This course examines anthropological approaches to the processes of economic and political life in diverse human societies in order to develop a cross-cultural appreciation of the ways economic and political phenomena affect people?s lives around the world. Grounded in the premise that the economic and the political are both conceptually and empirically entwined, this course explores how anthropologists continue to develop new directions and animate our existing understandings and knowledge about economy and politics. The course highlights how the everyday activities may contain inklings about the broader economic and political conditions, bringing the specific into conversations with the general and vice versa. The course will help students become familiar with ethnographic work in political and economic anthropology as well as gain a deeper understanding of concepts such as capitalism, enslavement, market, state, socialism, class and inequality, gender, race, (post)colonialism, development and human rights.

This course will answer these and the rest of the questions that students have about politics and economics in the contemporary world and also during the entire human history.

Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU Amsterdam) awards credits based on the ECTS system. Contact hours listed under a course description may vary due to the combination of lecture-based and independent work required for each course therefore, CEA's recommended credits are based on the ECTS credits assigned by VU Amsterdam. 1 ECTS equals 28 contact hours assigned by VU Amsterdam.