• Joniak-Lüthi Agnieszka

In this seminar we will explore the many different ways in which time and temporality have been the subject of social anthropological research. Time appears to be objective; it appears to flow outside of human agency – a uni-directional process of accumulation. But is it really so? Is everyone’s time flowing at the same pace? Is everyone’s time worth equally much? Is everyone on the planet considered belonging to the same time?

In this seminar we will, for example, discuss how the temporal rhythms of industrial agricultural production have transformed over the past 100 years, creating dramatic pressure on the soil and animals. We will also explore how time has become money, and for whom. On the other hand, we will reflect on the temporality characteristic of our current era, the Anthropocene, in which fossil fuels that needed millions of years to build up are being burnt through at – metaphorically speaking – the speed of light. Finally, we will also look into the temporal hierarchies and relationships that have permeated anthropological research and writing – with the “natives” oftentimes considered “ticking” at a different pace and belonging to a different time-frame than the “modern” anthropologists.

Evaluation

Regular and active participation in class is mandatory. Attendance of all sessions and preparation of the given readings are part of the workload of the course. Students are expected to read the mandatory literature and formulate one discussion question or a reflection for each class based on the obligatory literature for that class. Each student will also be expected to prepare a 10-15 min intervention on one of the articles read during the course.

The composition of the final course grade is as follows: Regular and active participation (50 %) + Intervention (50 %)