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Ju-chen Chen
Updated: January 7, 2015
ANTH 5390
Spring 2015
Wednesday 4.30 - 6.15 PM
Classroom: NAH 115
Tutorial: Wed. 6:30 – 7:15 PM
Classroom: NAH 114
Instructor: Ju-chen Chen (陳如珍)
Office: NAH 408
[email protected]
Office Hours: Tue. 2:30-3:30 pm
or by appointment
RA: Jacqueline Lin (林真如)
Office: NAH 301
[email protected]
ECONOMY, CULTURE AND POWER
(Subject to change)
This course will introduce economic and political anthropology. For anthropologists,
the economy is not numbers and markets, but how cultures produce, distribute, and
consume goods. People in different cultures have different ways of making a living,
but they are not completely different; what are the patterns and rules? Is it human
nature to be selfish and always want more things? Why do some people and countries
have more wealth than others? Is poverty natural and inevitable? These are not just
matters of economics, but of power. The focuses of this course are twofold. On the
one hand, we examine the nature of the economy. On the other hand, this course also
addresses the nature of anthropology through the focus on the economy. In the first
half of the semester, we will go through key topics in economic anthropology and
center our debates and discussions on a key concept: “rational” choice. The second
half of the semester will focus more on contemporary economic-related challenges of
human societies. Since capitalism is the most widespread and dominant economic
system of our time, we will examine a few crucial phenomena/ challenges including
consumerism, the politics of development and the destruction of the environment,
nationalism, and migration that, arguably, are intrinsic to global market capitalism.
Learning Outcomes:
Students taking this course will:
• learn to see the cultural nature of the economy and of power;
• be able to understand how economic behavior that seems irrational in market
capitalist contexts can make sense in other cultural contexts;
• learn how to combine universalizing theories and ethnographic understanding
of particular cultures;
• understand the way the culture of capitalism shapes the way we see the world
and affects our behavior;
• be aware of the history of ecological degradation, consumerism, globalization,
nationalism, and labor migration, and see how they are related to each other.
Readings:
This course use various articles and book chapters. However, we will read almost in
their entirely of the following two titles. You are strongly encouraged to acquire a
copy for your own reference.
Wilk, Richard R., and Lisa Cliggett.
2007 Economies and Cultures: Foundations of Economic Anthropology. (2nd
edition). Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
Robbins, Richard.
2014 Global Problems and the Culture of Capitalism (6th edition). Boston:
Pearson/Allyn & Bacon.
All these readings are available on University Library Reserve. For the chapters and
articles we assigned as required readings, a copy will be available in the department
of anthropology for your review.
Short Course Outline:
Date
Jan 07
Jan 14
Topic
Introduction and Overview
Defining the Economy and Human Nature
Jan 21
Self-Interest and Critiques of Modern Economics
Jan 28
Social and Political Economy
Feb 4
Cultural Economics
Feb 11
Gifts, Exchange and Complex Economic Human
Feb 18
Feb 25
Mar 4
Mar 11
Mar 18
Mar 25
Apr 1
Apr 8
No Class (CNY Holiday)
Midterm Exam (in class)
Consumerism and Affluenza
Population and Migration
Development and Environment
Ethnicity and Nationalism
Resistance and Rebellion
Globalization, Commodity and the Politics of Values
Apr 15
Wrap-up Discussion
Readings
Wilk &
Cliggett
Wilk &
Cliggett
Wilk &
Cliggett,
Diamond
Wilk &
Cliggett
Wilk &
Cliggett
Robbins
Robbins
Robbins
Robbins
Robbins
Appadurai,
West
Robbins
Course Requirements and Evaluation
Students are expected to read beforehand and participate actively in lecture and
tutorial discussions.
Participation and tutorial questions
Leading Tutorial Discussion and tutorial questions
Reading Commentary
Final paper (10 pages) (May 4)
2
10%
20%
35%
35%
Participation: based on your performance in both lectures and tutorials. You will not
be evaluated by the quality of your comments but whether you have prepared for the
class (done the reading) and actively participated in the discussion.
Leading tutorial discussion and tutorial questions: In tutorial sessions, we will have 1)
discussion of the lecture that day and 2) a short seminar on the ethnographies we are
reading together. Students will be divided into groups of 2-3 and be responsible for
leading tutorials in turn (10%). Please do not summarize the readings for the class.
Rather, share your questions, concerns, and critiques with your class and ask
provocative questions to facilitate the dialogue. You are encouraged but not required
to use extra materials for the short seminar. Feel free to contact me if you need help
for preparing the tutorials. Students who are not leading the tutorials are required to
submit 1-2 question(s) or point(s) for discussion with reference to the readings before
each tutorial (10%).
Reading Commentary: You can choose from one of the following: 1) Write a critical
commentary of one of the ethnographies we read this semester. Your model would be
the review essays in the journal Reviews in Anthropology. The commentary should be
no more than 8 pages (double-spaced, font size 12 or larger, standard margins) and
additional materials (of a particular topic of economic anthropology) should be
incorporated for the review. The due date will be one week after we finish reading
the title.
Final paper: You will write a paper that examines a problem within the scope of
political and economic anthropology using the theories and ideas we have learned
from the course. You can use a term paper you are writing for another course and add
on the political and economic aspect of analysis or you could choose recent news and
critically and anthropologically analyze it. This paper should demonstrate your critical
reflections of materials and idea we have in this course. No more than 10 pages
(double-spaced, font size 12 or larger, standard margins). Due: May 4.
The university requires all papers to be checked by VeriGuide
(https://academic.veriguide.org/academic/login_CUHK.jspx). Please submit your
VeriGuide receipt with signature for final response essay. Fail to do so we result in 0
point for the paper.
Academic Honesty:
You are required to cite properly (guidelines: http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/ant/tstyle.doc)
and please refer to the university website
( http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/policy/academichonesty/index.htm and
http://www.ilc.cuhk.edu.hk/english/resource/referencing_avoidingplagiarism1.pdf) to
avoid plagiarism.
Course Outline:
WK1 (Jan 7): Introduction and Overview
Syllabus and course overview
No reading this week
No tutorial on Jan. 12 & 13
3
WK 2 (Jan 14): Defining the Economy and Human Nature
Wilk & Cliggett. Chapter 1 “Economic Anthropology” & 2 “Economics and the
Problem of Human Nature.” Pp. 1-47.
Film/Video 1: Economic Anthropology (30 minutes) UC Video-VHS, GN448 .E36
1983
WK 3 (Jan 21): Self-Interest and Critiques of Modern Economics
Wilk & Cliggett. Chapter 3 “Self-interest and Neoclassical Microeconomics.” Pp.
49-81.
WK 4 (Jan 28): Social and Political Economy
Wilk & Cliggett. Chapter 4 “Social and Political Economy.” Pp. 83-115.
Diamond, Jared
1994[1987] “The Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race.” In
Podolefsky and Brown, eds. Applying Cultural Anthropology. Pp. 105-108.
Boston: McGraw-Hill.
WK 5 (Feb 4): Cultural Economics
Wilk & Cliggett. Chapter 5 “The Moral Human: Cultural Economics.” Pp. 117-151.
WK 6 (Feb 11): Gifts, Exchange and Complex Economic Human
Wilk & Cliggett. Chapter 6 “Gifts and Exchange” & 7 “Conclusions: Complex
Economic Human Begins” Pp. 153-198.
WK 7 (Feb 18): No Class (CNY Holiday)
No tutorial on Feb. 23 & 24
WK 8 (Feb 25): Midterm Exam (in class)
No tutorial on Mar.2 & Mar. 3
WK 9 (Mar 4): Consumerism and Affluenza
Robbins. Introduction to Part 1 “The Consumer, the Laborer, the Capitalist, and the
Nation-State in the society of Perpetual Growth” & Chapter 1 “Constructing
the Consumer.” Pp. 1-34.
News Article 1: “Conspicuous Consumption? Yes, but It’s Not Crazy.” The New
York Times, November 22nd, 2014
News Article 2: “The Economics (and Nostalgia) of Dead Malls.” The New York
Times, Jan 3rd, 2015
WK 10 (Mar 11): Population and Migration
Robbins. Chapter 5 “Population Growth, Migration, and Urbanization.” Pp. 133-167.
Recommended:
4
Robbins. Chapter 2 “The Laborer in the Culture of Capitalism.” Pp. 35-56.
News Article 3: “Workers on Tap.” The Economist, January 3rd, 2015
WK 11 (Mar 18): Development and Environment
Robbins. Chapter 6 “Hunger, Poverty, and Economic Development” & 7
“Environment and Consumption.” Pp. 168-219.
Film/Video 2: The Warriors of Qiugang 仇崗衛士. Ruby Yang, 2010, 39 mins,
WK 12 (Mar 25): Ethnicity and Nationalism
Robbins. Chapter 4 “The Nation-State in the Culture of Capitqlism” & 9 “Indigenous
Groups and Ethnic Conflict.” Pp.99-125 & 248-273.
WK 13 (Apr 1): Resistance and Rebellion
Robbins. Introduction to Part 3 “Resistance and Rebellion: Introduction” & Chapter
10 “Peasant Protest, Rebellion, and Resistance.” Pp.275-281 & 282-305.
Recommended:
Robbins. Chapter 12 “Religion and Anti-Systemic Protest.” Pp.329-354.
WK 14 (Apr 8): Globalization, Commodity and the Politics of Values
Appadurai, Arjun.
1986 “Introduction: Commodities and the Politics of value. In Arjun
Appadurai ed. The Social Life of Things. Pp. 3-63.
Recommended:
Mintz, Sidney W.
1989 “The Sensation of Moving, While Standing Still.” American
Ethnologist 16(4):786-796.
Mintz, Sidney W.
1985 Sweetness and Power. Penguin Books.
West, Paige
2012 From Modern Production to Imagined Primitive: The Social World of
Coffee from Papua New Guinea. Duke University Press.
WK 15 (Apr 15): Wrap-up Discussion
Robbins. Chapter 13 “Solving Global Problems: Some Solutions and Courses of
Action.” Pp.353-378.
Ø
Final paper due on May 4.
Ethnographies:
Gates/ China’s Motor: A Thousand Years of Petty Capitalism
Mauss/ The Gift: The Form and Reason for Exchange in Archaic Societies
Mintz/ Sweetness and Power: The Place of Sugar in Modern History
5
Yan/ The Flow of Gifts: Reciprocity and Social Networks in a Chinese Villages
Wolf/ Europe and the People without History
6