Week 10 - Credit / Debt and Microfinance

In this week's readings, Ananya Roy notes how "economies of need are transformed into economies of profit and how collective resources are recalibrated as channels of privatization" (p. 107). Use examples from the readings (both Roy and Elyachar) to describe how these processes are taking place. Discuss in particular how microfinance is one growing area of global capital that exemplifies this predicament.

Week 9 - Globalization and Uneven Development

In Space of Hope, David Harvey outlines some of the characteristics of post-1970s global capitalism, what we have also come to describe as "neoliberalism". Describe some of these features. In chapter 8, Harvey focusses more specifically on the city of Baltimore and describes the transformations of the city and its urban geography. What are some of the historical transformations that have impacted the deterioration of Baltimore city? How do broader changes in the economy effect these changes in Baltimore as well as other postindustrial cities.

Week 7 - Work in a Neoliberal Economy

What's it like to "work" in a neoliberal economy? How does gender play into contemporary forms of labor in different parts of the world? What are some characteristics of neoliberalism as an economic system and as everyday experience?

Week 6 - Capitalism and Social Relations

June Hee Kwon notes that, among Korean Chinese couples living long-distance due to labor migration, "waiting is an immaterial, but nonetheless, an important form of unwaged, profit-producing labor". How does she describe the waiting of the botoli (the spouses who stay behind) as a form of work? How are intimate relationships affected and shaped by the patterns of labor migration and remittance sending?

The editors of "Generating Capitalism" essays note that: "Our focus is on how the generative powers of the body, spirit, and world are imagined, deployed, and experienced in contemporary capitalism." Discuss how different essays in this thread achieve this goal.

Week 5 - A Cultural Approach to Capitalism

(Tuesday) Max Weber notes "this peculiar idea of a duty to have a vocational calling, so familiar to us today but actually not at all self-evident, is the idea that is characteristic of the "social ethic" of modern capitalist culture" (81). What is the "ethic" or "spirit" or "frame of mind" that Weber tried to describe in these chapters? How is this ethic central to the rise and triumph of capitalism?

(Thursday) Jean and John Comaroff write about a new moment in the history of (global) capitalism which they describe as "millennial capitalism". What are some of the distinctive features of millennial capitalism? What are some of the economic structures (think Marx) and the ethos (think Weber) that characterizes millennial capitalism?

Week 3 & 4: Sweetness and Power

The following questions apply to the whole book (Sweetness and Power by Sydney Mintz): Describe how Mintz connects the rise of sugar consumption in England to the Triangle trade. How did it become possible for sugar to be such a cheap commodity that even the poor working classes could afford to consume it en masse? What role did the plantation economy play into this? Who were the different actors that made the plantation system lucrative for a particular group of people? Describe the economics of the plantation system. How did the plantation economy affect capitalist economy in British cities? What cultural shifts took place to transform sugar from a luxurious spice into a necessary dietary item? Why did the British working class people aspired to consume sugar? What were the cultural symbols attached to sugar?

Week 2: Anthropology and the Study of Capitalism

This week's reading provide a synopsis of the history of capitalism in the North and South (Hart) and the recent discussions about late capitalism (Blim & Lowrey). How is capital defined in the reading by Hart and what does this definition contribute to our broader understanding of capitalism? How do Hart's examples from his own research in West Africa illustrate some key aspects of capitalism as an economic system? How do Blim and Lowrey define "late capitalism"? What are some examples of life in late capitalism?