2019-20

The main aim of the course is to introduce students to the concept of consumption in anthropology. Consumption studies have shown that the material world is not static and fixed.  Instead, objects have their value and their histories and so the material world is part and parcel of any given society. To consume certain goods is a choice, a political act subject to several historical, economic and social conditions and norms. Thus consumption creates and recreates everyday politics. The course deals with various aspects of consumption and uses several ethnographic examples.