ANTH 3072 - Anthropology of Infrastructure

Content: It is an anthropological observation that humans make worlds. The current world we have made on our planet is notable for the multiple, complex and enduring infrastructures we have built—both sociocultural and material. From automobile-centric transportation, the delivery of freshwater, electricity and digital networks, to the managerial, educational and governmental formations, we are individually and collectively enmeshed in multiple human-created infrastructures. This course examines the history, formation and function of key infrastructures in the human age of the Anthropocene using examples across cultures and geographies. Our goal will be to examine the relationships between humans, the worlds we build and the functioning of the infrastructures we create. These are questions particularly important in the age of globalized connection, resource extraction, and impacts on the biosphere in the age of climate change. To study infrastructure is also to consider options and alternatives to our current situation.

Credits: 4