ANTH 554D - Marxism and Archaeology

Credits: Variable

This graduate seminar introduces the student to the application and promise of Marxist theory for the study of archaeology and conversely considers if archaeology has anything to offer to Marxist theory. Marxist theory has influenced archaeology at least since the 1920’s but it is only at the end of the 20th century that archaeologists have explicitly discussed Marxist approaches. The course will focus on those aspects of Marxist theory which have had the greatest salience in the recent discussions. The course is intended primarily for graduate students in the department of Anthropology but is not limited to these students. The course provides archaeology students with an in- depth introduction to an approach that is increasingly defining the course of theoretical debate in US archaeology and that is already well established in European and Latin American archaeology. For cultural, physical, and linguistics graduate students, the course counts as an archaeology course towards their sub-disciplinary distribution requirements. Many cultural students have found the course doubly useful both to fulfill this requirement and as an introduction to Marxism. Anthropology 554D provides Marxist oriented graduate students in other departments with an introduction to archaeology which will help them assess the relevance of archaeology to their own fields and interests. Occasional.