B1640 - Digital Anthropology (1) (LM)

Learning outcomes

Students will acquire a body of knowledge useful to critically analyze the relationship between anthropology and digital tools. They will also be able to skillfully apply such knowledge in designing projects involving the use of digital tools in anthropological research.

Course contents

The course aims to introduce students to the complexity and contemporaneity of the "digital," understood both as an object and as a tool of investigation. Through the main research topics and specific case studies, students will reflect on the sociocultural and political dimensions of technology and digital practices.

Particular emphasis will be placed on understanding how digital environments can become sites for ethnographic research, reflecting on different methodologies and practices, and expanding the concept of the "field" to include media, social media, and digital archives. Specifically, the course will analyze the impacts of the digital in terms of materiality/immateriality, visibility/invisibility, relationality, restitution, and the sharing of knowledge.

Readings/Bibliography

All students, including non-attending ones, are required to read the following texts which will be discussed during the oral exam:

1. Biscaldi A., Matera, V., 2019, Antropologia dei Social Media, Roma: Carocci.
2. Miller, D., et al., 2019, Come il mondo ha cambiato i social media, UCL Press (available in Open Access https://www.uclpress.co.uk/products/171335).
   

Moreover:

Attending students will choose one book from the following list:

Non-attending students will choose two books from the following list:

• Biscaldi,A., Matera, V., a cura, 2023, Social media e politiche dell’identità, Milano, Ledizioni.

• D’Orsi, L. Rimoldi, L., a cura, 2022, Etnografie delle smart city. Abitare, relazionarsi e protestare nelle città intelligenti italiane, Milano, Ledizioni.

• Santanera, G., 2024, Diritti mediati. Antropologia digitale e domanda di asilo politico in Italia, Milano, Ledizioni.

• Walton, S., 2022, Smart Ageing a Milano (e altrove). Soggettività e socialità nei contesti digitali urbani italiani, Milano, Ledizioni.

Further readings:

The following books are not to be read for the exam. They are listed here as suggestions for students willing to further explore some of the topics discussed during the course.

• Geismar, H., 2018, Museum Object Lessons for the Digital Age, London, UCL Press

• Hine, C., Virtual Ethnography, London, SAGE.

• Horst, H., Miller, D., (eds.) 2012, Digital Anthropology, Berg

• Miller, D. et. al., 2021, Lo smartphone globale. Non solo una tecnologia per giovani, UCL Press (disponibile online in Open Access).

• Müller, K., 2021, Digital Archives and Collections.Creating Online Access to Cultural Heritage, New York, Berghan.

• Pink, S., et. al., 2015 Digital Ethnography: Principles and Practice, London, SAGE.

Teaching methods

In addition to the traditional lectures, there will be sessions that require active participation from students, who will have the opportunity to develop, individually or in groups, a digital ethnography related to their own research or areas of interest. Readings, audiovisual screenings, and analysis of digital archives will be offered to meet the educational needs of the students attending the lectures.

Assessment methods

Students who attend at least 75% of the lessons are considered to be attending.

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. The questions will deal with general themes, and in his answer the student should show his capacity to go into specific details. Among the elements that concur in the final evaluation there are: detailed knowledge of the book's content, property of language, and especially the capacity of organizing the information showing expositive and critical skills.

For attending students, the evaluation will consider their engagement with the provided bibliography, active participation in group work in class, and contributions during lessons.

Proper language and the ability to critically speak about the books' content will lead to a good/excellent final grade.

Acceptable language and the ability to resume the books' content will lead to a sufficient/fair grade.

Insufficient linguistic proficiency and fragmentary knowledge of the books' content will lead to a failure in passing the exam.

Students who require specific services and adaptations to teaching activities due to a disability or specific learning disorders (SLD), must first contact the appropriate office: https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en/for-students .

Students can consult Exams dates and register at the following URL http://www.unibo.it/Portale/Guida/AlmaEsami.htm

Teaching tools

Information and communication technologies, audiovisual tools.

Attending students are kindly requested to subscribe to the following distribution list in order to receive any communications and materials useful for the course of study:

chiara.scardozzi.Antropologia-Digitale

Students who require specific services and adaptations to teaching activities due to a disability or specific learning disorders (SLD), must first contact the appropriate office: http://https//site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en/for-students 

Office hours

See the website of Chiara Scardozzi