Week 3: Alternative Economies of Appalachia Fieldtrip

Describe how the initiatives we visited in Shawnee and Chesterhill Produce Auction are alternative economic models.

Week 3: The Gift

What are some of the principles of exchange in a gift economy? What does Mauss mean by the expression that the gift is a social, political, economic, religious institution?

Week 2.2 - Formalists and substantivists

What are the main differences between the formalists and the substantivists? How do they see the relationship between economy and society?

Week 2 - The History of the notion of "Economy"

In brief, describe how the notion of "economy" has changed over history. Use specific examples to describe what economy has meant in a particular time/context.

Week 12 & 13 - Mushroom at the end of the world

What does Tsing mean by the statement that precarity is the predominant mode of living in the contempary world (describe using examples)? How does Tsing describe the commodity chain of the matsutake mushrooms? How are different lives entangled in the accumulation and circulation of the mushrooms? What can the study of the matsutake mushroom global market tell us about the limits and unintended possibilities within the capitalist economy?

Week 11 - Gender and Finance

Discuss how John Osburg describes the performance of masculinity by Chinese entrepreneurs (Chapter 2). How do sexuality and the market play out for women involved in the beauty economy (Chapter 5)?

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.