LIT 720S-01 · also ROMST 720S-01, SPANISH 720S-01
Ideas of the Primitive
A topic section of LIT 720S, The Problem with the Primitive: From the Economy to the Arts
Katryn Evinson
Description from DukeHub
Why has modernity repeatedly imagined its own outside as 'the primitive'? Since the fifteenth century, the primitive has justified colonial conquest, racial hierarchies, and narratives of historical progress. Yet it has also inspired critiques of modernity, from artistic primitivism and anthropology to anarchism, ecological thought, and visions of communal life. This seminar examines the primitive as a contested concept whose contradictory meanings illuminate the relationship between colonialism, capitalism, and modernity. Drawing on philosophy, political economy, anthropology, literature, visual culture, and critical theory, students will explore how the primitive has functioned both as a tool of domination and as a language for imagining alternatives to capitalist modernity.
Skills
No skill passed the confidence bar. Weak matches go to review instead of this page: an AI pass that has to quote the description, then a person.
AI-resilient: 2 of 5
- No: Physical, lab or field work
- No: Live work with people
- No: Judgment someone is accountable for
- Yes: A craft you practice with your hands or body · "drawing"
- Yes: Small, in-person format · seminar, 8 seats per section
The checks lean on Microsoft Research, Working with AI (2025), which found generative AI applies least to physical work and hands-on work with people. A signal, not a promise. How the score works
More in LIT
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- Cyber Connections: Communication in the Digital Age LIT 272S
- Puerto Rican Literature, Music and the Arts LIT 404S
- Ideas of the Primitive LIT 470S
- Critical AI and Marxism LIT 690-01