SS-323 Anthropology of the State

3 Credits

In this class students will take a social scientific approach in analyzing a range of issues related to the concept of the State as it operates in the scope of our everyday lives and around the world. We will draw from classic anthropological and sociological accounts of the state by such figures as A.R. (Anarchy) Brown, Pierre Clastres, Frederick Engels, Philip Abrams, Marshall Sahlins, and David Graeber among others in order to discuss what the state Is. When it emerged, and what life might look like without one