ANTH 6320 Warfare and Society
This course examines warfare in cross-cultural perspective using the theories developed by anthropologists and scholars from related disciplines. The primary objective of the course is to familiarize students with theories of warfare as they pertain to sociopolitical groups such as bands, tribes, chiefdoms and states. Thus, the class will look at notions such as "cultural group selection", "primitive war", "war in the tribal zone" and the perspectives of influential anthropologists (e.g., Marvin Harris, Raymond Kelly, Napoleon Chagnon, Brian Ferguson, and Richard Wrangham) as well as theorists from closely related disciplines (e.g., Thomas Hobbes, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Sigmund Freud, Konrad Lorenz). Of particular interest will be the concept of the "calculus of social substitution and its relationship to the origins of war, as well as the role played by the "Leviathan" in either mitigating or promoting warfare.
Offered
As scheduled