Tradition

A central concept in modern social theory, the notion of tradition often invokes a picture of life stressing constraint against freedom, continuity against becoming, and transmission instead of novelty. This course asks why the concept of tradition evokes these binaries and how they limit our analytical imagination. What other understandings are possible? The course brings together ethnographic and archaeological debates on tradition, examining how pasts and futures relate in the present. From these engagements, we will consider themes of virtue and embodiment, learning and conduct, and historicity and time. Prerequisite: By instructor consent. Significant work outside of class time is expected of the student for this course.