Denmark

This course begins with a historical perspective on the development of current economic and tech-structures, asking what is actually new. It then examines types of tech economies and forms of valuation, considering topics such as credit (e)valuations, the power of platforms, the producers of technology such as software engineers and users, prediction algorithms, digital money and markets, and surveillance capitalism. Anthropologists and social scientists from adjacent disciplines have the potential to contribute to both academic and public debates regarding economies of technology by engaging both critically and productively with the way that technology is shaping society and making specific assertions about what is “of value." Students develop their own argument about the changing economies of technology during the course using an empirical case and present their own case for feedback at a workshop, before writing the final essay. This course builds knowledge, skills, and competencies to engage with the current developments in tech by building on classical as well as current theoretical perspectives from fields including economic and digital anthropology, sociology, and science and technology studies.

This course focuses on structure, functions, and current issues in the agri-food economy from input industry to farm processing to distribution and retail in Denmark, Europe, and internationally. The course covers issues such as the Danish agri-food industry; the European agri-food systems and trends; the economic organization of the agri-food industry; quality, food safety, and the consumer; globalization of food markets; chain management and organization in agri-food chains; and agri-food cooperatives and organizations.

This course develops an integrated framework of household finance for private and public use. It covers how to maximize intertemporal utility given an individual's life-cycle income; how to become rich if one wants to pay the price for it; how to save, borrow, and purchase property (and if one should do it at all); et cetera. In terms of public policy, the course provides a holistic view of wealth and income inequality, how poverty restricts sound financial decision making, and how policies can improve social outcomes by reducing (or increasing) income inequality. Topics include developing a sound integrated framework for individuals to manage their finances with a long-term horizon in mind (based on the permanent income hypothesis); analyzing the impact of credit restrictions and hyperbolic discounting in household financial management in poor and middle-income countries; investigating the role of public policy in improving household financial decisions; and explaining the determinants of wealth and income inequality and how economic policies can improve social outcomes. 

This course provides a broad-based introduction to the core themes and ideas of the anthropology of the Middle East, and by extension of the Anthropology of Islam. It begins by exploring the reasons behind the relatively late emergence of the Middle East as an area of study, before moving on to consider such topics as Orientalism, gender, rural versus urban anthropology, the role of religion (traditional and modern), and the forging of a regional subjectivity (as witnessed in the ongoing uprisings throughout the Middle East, the so-called “Arab Spring”). The course stands alone as a regional module, as well as offers an overview of the issues for continued study of the Middle East.