What do exist everywhere are economic relations, which is what we study. Some are profoundly imbalanced and nested in instituted structures that perpetuate inequality. Others are more horizontal and cut across institutions of power, establishing ongoing liaisons among people as transactions of various sorts, from moneyed exchange to gift giving.
These social relationships, which always have a moral dimension, form the foundation of society or the ‘glue’ that ensures social integration in societies. Across these two bundles of economic relations there exist the everyday toils of people by way of labour, social reproduction, informal dealings, pursuits of the good life (often termed ‘consumption’) and a variety of other formations that allow for flows of value and values.
As economic anthropologists, we study all the above, whether with a view to account for the global commodity chain or the relationship of prosperity to poverty, or expansions of the market into fields like the ecological environment or citizenship, SAI researchers pursue an ethnographically driven and historically minded anthropology that is also critically informed by political economy.
The economic anthropology at the department is closely connected with research on the Anthropocene, statehood, and the flows of things and people across what can be called ‘globalisation’. We explore economic life in Europe, South, Southeast and East Asia, the Pacific, Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean.
Researchers working on Economy
Research projects within Economy
Amber Worlds: A Geological Anthropology for the Anthropocene
Ports - What can ports tell us about changes in the global economy?
Unpacking the Logistics Town - How are local communities reshaped in a time of global logistics?