Politics and Economic Life Lectures: Recent Episodes
Cambridge University
First year lectures for students of Social Anthropology and Social and Political Science given by Alan Macfarlane in the University of Cambridge in 2007 and 2008. Filmed by Zilan Wang.
Lecture given by Alan Macfarlane for first year students in 2007. Filmed by Zilan Wang.
Bandits and the reasons for bandits; mafia type organizations and their functions; heresy and terrorism, the threats of ‘evil’; civil society – corporations, associations and the origins of freedom Hann, ch.12 Erik Hobsbawm, Bandits (1972) Anton Blok, The Mafia of a Sicilian Village, 1860-1960 (1974) Norman Cohn, Europe’s Inner Demons (1975) Charles Townsend, Terrorism: A Very Short Introduction (2002) Chris Hann & Elizabeth Dunn (eds.), Civil Society (1996)
Lecture given by Alan Macfarlane to first year students in Social Anthropology and Social and Political Sciences in 2007 and 2008 and filmed by Zilan Wang
Definitions and functions of law; how to compare legal systems; the ‘reasonable man (woman)’; status and contract systems; equality and individual rights; the rule of law; how courts work; juries and torture Hann, ch. 13 Simon Roberts, Order and Dispute (1979) [for a more recent summary, see ‘Law and Dispute Processes’ in Ingold, Companion Encyclopedia, cited above.] P.Bohannon, Justice and Judgment among the Tiv (1957) M.Gluckman, Politics, Law and Ritual in Tribal Societies (1965), section on Law. P.Bohannon (ed.), Law and Warfare (1967)
Lecture given by Alan Macfarlane to first year students in Social Anthropology and Social and Political Sciences in 2007 and 2008 and filmed by Zilan Wang
Nations and nationalism, the invention of nations; theories of nationalism; consequences of nationalism; the invention of identities; organized violence through history; feuds and feuding; the development of war and its causes Hann, chs. 12, 14 Thomas H.Eriksen, Ethnicity and Nationalism (2nd edn., 2002), ch.6 Ernest Gellner, Nations and Nationalism (1983) Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities (1991) J. Black-Michaud, Cohesive Force (republished as Feuding Societies) (1975) David Riches (ed.). The Anthropology of Violence (1986)
Lecture given by Alan Macfarlane to first year students in Social Anthropology and Social and Political Sciences in 2007 and 2008 and filmed by Zilan Wang
A broad view of political systems in all of human history; the state and systems of law; a genealogy of political theory from Aristotle onwards; the anthropological contribution to the understanding of politics Hann, C., chapters 10-11 E.E.Evans-Pritchard, The Nuer (1965) Edmund Leach, Political Systems of Highland Burma (1954) F.G.Bailey, Stratagems and Spoils (1969) Abner Cohen, Two Dimensional Man (1974)
Lecture given by Alan Macfarlane to first year students in Social Anthropology and Social and Political Sciences in 2007 and 2008 and filmed by Zilan Wang
Some features of consumption, both why people consume and how their consumption shapes their world – with special reference to particular consumables. The effects of technology on our world, and how technological ‘progress’ occurs – the long curve of human technologies. Hann, C., chapter 9; Sahlins, chapter 1 Mintz, S., Sweetness and Power: the place of sugar in the modern economy (1986) Macfarlane, A and I., Green Gold: the empire of tea (2002) Mokyr, J., The Lever of Riches: technological creativity and economic power (1986) M.Douglas and B.Isherwood, The World of Goods (1979) D.Miller (ed.), Acknowledging Consumption (1995)
Lecture given by Alan Macfarlane to first year students in Social Anthropology and Social and Political Sciences in 2007 and 2008 and filmed by Zilan Wang
The variations in different economic formations, including gifts, barter, reciprocity, commodities, special purpose and general markets. The embedded and dis-embedded market economies and the theories of the transition to capitalism. Hann, chapter 7; Sahlins, chs. 4-6 Malinowski, B. Argonauts of the Western Pacific (1922) [essential extracts in LeClair and Schneider, pp.17-40] Mauss, M., The Gift (reprinted 1974) Gregory, C., Gifts and Commodities (1982) Dalton, George, ‘Primitive Money’ and P.Drucker, ‘The Potlatch’ reprinted in Dalton.
Lecture given by Alan Macfarlane to first year students in Social Anthropology and Social and Political Sciences in 2007 and 2008 and filmed by Zilan Wang A general overview of types of property and stratification in the four major types of civilization: hunters and gatherers, tribesmen, peasants and industrialists. The normal tendencies in systems of property and stratification. The relations of production and the production of relations. Hann, C., chapter 8. Woodburn, J., ‘Egalitarian Societies’, Man, 1982, vol.17, no.4., pp.431-451 Hann, C.M. (ed.), Property Relations: renewing the anthropological tradition (1998) A.Beteille (ed.), Social Inequality (1969) esp. chs. 1, 11,12,13, 17
First year lectures for students of Social Anthropology and Social and Political Science given by Alan Macfarlane in the University of Cambridge in 2007 and 2008. Filmed by Zilan Wang. A general framework of production systems, hunting, pastoralism and slash and burn, settled peasantries, industrial societies, and their subdivisions. Ways of making a living. The organization and nature of work. Some advantages and disadvantages of each and reasons for movement from one to another. Hann, chapter 6; Sahlins, chs.2,3; Karl Polanyi, ‘The Economy as Instituted Process’ in Trade and Markets in the Early Empires, eds. Polanyi et al (1958), reprinted in LeClair and Schneider, pp.122-167 (for further support for Polanyi’s views, and two counter-criticisms, see the same, pp. 168-233)