Courses of Study 2012-2013 
    
    Mar 29, 2024  
Courses of Study 2012-2013 [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

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ANTHR 4429 - [Anthropology and Psychoanalysis]


(GB) (SBA-AS)
Spring. 4 credits.

Next offered 2014-2015. Co-meets with ANTHR 7429 .

S. Sangren.

Psychoanalysis holds that desire emerges from the clash between individuals’ predisposition and the need to accommodate to others in society. Yes anthropology has been resistant to the role that psychoanalytic theory might play in linking individual desire to culture. Does psychoanalysis have anything to offer cultural anthropology? Can understanding of collective institutions be advanced with reference to theories of individual motivation and desire? Conversely, can collective life be understood without reference to individual motivation and desire? Is desire best understood as sexual in nature, or is it better understood in more abstract and existential terms? With such questions in mind, this course surveys anthropology’s engagements with psychoanalysis. We read theoretical works as well as ethnographically grounded case studies on topics ranging from religious experience, mythic narratives, the cultural construction of gender and desire, and modern popular culture.



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