This course focuses the anthropological perspective on our contemporary world, examining the historical roots, current manifestations and future trajectories of globalization and the culture of capitalism. We will use a variety of theoretical perspectives refined by anthropology, including cultural history and geography, political economy, evolutionary psychology and biology, material culture, and semiotics. Students will explore the structure of capitalism and the nature of money, the rise of modernity and the construction of consumerism, orientalism and the 'clash of cultures,' the origin and role of nation-states, world systems of commodity exchange, the postmodern condition, and modes of indigenous and local resistance to 'the triumph of capitalism and the end of history.'
Prerequsite(s): ANTH 100 or ANTH 140 or SOCI 100 or SOCI 103