11292 - Cultural Anthropology (1)

Learning outcomes

By the end of the course students will have learnt the main themes and conceptual framework of the discipline. They will also take part in critical discussions concerning the main intellectual schools of thought and apply these skills to social situations based on cultural variety. They will apply the main models of critical analysis to cultures, ethnic populations, gender and generations, and be able to focus on socio-cultural issues to do with migratory processes, globalization and the knowledge society. They will have learnt to listen, understand and debate respectfully with different viewpoints, and acquired judgment on a professional, human and ethical level.

Course contents

The course will address the development of the discipline, and will include the History of Anthroplogy starting from the mid of Nineteenth century till the Contemporary Anthropology. Life and work of the most important Authors who contributed to the history of Anthropology will be analyzed with particular attention to those who dealt with the subject of "race".

Lessons schedule:

• PRESENTATION OF THE COURSE

• EVOLUTIONISM

• THE BOASIAN

• THE CONFIGURATIONALISM. MARGARET MEAD & RUTH BENEDICT.

• THE BOAS’ DISCIPLES. ALFRED KROEBER AND THE CULTURAL AREAS

• ÉMILE DURKHEIM AND THE SOCIOLOGICAL SCHOOL

• ARNOLD VAN GENNEP, ROBERT HERTZ & MARCEL MAUSS

• CLAUDE LEVI-STRAUSS: THE STRUCTURALISM

• FILM: LE SIÈCLE DE CLAUDE LÉVI-STRAUSS. Par Jean-Claude Bringuier & Marcelo Fortaleza Flores (2008).

• ERNESTO DE MARTINO. THE ITALIAN ANTHROPOLOGY

• BRONISLAW MALINOWSKI E MARCEL GRIAULE. FIELD-WORK AND THEORY

• BRONISLAW MALINOWSKI AND MARCEL GRIAULE. FIELD-WORK AND THEORY

• BRITISH STRUCTURAL FUNCTIONALISM: ALFRED REGINALD RADCLIFFE-BROWN & EVANS PRITHCHARD

• ANTROPOLOGY IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY: INTERPRETATIVISM AND CLIFFORD GEERTZ. LIFE AND WORKS

• THE RACE. ADAM RUTHEFORD’S TEXT

Class Hours and rooms:

Wednesday, h. 17-19,CINEMA NOSADELLA VIA L.BERTI 2/7 Piano Terra

Thursday, h. 9-11, Via Zamboni 38 AULA III

Friday, h. 17-19, Via Zamboni 38 AULA III

Lessons starting on September 23th, 2020

 

Readings/Bibliography

For the final exam, students must read:

• Ugo Fabietti, Storia dell’Antropologia (Quarta Edizione), Bologna Zanichelli 2020.

• Adam Rutheford, Cosa rispondere a un razzista. Storia, scienza, razza e realtà, Milano, Bollati Boringhieri, 2020.

Teaching methods

The course will consist of lectures supported by audio visual material (when required).

At the end of each lecture there will be a concept checking session to ensure students’ understanding of the themes and issues covered, which will also allow active student participation.

Assessment methods

The final exam will be an oral one, with questions aimed to verify the student's knowledge of the themes discussed during frontal lessons (only for students that participated in classwork) as well as those treated in the program's texts.

In marking the following assessment criteria will be applied:

30 cum Laude: exceptional exam, solid knowledge, articulate discursive skills, expressive competence, and ability to synthesize.

30: outstanding result, adequate and appropriate knowledge, well-articulated and correctly expressed notions. Good ability to synthesize.

29-27: good exam, more than adequate knowledge, good capacity for expression. Fair ability to synthesize

26-24: fair exam, basic but not exhaustive knowledge, and or not consistently well articulated. Sufficient ability to synthesize.

23-21: passable exam, general but superficial knowledge; limited capacity for expression and confused discourse management. Passable ability to synthesize.

20-18: barely passable exam, discourse management and expressions demonstrating inadequate knowledge. Modest ability to synthesize.

<18: inadequate exam, deficient or severely inadequate knowledge, lack of bearing as regards the subject matter.

Teaching tools

The frontal lessons will be supported by Power Point presentations. The Power Point presentation will be uploaded in the “Teaching materials” section of this website.

Office hours

See the website of Zelda Alice Franceschi