Visiting scholar Jan Kozak from Charles University in Prague gives a lecture on the relation between consumerism, branding, rituals, and myths.
Phenomena like brands, branding and advertisments, as well as the whole of consumerism seem to us as something so usual that we rarely stop to think about how strange it actually is. When perceived from a distance (of a proverbial anthopologist from Mars) some aspects of consumerism seem analogous to certain tribal customs like potlatch, while advertisments seem analogous to myths and brands to totems. These and other analogies (proposed already by classic authors like Roland Barthes) will be the subject of this lecture. A different perspective on culture we think we know.
Reading: Campbell, Colin. "I shop therefore I know that I am: the metaphysical basis of modern consumerism." In Elusive consumption, pp. 27-44. Routledge, 2020.
Jan Kozak's lecture is organized by the ENCODE research group UiT/HSL.