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Work, play, sleep, repeat: our understanding of work is rooted in a thoroughly modern conception of what comprises a livelihood–a neat separation of human activity, social time, and commitments. Work is what we do for a living, in a prescribed time and space, a prerequisite for economic exchange and the function of markets–but also, ostensibly, a prerequisite for a good life beyond work.
In this course, we approach work as a value-generating activity, a source of personal fulfillment and collective achievement, but also, importantly, as a vehicle for oppression and material dispossession–the forces of our undoing enshrined in law, state and economic institutions.
We will interrogate work along three analytical axes: first, we focus on work in practice: what we do, and what we make, with our bodies and intellect. Next, we approach work as a concept, asking what, precisely, constitutes work as a distinct type of practice, and also what separates it from other kinds of activity. Finally, we place work in context and inquire into the historical and political processes that have defined work since the industrial revolution, including colonialism, technological innovation, the rapid globalization of markets and capital, and neoliberal reforms in recent decades.
Course readings will range from theoretical explorations to geographically and historically diverse case studies. While our scope is interdisciplinary, throughout the course, we will consider the potential of anthropology, and of ethnographic methodologies in particular, to provide a nuanced understanding of work as a social fact.
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