ANTH204 - THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS

Ever wonder what the point was of reading the "founding fathers" of the discipline (and yes, they were most often fathers)? Ever feel like the "old stuff" and the "old questions" have no relevance to your contemporary interests? This course, designed primarily for cultural anthropology majors, will provide clues. This is NOT a comprehensive history of the discipline. Instead, we will examine some of the main issues that have been foundational to anthropology, and will explore how approaches to these issues have changed over time. To do so, we will contextualize our analysis of transformations in anthropological knowledge production within historical and contemporary political economies. By exploring core issues that continue to inspire and inform anthropological theory and ethnographic practice, we will solidify our commitment to a holistic and relational understanding of social processes.