How Markets Made the World: Economy, Society, and Power

From grocery stores and farmers' markets to real estate and financial markets, how have markets come to dominate so many spheres of our lives? In this course, we will explore an anthropological understanding of how markets have come to shape human life. We will trace the socio-cultural and historical contexts that define these markets. Further, the course will outline how these markets have both negotiated and transformed the most significant social relations of power, hierarchy and identity shaping our world - race, ethnicity, gender, caste, and religion, among others.