Browse Hierarchy ANTH6005: Material Lives: Money and Livelihoods in Contemporary Africa

The goals of this module are twofold. Firstly, students will be introduced to important themes in African ethnography, from the colonial era to the present day. Secondly, we use this regional focus to reflect on broader arguments in economic anthropology; asking how far general theories of 'modernisation' have been able to shed light on African experiences of social and economic transformation. Considering detailed ethnographic accounts of people's everyday lives, we reflect on the shifting nature of kinship, gendered relations, intergenerational tensions, and economic morality. In many parts of contemporary Africa, these intimate stories play out against a broader context of vulnerability and marginalisation. We consider what anthropology can tell us about global processes of impoverishment, and discuss the strategies men and women adopt, as they seek to navigate fragile livelihoods through precarious economies.