1) Discuss the concept of culture offered by Clifford Geertz and how it relates to what he calls “thick description,” beginning by situating him within 20th century anthropology. How does Geertz understand culture and thick description in relation to ethnographic practice, the production of texts, and interpretation? What are some of the potential limitations of his notion of thick description, as indicated by Adam Kuper’s statement that politics and economics are “merely noises off-stage” (pg. 17) for him?
2) Richard Jenkins, in his article on ethnicity and nationalism in the modern world, discusses various types and levels of belonging, identity, and community (political, ethnic, cultural, national, etc.). How does immigration shape peoples’ senses of these things? How does the jailing of immigrants for profit intervene in processes of identity formation, belonging, and community?
