at large <br> 3) Compare and contrast the readings with other texts on the same topic that you are familiar with <br> 4) Draw parallels from your own experience/a society that you are familiar with regarding the topic of the presentation <br> 5) Raise questions related to the topic that can be discussed in class <br> <br> The essay should be uploaded by Thursday 9 am before the class when your topic is due<br> <br> Sign up for the text and topic by February 28 (the earlier the better because 3 people max can choose one text)<br> <br> 3) Socialism/Post-socialism group assignment due 24.4. 20%<br> <br> This is a group assignment in groups of three. If you have grown up in the Czech Republic or another post-socialist <br> country, you might consider certain things socialist: be it your mothers’ talks about shortage of food or acquiring things <br> through exchange networks, particular styles of architecture, literature, institutions or clothing. If you come from another <br> cultural context, socialism might mean a political ideal, a Cold War movie or be a trope for an overly protective state. <br> Furthermore, even though socialism, as we know it in the 20th century, seems to be transforming globally, some still find <br> post-socialism a useful concept.<br> <br> The aim of this assignment is to acquaint yourself with some theoretical or ethnographic approaches to understanding <br> socialism or post-socialism and then apply them in the analysis of social practice, cultural/historical phenomenon, an <br> artefact or an institution. Your analysis can be based on an interview, visual material, cultural production, political <br> discourse, tradition, idea or ideology - be creative. The assignment should result in a short collaborative text (around <br> 1000 words), which can be accompanied by photos, film, poetry, and music. <br> <br> When doing the exercise, try to answer the questions:<br> What is socialism?<br> How is it manifested in the particular object or phenomenon that your group has chosen to analyse?<br> <br> Essay 40%<br> The essay should focus on a particular question or issue in economic anthropology. Essay topics will be shared in the first <br> half of the semester. Students should pick one topic and use at least five academic references. Students can pick another <br> topic if this is discussed with me beforehand. It is important to use both relevant literature used in class to show what <br> you’ve learned during the semester and texts beyond the mandatory reading list. <br> Essay length 2000 for BA students and 2500 for MA students.<br> Note on academic dishonesty: plagiarism is a severe crime. In my experience, it mostly comes from students’ insecurity <br> with academic writing that they are relatively new to. Rather than copying someone else’s text and helping AI rephrase it <br> (which makes it much less easily detectable than it was a couple of years ago), I suggest to write your own thoughts in <br> simple words and it will get easier over time.<br> Note on using AI tools: if you are using AI tools, highlight the part of the text where you have used AI and add a footnote <br> explaining which AI tool and which query you used. You are still required to read, understand, critique and interpret <br> ethnographic texts on your own and form coherent arguments based on your readings. At the same time, I see no issues <br> asking AI tools to help you rephrase your thought. You should still have a go at trying to rephrase the ideas in the text we <br> read in your own words. It can be challenging, especially if you are not a native speaker, but for the next few years, it is <br> still considered a useful skill to have. Free grammar tools such as Grammarly are recommended for use to improve the <br> legibility of your work. <br> General overviews on aspects of economic anthropology<br> <br> Graeber, David, 2001. Toward an Anthropological Theory of Value: The False Coin of Our Own Dreams. Springer.<br> Gudeman, Stephen, 2022. Economy's Tension: The Dialectics of Community and Market. Berghahn Books.<br> Patel, Raj, and Jason W. Moore, 2017. A History of the World in Seven Cheap Things: A Guide to Capitalism, Nature, and <br> the Future of the Planet. Univ of California Press.<br> Wilk, Richard R., and Lisa C. Cliggett, 2007. Economies and Cultures: Foundations of Economic Anthropology. <br> Cambridge, MA: Westview Press.<br> Carrier, James G., ed., 2022. A Handbook of Economic Anthropology. Edward Elgar Publishing.<br> De Neve, G., Mollona, M., and Parry, J., 2010. Industrial Work and Life: An Anthropological Reader. Bloomsbury Academic.<br> Durrenberger, E. Paul, and Judith E. Martí, 2005. Labor in Cross-Cultural Perspective. Rowman Altamira.<br> Godelier, Maurice, 1996. The Enigma of the Gift. Cambridge: Polity Press.<br> Graeber, David, 2001. Toward an Anthropological Theory of Value.<br> Graeber, David, 2018. Bullshit Jobs: A Theory. Simon and Schuster.<br> Gregory, Chris, 1982. Gift and Commodities. London: Academic Press.<br> Hann, Chris, and Keith Hart, 2011. Economic Anthropology: History, Ethnography, Critique. Cambridge: Polity Press.<br> Carbonella, August, and Sharryn Kasmir, eds., 2014. Blood and Fire: Toward a Global Anthropology of Labor.<br> Applebaum, Herbert A., 1984. The Concept of Work: Ancient, Medieval, and Modern. New York: SUNY Press.<br> Trosper, Ronald L. Indigenous economics: Sustaining peoples and their lands. University of Arizona Press, 2022.<br> <br> Essay topics<br> <br> Students should pick one topic and use at least five academic references. Students can pick another topic if this is <br> discussed with me beforehand. It is important to use both relevant literature used in class to show what you’ve learned <br> during the semester and texts beyond the mandatory reading list. <br> <br> Essay length: 2000 for BA students and 2500 for MA students (excluding references).<br> Note on academic dishonesty: plagiarism is a severe crime. In my experience, it mostly comes from students’ insecurity <br> with academic writing, which they are relatively new to. Rather than copying someone else’s text and helping AI rephrase it <br> (which makes it much less easily detectable than it was a couple of years ago), I suggest writing your own thoughts in <br> simple words and it will get easier over time.<br> Note on using AI tools: if you are using AI tools, highlight the part of the text where you have used AI and add a footnote <br> explaining which AI tool and which query you used. You must still read, understand, critique and interpret ethnographic <br> texts independently and form coherent arguments based on your readings. At the same time, I see no issues asking AI <br> tools to help you rephrase your thoughts. You should still have a go at trying to rephrase the ideas in the text we read in <br> your own words. It can be challenging, especially if you are not a native speaker, but for the next few years, it is still <br> considered a useful skill to have. Free grammar tools such as Grammarly are recommended for use to improve the <br> legibility of your work.<br> Poslední úprava: Thiemann André, Dr. phil. (20.02.2025)
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By the end of the course, you will have acquired the theoretical, conceptual, methodological and ethical toolkit to analyse and study “all things economic”; you will be looking at your everyday interactions and existing social structures and norms critically and be inspired by ethnographic examples and alternative practices to think of novel social solutions. Poslední úprava: Thiemann André, Dr. phil. (20.02.2025)
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1) Participation and attendance 10%: The target group are students of Anthropology, Central European and Balkan Studies. Since our sessions will be based on an interactive method of teaching, every student is expected to participate actively in working groups and discussions. Regular preparation of the required readings is mandatory. Additional readings are voluntary and especially directed to those students seeking to write an essay on the topic. I recommend that you print out the readings and your presentations. If you decide to bring these materials on an electronic device, make sure it is put on flight mode before the class begins. The course consists of a 90-minute session. If you have missed more than three classes, you will need to write analytical summaries for texts of every next missed class. All summaries have to be submitted by 15 May 2025.
2) A mini-essay (400 words) 20% in the following format: 1) Concisely summarise the main arguments of the reading 2) Analyse the significance of given texts to economic anthropology and society at large 3) Compare and contrast the readings with other texts on the same topic that you are familiar with 4) Draw parallels from your own experience/a society that you are familiar with regarding the topic of the presentation 5) Raise questions related to the topic that can be discussed in class
The essay should be uploaded by Thursday 9 am before the class when your topic is due Sign up for the text and topic by February 28 (the earlier the better because 3 people max can choose one text)
3) Socialism/Post-socialism group assignment due 03.04. 20% This is a group assignment in groups of three. If you have grown up in the Czech Republic or another post-socialist country, you might consider certain things socialist: be it your mothers’ talks about shortage of food or acquiring things through exchange networks, particular styles of architecture, literature, institutions or clothing. If you come from another cultural context, socialism might mean a political ideal, a Cold War movie or be a trope for an overly protective state. Furthermore, even though socialism, as we know it in the 20th century, seems to be transforming globally, some still find post-socialism a useful concept. The aim of this assignment is to acquaint yourself with some theoretical or ethnographic approaches to understanding socialism or post-socialism and then apply them in the analysis of social practice, cultural/historical phenomenon, an artefact or an institution. Your analysis can be based on an interview, visual material, cultural production, political discourse, tradition, idea or ideology - be creative. The assignment should result in a short collaborative text (around 1000 words), which can be accompanied by photos, film, poetry, and music. When doing the exercise, try to answer the questions: What is socialism? How is it manifested in the particular object or phenomenon that your group chose to analyse?
4) In-Class Presentation 20% Students will each give an in-class presentation (8-10 minutes) to hone their skills in oral academic conversation. This is also a service to the community, as it reminds us of the texts we prepared for the class and opens up discussion. Similarly to the mini-essay, you are expected to: 1) Concisely summarise the main arguments of the reading 2) Analyse the significance of given texts to economic anthropology and society at large 3) Compare and contrast the readings with other texts on the same topic that you are familiar with 4) Draw parallels from your own experience/a society that you are familiar with regarding the topic of the presentation 5) Raise questions related to the topic that can be discussed in class
5) Oral Exam 30%, scheduled for 29.05. After the course, you will pass an oral exam of 20-25 minutes per person. The exam date will be arranged in one of the last two weeks of May. I will prepare in advance several topics for the examination, based on the readings and in-class discussion. Students pick one topic and discuss it. It is important to refer to relevant literature used in class to show what you’ve learned during the semester and texts beyond the mandatory reading list, which will mean extra points. Note on academic dishonesty: plagiarism is a severe crime. In my experience, it mostly comes from students’ insecurity with academic writing that they are relatively new to. Rather than copying someone else’s text and helping AI rephrase it (which makes it much less easily detectable than it was a couple of years ago), I suggest to write your own thoughts in simple words and it will get easier over time. Note on using AI tools: if you are using AI tools, highlight the part of the text where you have used AI and add a footnote explaining which AI tool and which query you used. You are still required to read, understand, critique and interpret ethnographic texts on your own and form coherent arguments based on your readings. At the same time, I see no issues asking AI tools to help you rephrase your thought. You should still have a go at trying to rephrase the ideas in the text we read in your own words. It can be challenging, especially if you are not a native speaker, but for the next few years, it is still considered a useful skill to have. Free grammar tools such as Grammarly are recommended for use to improve the legibility of your work. Poslední úprava: Thiemann André, Dr. phil. (20.02.2025)
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(1) 20.02. Introduction to Economic Anthropology In the introductory lecture, we will cover what economic anthropology is and why studying different economic and social systems from an anthropological perspective might be interesting. I will give an overview of some of the key thinkers and terms in economic anthropology, the methods and ethics of anthropological research more generally Assignments, course requirements, and the logic behind every class will be discussed. What are the common interactions of economic exchange you are engaged in daily? What topics related to the economy, broadly speaking, are interesting to you? What is your own relationship with work? Money?
Further reading Karl Polanyi. 1957. ‘The Economy as Instituted Process’ in Trade and Markets in the Early Empires: Economies in History and Society, eds. Polanyi, Karl, Conrad Arensberg, and Harry Pearson, Chicago: Henry Regner Company, 243–70. Wolf, Eric. R. 1982. Europe and the People without History. Berkeley, London: University of California Press. Harvey, David. 2005. A Brief History of Neoliberalism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
(2) 27.02. Laying the groundwork: From Stone Age Economy to Neoliberalism In this class, we discuss some aspects of pre-capitalist societies and questions of regulation, deregulation and commodities that, some say, cannot be sold like others, such as land, labour and money. Why are land, labour and money called fictitious commodities? Do you agree with this statement? Why does Sahlins speculate that pre-capitalist small-scale societies did not consider themselves poor? What aspects of their this mode of life would you consider attractive?
Required readings Polanyi, K. 1971 [1944]. “Chapter 6. The Self- Regulating Market and the Fictitious Commodities: Labor, Land, and Money” in The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of our Times, Boston: Beacon Press, 68–76. Sahlins, Marshall. 1972. “Chapter 1 Original Affluent society”. In Stone Age Economics. London: Tavistock Publications, 1–39.
Further reading Evans-Pritchard, Edward. 1940. “Chapter 1: Interest in Cattle” in The Nuer. A Description of the Modes of Livehood and Political Institutions of a Nilotic People. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 16–50. Malinowski, Bronislaw. 1966 [1935]. “The practical tasks of the good gardener, tokwaybagula”, in Coral Gardens and Their Magic: Soil-Tilling and Agricultural Rites in the Trobriand Islands. London: Allen & Unwin, 61–8. Bird-David, Nurit et al. 1992. “Beyond ‘The Original Affluent Society’: A Culturalist Reformulation [and Comments and Reply].” Current Anthropology 33 (1): 25. Spittler, Gerd. 2011. Contesting The Great Transformation: Work in comparative perspective. In Hann, Chris and Hart, Keith (eds.) Market and Society, The Great Transformation Today. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 160–74. Li, Tania Murray. 2014. Land’s End: Capitalist Relations on an Indigenous Frontier. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. Suzman, James. 2020. “The 300,000-Year Case for the 15-Hour Week.” Financial Times, August 28, 2020, sec. Life & Arts. https://www.ft.com/content/8dd71dc3-4566-48e0-a1d9-3e8bd2b3f60f. Graeber, David and David Wengrow. 2021. “Chapter 8. Imaginary Cities: Eurasia’s first urbanites – in Mesopotamia, the Indus valley, Ukraine and China – and how they built cities without kings” in The Dawn of Everything. A New History of Humanity. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 276–327.
(3) 06.03. Gifts and Commodities, Informal Economies In this class, we will be discussing a classic text in anthropology, Marcel Mauss’ gift. You will familiarise yourself with real terms such as reciprocity and hau, as well as inalienable gifts and alienable commodities. Why do people give gifts? Does a gift always require a return gift? Is there such thing as a free gift? It seems that the act of exchange of commodities is brief and the social relations are alienable, while gift exchange relations are inalienable and enduring. But is that really the case? What is the difference between gifts and commodities? Does money connect people or break down social relations?
Required readings Mauss Marcel. 2016 [1925]. Essay on the Gift. The Form and Reason for Exchange in Archaic Societies, transl. Jane Guyer, Chicago: Hau Books, 55–84 (Introduction and Chapter 1). Gregory, Chris A. 1982. “Ch1. The Competing Theories”, in Gifts and Commodities. London et al.: Academic Press, 10–28.
Further reading Malinowski, Bronislaw. 1960 [1922]. “The Essentials of the Kula,” Argonauts of the Western Pacific: An Account of Native Enterprise and Adventure in the Archipelagoes of Melanesian New Guinea. London: Routledge, 81–104. (see also plates XVI-XVIII) Parry, Jonathan. 1986. ‘The Gift, the Indian Gift and the “Indian Gift”’. Man 21 (3): 453–73. Strathern, Marylin. 1988. The gender of the gift. Berkeley: University of California Press. Weiner, Annette. 1992. Inalienable possessions: the paradox of keeping-while giving. Berkeley et al.: University of California Press. Graeber, David. 2001. “Ch. 6: Marcel Mauss Revisited”. In Towards an Anthropological Theory of Value: The False Coin of Our Own Dreams, New York: Palgrave, 151–228. Sykes, Karen. 2005. Arguing with Anthropology: An Introduction to Critical Theories of the Gift. Psychology Press. Tsing, Anna. 2013. “Sorting out Commodities: How Capitalist Value Is Made through Gifts.” HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory 3 (1): 21–43. Sanchez, Andrew, James Carrier, Christopher Gregory, James Laidlaw, Marilyn Strathern, Yunxiang Yan, and Jonathan Parry. 2017. “‘The Indian gift’: A critical debate.” History and Anthropology 28 (5): 553–83.
(4) 13.03. Money and Morality, Debt and Spheres of Exchange In this class, we look at diverse types of money in different social relations and cultural contexts. Can money exist without a state? What is the difference between a gift, a commodity and money? What is the myth of barter and what came first, money or barter? Does one always have to pay back one’s debt? How, according to David Graeber, is debt the origin of money? Money is both a material object (coins and notes, credit cards and cheques) and a complex abstraction. Although supposed to represent abstract value – standardised, impersonal, convertible and alienable – this is not the case when we look at concrete cultural settings where people attribute different value to money received in different contexts. Why is all money not of the same value? How do people deal with dirty or polluted money? Can money serve as a gift? What kind of other capitals might people have besides money? Have you experienced that the same amount of money has different moral connotations for you?
Required readings Graeber, David. 2011. Chapter 2. “The Myth of Barter” in Debt: The first 5000. New York: Melville House Publishing, 21–41. Guyer, Jane. 2004. ‘Conversions: asymmetrical transactions’. In Marginal Gains: Monetary Transactions in Atlantic Africa, 27–47. The Lewis Henry Morgan Lectures: 1997. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Further reading Bohannan, Paul. 1959. ‘The Impact of Money on an African Subsistence Economy’. The Journal of Economic History 19 (4): 491–503. Bloch, Maurice and Jonathan Parry. 1989. “Introduction: Money and the Morality of Exchange”. In J. Parry and M. Bloch (eds.) Money and the Morality of Exchange. Pp. 1-32. Graeber, David. 2011. “On the Experience of Moral Confusion”. In Debt. The First 5000 Years. New York: Melville House, 1–15. Musaraj, Smoki. 2011. Tales from Albarado: The Materiality of Pyramid Schemes in Postsocialist Albania. Cultural Anthropology 26 (1), 84-110. Stout, Noelle. 2015. ‘When a Yuma Meets Mama: Commodified Kin and the Affective Economies of Queer Tourism in Cuba’. Anthropological Quarterly 88 (3): 665–691. Walker, Joshua Z. 2017. ‘Torn Dollars and War-Wounded Francs: Money Fetishism in the Democratic Republic of Congo’. American Ethnologist 44 (2): 288–99. Weiss, Hadas. 2022. “From Desire to Endurance: Hanging on in a Spanish Village.” Cultural Anthropology 37 (1): 45–68. Mikuš, Marek. 2022. “‘New’ but ‘Squeezed’: Middle Class and Mortgaged Homeownership in Croatia.” Critique of Anthropology 42 (4): 439–56. Zaloom, Caitlin, and Deborah James. 2023. “Financialization and the Household.” Annual Review of Anthropology 52: 399–419.
(5) 20.03. Socialism and post-socialism as an economic system and lived experience Throughout the course, we are looking at how capitalism operates in different cultural settings. As a backdrop, we are thinking of other economic systems, precapitalist, or alternatives to capitalism. One of such systems, socialism, was dominant in a significant part of the globe and also in former Czechoslovakia. In this class, we discuss what socialism was and what post-socialism means as an analytical concept and lived experience. This class is to prepare you for your first independent homework, a research project into post-socialism. What does socialism mean in your cultural context? What are the main differences between socialist and capitalist economic systems?
Required readings Annist, Aet. 2022. “Post-socialism as an experience of distancing and dispossession in rural and transnational Estonia.” Critique of Anthropology 42 (2): 137–53. Ringel, Felix. 2022. “The time of post-socialism: On the future of an anthropological concept” Critique of Anthropology 42 (2): 191–208.
Further reading Verdery, Katherine. 1999. Fuzzy Property: Rights, Power, and Identity in Transylvania's Decollectivization. In Uncertain Transition: Ethnographies of Change in the Postsocialist World. Eds. Burawoy, Michael and Katherine Verdery. Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield, 53–82. Hann, Chris, ed. 2002. Postsocialism: Ideals, Ideologies and Practices in Eurasia. Oxford; New York: Routledge. Burawoy, Michael. 2009. “Working in the Tracks of State Socialism.” Capital & Class 33 (2): 33–64. Thelen, Tatjana. 2011. “Shortage, Fuzzy Property and Other Dead Ends in the Anthropological Analysis of (Post) Socialism.” Critique of Anthropology 31 (1): 43–61. Dunn, Elizabeth, and Katherine Verdery. 2011. “Dead Ends in the Critique of (Post)Socialist Anthropology: Reply to Thelen.” Critique of Anthropology 31 (3): 251–55. Thelen, Tatjana. 2012. “Economic Concepts, Common Grounds and ‘New’ Diversity in the Anthropology of Post-Socialism: Reply to Dunn and Verdery.” Critique of Anthropology 32 (1): 87–90. Hann, Chris. 2015. “Property: Anthropological Aspects”. In International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences, edited by James Wright, 2nd ed., 153–59. Oxford: Elsevier. Kojanić, Ognjen. 2020. “Theory from the Peripheries: What Can the Anthropology of Postsocialism Offer to European Anthropology?” Anthropological Journal of European Cultures 29 (2): 49–66. Martin, Dominic. 2021. “Postsocialism”. In The Open Encyclopedia of Anthropology, edited by Felix Stein. Online: http://doi.org/10.29164/21postsocialism
(6) 27.03. Free week: Post-socialism assignment
(7) 03.04. Work as meaning, labour as alienation? Work is something that every human has some experience of. It can sometimes be considered an annoying nuisance, but also something that binds a community together, fixes social hierarchies or gives meaning to life. In this class, we look at the differences between work and labour and ask what the differences are between work in precapitalist and capitalist societies.
Required readings Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address - Greetings to the Natural World. courtesy of: Six Nations Indian Museum and the Tracking Project (accessed 07.02.2025). Marx, Karl.1844. “Estranged Labour in Economic and philosophic manuscripts” (accessed 07.02.2025). Harris, Olivia. 2007. "What makes people work?" in Questions of Anthropology, edited by Rita Astuti, Jonathan Parry, and Charles Stafford. Oxford; New York: Berg, 137–65.
Further reading Michael Jackson. 2007. “On the work of human hands” In Excursions. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 61–79. Sebastiao Salgado "Gold" mining photos mentioned by Jackson (accessed 07.02.2025). Kesküla, Eeva. "Labour, Employment, and Work." The International Encyclopedia of Anthropology (2018): 1-9. Marx, Karl “Wage-Labor and Capital” http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1847/wage-labour/ch01.htm. Weber, Max. 1992. The Protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism. London: Routledge. Burawoy, Michael. 2013. “Ethnographic fallacies: reflections on labour studies in the era of market fundamentalism.” Work, Employment & Society 27 (3): 526–36. Engels, Friedrich. The condition of the working class in England. Oxford University Press, USA, 1993 David Graeber. Graeber, David. On the Phenomenon of Bullshit Jobs: A Work Rant Soffia, Magdalena, Alex J. Wood, and Brendan Burchell. 2022. “Alienation is not ‘Bullshit’: An empirical critique of Graeber’s theory of BS jobs.” Work, Employment and Society 36 (5): 816–40.
(8) 10.04. Industrial labour, time and resistance One aspect of work that was radically transformed with the onset of industrialised factory work was time. Time became more regulated and there was a stricter separation of factory time and private time. Questions about time regulation and work are, however, not only confined to the cradle of industrial work in Western Europe in the 19th century but keep anthropologists interested also in the context of globalization and the perceived speeding up of time. What are the implications for time use and perception after the introduction of factory time? How separate categories are agricultural and factory time in reality? How does the introduction of new technology affect the perception of time and social relations at work? Besides playing with time, workers rarely fully consent with the industrial regime and its rules. In this class, we are looking at workers’ ways of subverting the discipline and ways of resisting that are available for those who do not have a lot of power or control. How do different factory regimes discipline workers? How is consent created and challenged? Which role do gender and ethnic relations play in consent and resistance practices? What are the ‘weapons of the weak’?
Required readings Ong, Aihwa. 1988. “The Production of Possession: Spirits and the Multinational Corporation in Malaysia.” American Ethnologist 15 (1): 28–42. Kesküla, Eeva. 2016. "Temporalities, time and the everyday: new technology as a marker of change in an Estonian mine." History and Anthropology 27, 521–35.
Further reading Thompson, Edward P. "Time, work-discipline, and industrial capitalism." Past & present 38 (1967): 56–97. Marx, Karl. 2010 [1867]. “Chapter Seven: The Labour-Process and the Process of Producing Surplus-Value” in Capital, Vol. 1, Book 1, 123–38. Burawoy, Michael. 2012 [1979]. Manufacturing consent: changes in the labor process under monopoly capitalism. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Scott, James C. 1985. Weapons of the weak: everyday forms of peasant resistance. New Haven; London: Yale University Press. Smith, T.C. 1986. “Peasant time and factory time in Japan”. Past and Present 111, 165–97. Parry, Jonathan. 1999. "Lords of labour: Working and shirking in Bhilai." Contributions to Indian Sociology 33(1-2):107–40 Narotzky, Susana. 2016. “Where Have All the Peasants Gone?” Annual Review of Anthropology 45 (1): 301–18. Kesküla, Eeva. 2021. “Austerity, Skill, and Gendered Work in Kazakhstan’s Heavy Industry.” Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 27 (4): 928–48.
(9) 24.04. Gender and labour, productive and reproductive work The Industrial Revolution resulted, to a certain extent, in a situation where the male breadwinners worked outside the domestic sphere and women were more in charge of housework, regardless of whether they were also employed for wages. Domestic work is unpaid and often considered natural and done for love. Through ethnographic texts and Marxist-feminist analysis, we consider the meanings and value of housework and gender relations. Should housework be paid in the same manner as other work? Is being a wife and a mother a job? What happens to ideas of love, romance and family if women’s housework is seen as patriarchal exploitation? What happens at the intersection of gender, ethnicity and class? Care work and emotional labour are often done by women. Why is this work undervalued?
Required readings Silvia Federici, 1975. “Wages Against Housework”, 74–87. Liebelt, Claudia. 2015. “The Gift of Care: On Filipina Domestic Workers and Transnational Cycles of Care.” In Anthropological Perspectives on Care: Work, Kinship and the Life-Course, edited by Erdmute Alber and Heike Drotbohm, 23–42. London: Palgrave.
Further reading Leacock, Eleanor, et al. 1978. “Women's Status in Egalitarian Society: Implications for Social Evolution [and Comments and Reply].” Current Anthropology, 19 (2), 247–75. Narotzky, Susana, and Gavin Smith. 2006. ‘6. Families and Entrepreneurs’. In Immediate Struggles: People, Power, and Place in Rural Spain, 121–44. Berkeley [et al.]: University of California Press. Kuper, Adam. 2009. ‘The Family Business’. In Incest and Influence: The Private Life of Bourgeois England, 107–34. Cambridge, MA & London: Harvard University Press. Stout, Noelle. 2015. ‘When a Yuma Meets Mama: Commodified Kin and the Affective Economies of Queer Tourism in Cuba’. Anthropological Quarterly 88 (3): 665–691. Bear, Laura, Karen Ho, Anna Tsing, and Sylvia Yanagisako. 2015. ‘Gens: A Feminist Manifesto for the Study of Capitalism’. Cultural Anthropology 30. Fraser, Nany. 2016. Contradictions of capital and care. New Left Review 100. July/Aug https://newleftreview.org/issues/ii100/articles/nancy-fraser-contradictions-of-capital-and-care. Martin, Keir, Ståle Wig, and Sylvia Yanagisako. 2021. “Battlegrounds of Dependence: Reconfiguring Labor, Kinship and Relational Obligation.” Focaal 2021 (90): 1–10.
(10) 15.05. Global supply chains, power, classification and consumption How has colonialism impacted the global supply chains and power relations between producers and consumers at different points around the globe? How do certain global commodities move around the world, and how do they affect people and the environment at different points along the commodity chains? How do your own consumption patterns connect you to the global economy? Why is the classification of commodities important? Please describe how you see the social history of eating to be tied to colonial relations and emerging capitalist relations.
Required readings Tsing, Anna. 2009. “Supply Chains and the Human Condition.” Rethinking Marxism 21 (2): 148–76. Blanchette, Alex. 2020. Introduction: The “Factory” Farm. In Porkopolis: American Animality, Standardized Life, and the Factory Farm. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1–30.
Further reading Mintz, Sydney. 1985. Chapter 4 “Power”. In Sweetness and Power: the Place of Sugar in Modern History. New York, NY, Viking, 166–86. BBC Docuseries “Empire”. 2012. A five-part documentary of the British Empire. Episode 4 “Making a fortune” links the colonial success to financial riches Britain acquired. Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing. 2015. The Mushroom at the End of the World: On the Possibility of Life in Capitalist Ruins. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press. Thiemann, André. 2022. “Commodity chains.” A Handbook of Economic Anthropology. Edward Elgar Publishing, 368–78. Besky, Sarah. 2024. “Reproducing the Plantation.” Annals of the American Association of Geographers 114 (10): 2212–15. Sippel, Sarah Ruth. 2024. “Infrastructures of Farmland Valuation in Australia.” Ethnos 89 (2): 219–36. Ana, Daniela. 2024. “Nature’s Value: Evidencing a Moldovan Terroir Through Scientific Infrastructures.” Ethnos 89 (2): 237–52. Krüger, Oscar. 2024. “Peasant in a Bottle: Infrastructures of Containment for an Italian Wine Cooperative.” Ethnos 89 (2): 253–68. Thiemann, André. 2024. “Infrastructuring ‘Red Gold’: Agronomists, Cold Chains, and the Involution of Serbia’s Raspberry Country.” Ethnos 89 (2): 289–311.
(11) 22.05. Capitalism, Resource-making, Energy production and consumption The Industrial Revolution could only take off because of the use of “cheap” energy “resources”. The new energy infrastructures that were created to extract energy from nature transformed political economy and social relations with each transition – from wood, water and wind power to coal, oil and nuclear energy – as dominant fossil fuels. Considering the current energy transition to achieve the goal of carbon neutrality, what impact can this have on social and political relations, such as labour relations and energy justice? What issues do communities face with the introduction of green energy and new forms aimed at reducing waste? Do you know where your electricity comes from and your waste goes to? What can ordinary people do to reduce fossil fuel and other forms of resource consumption?
Required readings Mitchell, Timothy. 2009 "Carbon democracy." Economy and Society 38 (3): 399–432. Howe, Cymene and Boyer, Dominic, 2016. “Aeolian extractivism and community wind in southern Mexico.” Public Culture 28 (2): 215–35.
Further readings Ferguson, James. 2005. “Seeing like an Oil Company: Space, Security, and Global Capital in Neoliberal Africa.” American Anthropologist 107 (3): 377–82. Gledhill, John. 2011. “The People’s Oil: Nationalism, Globalisation and the Possibility of Another Country in Brazil, Mexico and Venezuela.” In Crude Domination: An Anthropology of Oil, 165–89, eds. Behrends, Andrea, Stephen Reyna and Gunther Schlee, New York: Berghahn Books. Appel, Hannah, 2012. "Offshore work: oil, modularity, and the how of capitalism in Equatorial Guinea," American Ethnologist, 692–709. Gille, Zsuzsa. 2016. “The 2010 Red Mud Spill.” In Paprika, Foie Gras, and Red Mud: The Politics of Materiality in the European Union. Bloomington. Indiana University Press, 69–92. Richardson, Tanya, Weszkalnys, Gisa, 2014. "Introduction: resource materialities," Anthropological Quarterly 87 (1), 5–30. Dominic Boyer, Cymene Howe, and Timothy Mitchell on the podcast ‘Cultures of Energy’, from episode 57, 16 February 2017. Available at: at http://culturesofenergy.com/ep-57-timothy-mitchell/. Franquesa, Jaume. 2019. “Resources: Nature, Value and Time.” In A Research Agenda for Economic Anthropology, edited by James G. Carrier, 74–89. Cheltenham, UK [et al.]: Edward Elgar Publishers. Doherty, Jacob. 2022. “Waste: The First and Final Frontier.” In A Handbook of Economic Anthropology, edited by James Carrier, 162–74. Cheltenham, U.K. & Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar. Sosna, Daniel. 2022. “Saving and Wasting: The Paradox of Thrift in a Czech Landfill.” In Thrift and Its Paradoxes, edited by Catherine Alexander and Daniel Sosna, 162–84. Berghahn Books.
(12) 22.05. Ecological and Climate Crises and Capitalism, Alternatives and Resistance Please describe the argument for and against Anthropocene. Which do you find more convincing and why? Discuss how indigenous people are negotiating capitalism in their immediate as well as broader environments. How would you compare this to examples of capitalist extractive practices in environments more familiar to you? The exact direction of the second half of the class will be decided during the course but the aim of it is to come back to alternatives to the current economic system, past, present or utopian and end on a hopeful note. Potential topics: Pirates, Zapatistas, Working less - better for the environment, Pre-conquest economic practices in the Americas
Required readings Malm, Andreas, and Alf Hornborg. “The geology of mankind? A critique of the Anthropocene narrative.” The Anthropocene Review 1.1 (2014): 62–9. Krøijer, Stine. 2019. “In the Spirit of Oil: Unintended Flows and Leaky Lives in Northeastern Ecuador.” In Indigenous Life Projects and Extractivism: Ethnographies from South America, edited by Cecilie Vindal Ødegaard and Juan Javier Rivera Andía, 95–118. Cham: Springer Nature.
Potential readings Kesküla, Eeva. “Challenging the dominant work ethic: Work, naps, and productivity of location-independent workers.” Critique of Anthropology 43.3 (2023): 311-327. Gorz, André. 1988. “Autonomous activities.” in Critique of Economic Reason. Verso books, 164–71. Tricia Hersey Rest Is Resistance How to dream your way toward a radically decolonized future Berardi, Franco. 2009. The soul at work: From alienation to autonomy. Los Angeles, CA: Semiotext(e). Zuboff, Shoshana. "Surveillance capitalism and the challenge of collective action." New labor forum. Vol. 28. No. 1. Sage CA: Los Angeles, CA: SAGE Publications, 2019. Gibson-Graham, Julie-Katharine, Jenny Cameron, and Stephen Healy. Take back the economy: An ethical guide for transforming our communities. U of Minnesota Press, 2013. Hart, Keith, Jean-Louis Laville, and Antonio David Cattani. The human economy. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2010.
General overviews on aspects of economic anthropology Gregory, Chris, 1982. Gift and Commodities. London: Academic Press. Gudeman, Stephen, and Alberto Rivera, 1990. Conversations in Colombia: The Domestic Economy in Life and Text. Cambridge University Press. Cronon, William. 1991. Nature’s Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West. New York; London: W. W. Norton & Company. Applebaum, Herbert A., 1992. The Concept of Work: Ancient, Medieval, and Modern. New York: SUNY Press. Godelier, Maurice, 1999 [1996]. The Enigma of the Gift. Cambridge: Polity Press. Graeber, David, 2001. Towards an Anthropological Theory of Value: The False Coin of Our Own Dreams, New York: Palgrave Durrenberger, E. Paul, and Judith E. Martí, 2005. Labor in Cross-Cultural Perspective. Rowman Altamira. Wilk, Richard R., and Lisa C. Cliggett, 2007. Economies and Cultures: Foundations of Economic Anthropology. Cambridge, MA: Westview Press. Gudeman, Stephen, 2008. Economy's Tension: The Dialectics of Community and Market. Berghahn Books. Mollona, Massimiliano, Geert de Neve, and Jonathan Parry. 2010. Industrial Work and Life: An Anthropological Reader. Oxford: Berg. Hann, Chris, and Keith Hart, 2011. Economic Anthropology: History, Ethnography, Critique. Cambridge: Polity Press. Sharryn Kasmir, and Carbonella, August, eds., 2014. Blood and Fire: Toward a Global Anthropology of Labor. Malm, Andreas. 2016. Fossil Capital: The Rise of Steam-Power and the Roots of Global Warming. London: Verso. Patel, Raj and Jason W. Moore, 2018. A History of the World in Seven Cheap Things: A Guide to Capitalism, Nature, and the Future of the Planet. London: Verso. Graeber, David, 2018. Bullshit Jobs: A Theory. Simon and Schuster. Graeber, David and David Wengrow. 2021. The Dawn of Everything. A New History of Humanity. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Carrier, James G., ed., 2022. A Handbook of Economic Anthropology. Edward Elgar Publishing. Trosper, Ronald L. Indigenous economics: Sustaining peoples and their lands. University of Arizona Press, 2022. Poslední úprava: Thiemann André, Dr. phil. (20.02.2025)
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