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CS92PROD
Theory 2: Anthropology of Time


ANTH 296
Spring 2020
Section: 01  
This course may be repeated for credit.
Certificates: Social, Cultural, and Critical Theory
Course Cluster: Social, Cultural, and Critical Theory Certificate

Theory 1 and Theory 2 are core courses for the major, designed to elucidate historical influences on contemporary anthropological theory. While precise topics may vary from year to year, the overall goal of the courses remains the same: to familiarize students with the main traditions from which the discipline of anthropology emerged and to explore the diverse ways in which contemporary anthropological practice defines itself both with and against them.

In this course, we will examine anthropology's integral (and often fraught) relationship with time. The course is divided into two major segments. In our first half, we will explore the philosophical backstory of time as a particular--and, perhaps, foundational--category of human perception and experience. We will then trace how classic anthropology attempted to pick up these debates via core anthropological concerns with relativism, with cultural particularity, and with the social origins of perception.

With these canonical foundations in place, we will turn in our second segment to the myriad ways in which the concern with time infuses contemporary anthropology. Here we will move from questions of anthropological representation--especially the notorious critique of the "ethnographic present"--to recent anthropological attempts to discuss the cultural, social, and political work inherent in the production of different pasts, presents, and futures. As we will explore, though it may seem intimate and inherent, the production of time cannot be separated from ongoing histories of colonial domination, violence, resilience, innovation, and transformation.
Credit: 1 Gen Ed Area Dept: SBS ANTH
Course Format: Lecture / DiscussionGrading Mode: Graded
Level: UGRD Prerequisites: ANTH101
Fulfills a Major Requirement for: (ANTH)(CSCT)(STS)
Past Enrollment Probability: 75% - 89%

Last Updated on MAR-29-2024
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