Language and Power Seminar

This seminar is an introduction to both linguistic anthropology and political anthropology. Communication patterns are always mediated by cultural processes, social inequality, and power, so in this course we will investigate cross-cultural examples of how language, discourse, and representation relate to inequality, power, and resistance. Topics will include sociolinguistics, ethnolinguistics, gendered language practices, political discourse, and theoretical approaches to power (Marx, Foucault, and Bourdieu) (SOAN 0103 or SOAN 0105) 3 hrs. sem.