General introduction and fundamentals. Methods and techniques. The fieldwork. Anthropology today: who are the others; migrations; traditional societies; societies and cultures in the globalised world. A basic course useful to teachers, professors, and social workers.
Curriculum
teacher profile teaching materials
During the course, different visual and audiovisual products will be critically analysed as specific cultural productions that express, construct, and mediate social relations, forms of power, and ways of seeing. The course will also examine, in their historical and contemporary variety, the multiple uses of photography, film, and audiovisual and multimedia tools in ethnographic research and representation.
The final part of the course will introduce some of the issues raised by contemporary transformations of images: their circulation through digital platforms and archives, the conversion of images into data, their use in training artificial intelligence systems, and the relationship between visual production, technological infrastructures, economy, and power.
• Marano F., Camera etnografica. Storie e teorie di antropologia visuale*, Milan, FrancoAngeli, 2007.
• Berardi M., “The Use of Visual and Digital Methods in an Ethnographic Research on Depopulation”, «Visual Ethnography», 1, 2023, pp. 63-82, available on Moodle.
• Buonvino M., De Grazia D., “Filming the ‘Limbo of Interchange’ of/from the Bodies. Visual Anthropology and Sensory Engagement in Ethnographic Filmmaking with the Peruvian Religious Cultural Association Virgen de Cocharcas”, «Visual Ethnography», vol. 15, no. 1, 2026, available on Moodle.
Programme
The course provides an introduction to the theoretical and methodological foundations of cultural and social anthropology, while briefly tracing the history of the discipline. Particular attention is devoted to visual anthropology, a field of research that places images and audiovisual devices at the centre as tools of “document-action”, knowledge production, theoretical reflection, representation, and self-representation.During the course, different visual and audiovisual products will be critically analysed as specific cultural productions that express, construct, and mediate social relations, forms of power, and ways of seeing. The course will also examine, in their historical and contemporary variety, the multiple uses of photography, film, and audiovisual and multimedia tools in ethnographic research and representation.
The final part of the course will introduce some of the issues raised by contemporary transformations of images: their circulation through digital platforms and archives, the conversion of images into data, their use in training artificial intelligence systems, and the relationship between visual production, technological infrastructures, economy, and power.
Core Documentation
• Handouts and slides, available on Moodle.• Marano F., Camera etnografica. Storie e teorie di antropologia visuale*, Milan, FrancoAngeli, 2007.
• Berardi M., “The Use of Visual and Digital Methods in an Ethnographic Research on Depopulation”, «Visual Ethnography», 1, 2023, pp. 63-82, available on Moodle.
• Buonvino M., De Grazia D., “Filming the ‘Limbo of Interchange’ of/from the Bodies. Visual Anthropology and Sensory Engagement in Ethnographic Filmmaking with the Peruvian Religious Cultural Association Virgen de Cocharcas”, «Visual Ethnography», vol. 15, no. 1, 2026, available on Moodle.
Reference Bibliography
• Handouts and slides, available on Moodle. • Marano F., Camera etnografica. Storie e teorie di antropologia visuale*, Milan, FrancoAngeli, 2007. • Berardi M., “The Use of Visual and Digital Methods in an Ethnographic Research on Depopulation”, «Visual Ethnography», 1, 2023, pp. 63-82, available on Moodle. • Buonvino M., De Grazia D., “Filming the ‘Limbo of Interchange’ of/from the Bodies. Visual Anthropology and Sensory Engagement in Ethnographic Filmmaking with the Peruvian Religious Cultural Association Virgen de Cocharcas”, «Visual Ethnography», vol. 15, no. 1, 2026, available on Moodle.Attendance
Attendance is not mandatory but is strongly recommended.Type of evaluation
Written exam with open-ended questions. teacher profile teaching materials
During the course, different visual and audiovisual products will be critically analysed as specific cultural productions that express, construct, and mediate social relations, forms of power, and ways of seeing. The course will also examine, in their historical and contemporary variety, the multiple uses of photography, film, and audiovisual and multimedia tools in ethnographic research and representation.
The final part of the course will introduce some of the issues raised by contemporary transformations of images: their circulation through digital platforms and archives, the conversion of images into data, their use in training artificial intelligence systems, and the relationship between visual production, technological infrastructures, economy, and power.
• Marano F., Camera etnografica. Storie e teorie di antropologia visuale*, Milan, FrancoAngeli, 2007.
• Berardi M., “The Use of Visual and Digital Methods in an Ethnographic Research on Depopulation”, «Visual Ethnography», 1, 2023, pp. 63-82, available on Moodle.
• Buonvino M., De Grazia D., “Filming the ‘Limbo of Interchange’ of/from the Bodies. Visual Anthropology and Sensory Engagement in Ethnographic Filmmaking with the Peruvian Religious Cultural Association Virgen de Cocharcas”, «Visual Ethnography», vol. 15, no. 1, 2026, available on Moodle.
Mutuazione: 20702652 ANTROPOLOGIA CULTURALE in DAMS (Discipline delle Arti, della Musica e dello Spettacolo) L-3 R BUONVINO MICHELA
Programme
The course provides an introduction to the theoretical and methodological foundations of cultural and social anthropology, while briefly tracing the history of the discipline. Particular attention is devoted to visual anthropology, a field of research that places images and audiovisual devices at the centre as tools of “document-action”, knowledge production, theoretical reflection, representation, and self-representation.During the course, different visual and audiovisual products will be critically analysed as specific cultural productions that express, construct, and mediate social relations, forms of power, and ways of seeing. The course will also examine, in their historical and contemporary variety, the multiple uses of photography, film, and audiovisual and multimedia tools in ethnographic research and representation.
The final part of the course will introduce some of the issues raised by contemporary transformations of images: their circulation through digital platforms and archives, the conversion of images into data, their use in training artificial intelligence systems, and the relationship between visual production, technological infrastructures, economy, and power.
Core Documentation
• Handouts and slides, available on Moodle.• Marano F., Camera etnografica. Storie e teorie di antropologia visuale*, Milan, FrancoAngeli, 2007.
• Berardi M., “The Use of Visual and Digital Methods in an Ethnographic Research on Depopulation”, «Visual Ethnography», 1, 2023, pp. 63-82, available on Moodle.
• Buonvino M., De Grazia D., “Filming the ‘Limbo of Interchange’ of/from the Bodies. Visual Anthropology and Sensory Engagement in Ethnographic Filmmaking with the Peruvian Religious Cultural Association Virgen de Cocharcas”, «Visual Ethnography», vol. 15, no. 1, 2026, available on Moodle.
Reference Bibliography
• Handouts and slides, available on Moodle. • Marano F., Camera etnografica. Storie e teorie di antropologia visuale*, Milan, FrancoAngeli, 2007. • Berardi M., “The Use of Visual and Digital Methods in an Ethnographic Research on Depopulation”, «Visual Ethnography», 1, 2023, pp. 63-82, available on Moodle. • Buonvino M., De Grazia D., “Filming the ‘Limbo of Interchange’ of/from the Bodies. Visual Anthropology and Sensory Engagement in Ethnographic Filmmaking with the Peruvian Religious Cultural Association Virgen de Cocharcas”, «Visual Ethnography», vol. 15, no. 1, 2026, available on Moodle.Attendance
Attendance is not mandatory but is strongly recommended.Type of evaluation
Written exam with open-ended questions.