NWI: The Gift

How do we maintain self and community in a society driven by market exchange?  What are our cultural norms for gifts and reciprocity?  How do gifts bind families and communities?  How do we discover the “gift of labor,” work that satisfies beyond financial compensation?  What is the artist’s role in a consumer culture? 

These are among the questions posed by poet Lewis Hyde in his classic study of literary anthropology, The Gift.   There are also the questions that motivate our exploration of gifts in this course.  We take Hyde’s questions as springboards from which to launch our own investigation of culture, community, gift, story, and work. 

Course Details:

Date: February 6-7, plus attendance at one of Hyde’s lectures on February 3 (at PNCA) or February 4 (at Lewis and Clark).
Times: Saturday, February 6, 9:00 a.m.- 5:30 p.m., Sunday, February 7, 9:00 a.m. -3:00 p.m.
Instructor: Joanne Mulcahy, Ph.D.
Noncredit: 15 seat hours, $250
Continuing education credit: CEED 803, 1 semester hour, $350
Degree-applicable credit: CORE 501, 1 semester hour, $699