Anthropology of Crime
and Criminalisation
European Association of Social Anthropologists (EASA) network
ANTH 490 Sex Work and Intimacy – Yeon Jung Yu – WWU
Syllabus for a 11-week upper level undergraduate senior capstone course centered on examination of ethnographies and key theoretical texts on sexual commerce and the sentiments produced within commercial sexual exchanges that are often criminalized. Designed by Yeon Jung Yu, Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA USA.
Course Description
This course explores ethnographic and theoretical approaches to the sex trade. Readings will focus upon the latest, highly recognized ethnographic case studies from different parts of the world. We will explore the intersections of sex work, intimacy, and love in the increasingly globalized world while simultaneously exploring theoretical approaches informed by feminism, migration studies, public health, legal studies, and debates relating to capitalism, globalization, gender, and human trafficking. The main focus of this senior capstone course will be to train students in critical research and writing skills. The course will be run in the style of a seminar and a workshop. Students will contribute to the overall course by actively participating in all aspects of the class.
Required Texts
• William Jankowiak (ed.), Intimacies: Between Love and Sex (2008, Columbia Univ. Press) • Cole and Thomas (eds.), Love in Africa (2009, Univ. of Chicago Press) • Heidi Hoefinger, Sex, Love and Money in Cambodia (2013, Routledge) • Sealing Cheng, On the Move for Love (2013, Univ. of Penn. Press) • Eileen Tsang, China’s Commercial Sexscapes (2019, Univ. of Toronto Press) • Elizabeth Bernstein, Temporarily Yours (2007, Univ. of Chicago Press) • Viviana Zelizer, The Purchase of Intimacy (2009, Princeton Univ. Press) • Rhacel Salazar Parreñas, Illicit Flirtations (2011, Stanford Univ. Press) • Ronald Weitzer, Legalizing Prostitution (2011, NYU Press) • Kimberley Kay Hoang, Dealing in Desire (2015, Univ. of Calif. Press)
You may download the full syllabus as a PDF below: