240033 VS Political Economy of Wars and Conflicts (3.3.2) (2020S)

Violent political conflicts and wars have been ubiquitous hallmarks of our current global era. This course explores how social and cultural anthropology can contribute to a critical understanding of the transformative effects of wars and violent political conflicts on social and economic relations, and individual life projects. Rather than taking wars and ethnic conflicts as overdetermining moments of rupture, which can be analyzed solely through the lens of acts of violence and creative strategies for survival, this course focuses on the ways wars and violent conflicts mingle with already existing economic and social structures and regimes, and the mundane flow of everyday life. It also critically examines discursive and theoretical frames, which take these conflicts as “locally confined” by addressing the ways wars and violent conflicts are actually situated within diverse entanglements of global and local processes.
At the end of the semester, students will gain in-depth insights into recent anthropological debates on conflicts and war, including literatures on violence, statehood, globalization and political economy. The readings include a variety of ethnographic studies and more theoretically inclined papers.