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Johns Hopkins University | AS.070.256

Locavores, Vegans, Freegans: Lifestyle Activism from An Anthropological Perspective

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From social media usage to popular public figures such as Greta Thunberg, we are inundated every day by messages on how we should change our daily habits to save the planet or consume certain brands to help particular causes. This course offers an anthropological perspective on such endeavors of lifestyle activism, broadly defined as the changing of one’s lifestyle and consumption habits to enact some form of social and political change. We will ask: How can we distinguish between lifestyle activism and non-activist concerns with lifestyle? What makes pursuing certain daily actions activist? What kind of self-cultivation and moral aspiration play into the transformation of habits? What does it take for daily habits to become a lifestyle movement that could enact larger and meaningful social and political change? Drawing from a variety of social and political contexts, we will explore topics such as voluntary simplicity, bicycling, zero waste, boycotts, and back-to-landers, while maintaining a larger focus on food and food activism.

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