240030 VS Materializing the Class: Rethinking Middle Classes through Consumption (3.3.4) (2018S)

This seminar offers an examination of major themes and discussions surrounding the anthropology of class and consumption: the practices, relations, and rituals through which things become meaningful for individuals as markers of their status and class belongings in our global world. Seminar readings will include theoretical discussions within classic works of anthropology and social theory as well as recent ethnographic works from different parts of the world. The focus of this seminar will be “middle classes” that now constitute a significant reference point for many studies, which aim to understand the recent phase of global neoliberalism. Some questions we will explore within this context include: How can we define and study middle classes ethnographically? Is a focus on middle classes important for understanding globalization and the latter’s entanglement with local structures? Do “things” matter? What kind of insights can they provide on social structure and inequality, class identity, culture and values, or processes of change at particular moments in history?

The seminar will be based on group presentations and discussion. It aims to provide the participants with not only basic theoretical tools for understanding the relation between class, consumption, globalization but also the ability to critically engage with these concepts and follow them through various case studies based on ethnographic fieldwork.