ANTHR 6437

Brave New World, 21st Century Authoritarianism

Course Description

Course information provided by the Courses of Study 2022-2023.

This course offers a synthetic perspective on a spectrum of currently troubling phenomena -- the rise of authoritarian populism, growing inequality, racism, misogyny, nationalism, war. In particular, it links macro-scale and historical theories regarding global processes -- such as  world systems, globalization, etc. -- on the one hand, and the more intimate correlates of these macro forces shaping individual experience, on the other.  Drawing from anthropology as well as from cognate disciplines like political economy, history, and psychology, the course surveys and assesses both case studies of phenomena such as the self-delusion of the oppressed, the narcissism of dictators, and how the making and remaking of social identities relate to world economic cycles.  Course readings highlight how fantasy, imagination, hope and fear figure crucially in people's apprehensions of the contemporary world.

When Offered Spring.

Prerequisites/Corequisites Recommended prerequisite: some familiarity with issues and debates in anthropology and/or social sciences generally.

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