Surplus Value/Surplus Humanity [CourseID: 7928]

How do economic and social arrangements generate marginalized populations that are considered "surplus"? What is distinctive about "surplus populations" in the present global age? Have certain segments of humanity-- remaindered lives as it were--become "disposable" within the existing order of things? In what ways does capitalism's drive for productivity and profit contribute to the rise of superfluous populations? How do states "manage" surplus populations? Who is considered "deserving" and who is not? What kinds of political and ethical questions does the existence "surplus humanity" force us to confront? Our course will address these urgent issues, and others beside by bringing together theoretical and empirical literatures on the themes of work, precarity, poverty, welfare policy, development, social movements, rights, and politics. Class sessions will be a combination of lectures, discussions, debates, and appraisals of audio-visual clips.