HIST 336 Wealth and Poverty: A History
This course will examine the theories and practices of property in a variety of historical contexts, including ancient Roman definitions of dominium, early Christian and late Medieval understandings of poverty, church endowments in the Protestant Reformation, and contemporary debates around neoliberalism and inequality. Each week will have its own topic, including: debt, slavery, women and reproduction, the commons, the relationship of property to concepts of freedom, corporations, colonialism, the environment, capitalism, and Marxist and anarchist critiques of private property. The course will be a reading-intensive seminar, focused on the discussion of texts and ideas.