ANTH 330 - Anthropology of the Built Environment

What can anthropology teach us about the built environment? In turn, what can the built environment teach us about how people organize social worlds, construct political projects, and plan for the future? This course will examine recent literature on infrastructure and materiality in anthropology, Science and Technology Studies (STS), and cultural geography, as well drawing on foundational thinkers such as David Harvey, Michel Foucault and Nigel Thrift. Looking at everything from roads, to sewage pipes, to hydroelectric dam projects, to backyard gardens, the course will engage with the ways that the built environment defines and also connects “natural” and “man-made, as well as delineating rural and urban spaces. Prereq: Sophomore standing and above.

3 credits