Time and Temporality

This course explores the social and political organization of time. Anthropology has long been critical of the narratives of progress that are embedded in concepts of modern politics, such as development, citizenship, secularism, and sovereignty. How do social actors respond to the perceived failures of such narratives? How do they re-articulate historical pasts to political futures in the aftermath of modernization? In this course we will read studies that examine lived experiences of the passing of time. How is memory linked to anticipation? How is consciousness of the past structured by expectations of a future to come? We will pay particular attention to the material aspects of these temporal relations, including their social, economic, and infrastructural conditions. Drawing from current debates in anthropology, queer theory, and post-colonial studies, we will critically interrogate theories of ruination, crisis, hope, and utopia.