Mobility and Global Inequality

Course Description

Mobility and inequality endure as fundamental realities of human life, and underlie myriad social processes and institutions through which, on the one hand, people organize and make sense of the world around them and, on the other hand, seek to change the conditions and circumstances of their lives. They are at once complementary and oppositional, and examining some of the dynamics between them provides perspective into a variety of anthropological questions both old and new: how do people negotiate unevenly distributed resources? why do people move to new places? in what circumstances is social egalitarianism possible, and in which do hierarchy or even tyranny prevail? as people move, what is lost and what is retained? what effects will large-scale human migration have on prevailing political and economic systems? is radical social change possible under capitalism? Such questions lead us inevitably towards the problem of power and governance, both in today's world and the series of regimes and orders that have preceded and shaped it. How and why people move, or are forced to move, is always bound up with projects of control, exploitation, rebellion, oppression, allegiance, and resistance. This course focuses on mobility and inequality as grounded, embodied processes and experiences, by focusing on ethnographic descriptions of people who are both stuck and on the move, subjugated and liberated, in order to introduce students to a range of foundational concepts and questions.

Code

ANTH 8001

Credits

3

Subject

ANTH