Annotation
The aim of this seminar is to serve as an opening up of Michael Taussig's theoretically dense anthropology classic “Mimesis and Alterity: A Particular History of the Senses”.To develop an understanding of this work entails two things: becoming familiar with the mostly Marxist philosophical background of this book and learning how to apply the proposed methods in one's own work. It also means to learn to understand how a materialist approach differs from others and why it is important.
This course is designed for advanced students. In case of excessive enrollment, preference will be given to religious studies students.
Active participation in class discussions will be the basis for graded evaluation. After the end of the semester there will be an oral examination for which you will have to write an abstract (as if for a scientific paper) on the seminar theme. Further specifications will follow in class.