Week 10.2 - Low Finance

What are the socio-cultural aspects of the rotating credit association (dhukuti) in Nepal? How is dhukuti an "economy of need and pleasure"?

Week 10.1 - Ethnography of high finance

What is the culture of recruitment of Wall Street and how does it intersect with Ivy League college culture?

Week 9.1 & 9.2 - Development and Globalization

How do Hann & Hart discuss development? What are some anthropological studies of international development models/initiatives? What is the anthropological critique of development?
In Julia Elyachar's chapter, how do NGOs in Egypt challenge our ideas about how development initiatives work on the ground? What are some frictions and challenges?

Week 7.2 - Ghodsee, Shopaholic in Eastern Europe (Due 10/11)

How were consumption patterns different under the communist regime than the free-market one? How did the command economy and the rationing system work? How do these economic systems shape people's behaviors and expectations?

Week 7.1 - In and Out of Africa (Due 10/9)

Why is African art valued differently than European/American so-called “fine art”? Why are “authentic” pieces valued more by the American/European collectors? How do we determine the “just price” for the pieces of art sold through this transnational market? What are the socio-economic inequalities that structure these exchanges?

Week 6.2 - Value, Evil eye, Economic subjectivities

How does Elyachar discuss value in the context of workshops in Cairo? What kinds of value does she identify? How do these values affect business (according to the members of the workshop)?

Week 6.1 - Value and Wealth

What kinds of wealth do Carola and Saraswathi mobilize to make their livelihoods? How are these forms of wealth valued? How do these modes of value-formation compare across the Mexican and Indian context?