Instructor: Renisa Mawani
Term: 2
Meets: Thursday 9:00 am-12:00 pm, Anthropology and Sociology 141
Course Description
What is “culture” and how does it influence the social world? Is culture divisible from social relations or is it a foundation and condition that structures social life?
In the contemporary moment, culture has become a ubiquitous term, one that carries a wide range of meanings. This graduate seminar offers a critical and historical foray into the sociology of culture. The course begins by evaluating classical and foundational texts in the field (e.g. Marx, Adorno and Horkheimer, Durkheim, Mauss, Veblen, Bourdieu) and places them into conversation with critical race, postcolonial, and anticolonial thinkers (e.g. Fanon, Said, Gilroy, Hall, Gikandi), as well as feminist, animal, and object studies (e.g. Haraway, Bennett).
