ANTHR 4270 - [Political Economy in Archaeology]

(crosslisted) ARKEO 4270
(HB) (SBA-AS)

Fall. Next offered 2017-2018. 4 credits.

Co-meets with ANTHR 7270/ARKEO 7270.

K. Jordan.

Political economy is a theoretical approach that emphasizes power relations, social tensions and contradictions, and how they mediate access to wealth and basic resources. This seminar explores applications of political-economic theory in archaeological analysis. The course begins with some key approaches to political economy within sociocultural anthropology to assess how these works can (and cannot) assist the interpretation of archaeological evidence. Particular attention will be paid to questions of methodology: do certain field or analytical techniques facilitate or hinder political-economic interpretations? Case studies apply political-economic approaches to past societies at a variety of analytic and social scales, illustrating the intersection between archaeological political economy and issues of culture change, domination and resistance, ideology, gender, and agency.

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