22902482 - CULTURAL AND SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY

Objectives of the course are:
-to provide basic notions on the fundamental concepts of social and cultural anthropology and on the main issues that are today at the center of the debate;
-to provide conceptual tools useful for reasoning autonomously and critically on issues and problems related to contemporary globalization as a complex intertwining of local and transnational processes.

At the end of the course the student has:
- a knowledge of the main anthropological theories, with the ability to contextualize their historical-scientific development
- a knowledge of the main concepts of cultural and social anthropology.
teacher profile | teaching materials

Programme

The course aims to provide students with methods and concepts of social and cultural anthropology. In the contemporary world, the anthropological perspective is set up as a critical study aiming at understanding cultural diversity and similarities, processes building belongings, inequalities, differences, hierarchies and forms of power. Constitutive notions of this discipline, such as society, gender, culture, power, body will be put at the core of this path to develop a critical gaze on current topics, in particular: human mobility, gender, and their consequences on the construction of the subject, social and educational relations. Ethnographic method and ethnographic case-studies will serve to stimulate participation and understanding of ‘otherness’, and they will be useful tools to develop a comparative and non-ethnocentric perspective.

Core Documentation

1) Ugo Fabietti, 2015. Elementi di antropologia culturale. Mondadori, Milano (selected chapters)
Edizione 2015. Parte prima: Genesi e struttura dell’antropologia culturale (Capitoli 1, 2, 3); Parte seconda: Unità e varietà del genere umano (Capitoli 1, 2, 3); Parte terza: Comunicazione e conoscenza (Capitoli 1 e 3); Parte quinta: Il sé e l’altro (Capitoli 1, 2, 3); Parte settima: Esperienza religiosa e pratica rituale (Capitoli 1 e 3); Parte ottava: Creatività culturale ed espressione estetica (Capitoli 1 e 3); Parte Nona: Risorse e potere (Capitoli 1, 2, 3).


2) Un testo a scelta fra:
Gribaldo, Alessandra (2005). La natura scomposta. Riproduzione assistita, genere, parentela. Luca Sossella Editore, Roma.
Mattalucci, Claudia (a cura) (2017). Antropologia e riproduzione. Attese, fratture e ricomposizioni della procreazione e della genitorialità in Italia. Edizioni Cortina, Milano.

3) Un testo a scelto fra:
Ciabarri, Luca (a cura) (2015). I rifugiati e l’Europa. Tra crisi internazionali e corridoi di accesso. Edizioni Cortina, Milano.
Marchetti, Chiara e Pinelli, Barbara (a cura) (2017). Confini d’Europa. Modelli di controllo e inclusioni informali. Edizioni Cortina, Milano.
Pinelli, Barbara (a cura) (2013). Migrazioni e asilo politico. “Antropologia”, 15, https://www.ledijournals.com/ojs/index.php/antropologia/issue/view/20.
Pizza, Giovanni e Ravenda, Andrea (a cura) (2012). Presente internazionali. Prospettive etnografiche sulla dimensione fisico-politica delle migrazioni in Italia. “AM. Rivista della Società Italiana di Antropologia Medica”, 33-34 (pagine: 1-265).

Type of delivery of the course

Lectures will be supported by Power Point and audio-visual materials, as well as by the reading and analyzing ethnographic examples. These support-tools intend to encourage the active participation of the students, dialogues and discussions on the course topics.

Type of evaluation

Oral interview. Through questions/answers it will be verify that: 1) the students have read the materials assigned 2) the students are able to interpret and reflect on concepts and perspectives illustrated; 3) the students have developed capacity of autonomous thought.