Political Anthropology

AY2023/2024 Semester 1

This introductory course to political anthropology aims to explore the blurred boundaries between the social, anthropology and political science, questioning rationalists, structuralists or normative explanations of states and relations between states. It will present various frameworks to conduct contemporary interpretive political analysis, alongside ethnographies and case studies which deal with informal networks and informal political action that overlap with institutional approaches of political science. By taking this course, students will be able to draw connections between politics and the subjective, affective dimensions of political struggle and commitment. This perspective will enable them to understand and analyse better real world forms of social and cultural political power such as identity and ideological politics.