In this course we explore ways in which language use can be related to larger questions of identity and power. How does language use reflect these larger social constellations? How does language use contribute to constituting them? At a more abstract level, the course is thus about relating individual actions and meanings in the here-and-now to the larger sweep of social history. We will read a range of works, primarily ethnographic, that link empirical language data and social theory in addressing these relationships.