ANTROPOLOGIA

Learning Objectives

• Fundamentals of Cultural Anthropology
  This teaching module has the aim to facilitate the acquisition of the basic elements of cultural anthropology, allowing the student to better understand some of the most significant phenomena of contemporary societies: migrations, ethnic conflicts, the political making of heritages. Thus it encourages critically awareness of concepts such as culture, ethnicity, identity, otherness, etc.
• Methods of Anthropological Research
  This teaching module has the purpose of promoting a critical, complex approach to the study of anthropological method, presenting the rudiments of ethnographic fieldwork through empirical case-studies and the direct experience of some investigation techniques.

Detailed Course Content

• Fundamentals of Cultural Anthropology

  This module offers a general overview of cultural anthropology, proposing firstly a critical analysis on the genesis of the anthropological thought and its main objects of investigation, then introducing contemporary theoretical paradigms, by using ethnographic examples and historical-cultural exemplifications.

• Methods of Anthropological Research

  This module examines key methodological aspects of anthropological research: the question of sources, the politics of identity, the paradoxes of participant observation, new ethnographic postures for the anthropologist in the field, and the rhetorical choices that underlay the construction of ethnographic texts. Through a deep examination of papers and one anthropological monograph, and short direct sessions of training in the field, students are encouraged to apply the contents acquired in the first module, identifying theoretical and methodological peculiarities of empirical research works.

Textbook Information

• Methods of Anthropological Research

  • Mara Benadusi, Il Segreto di Cybernella. Governance dell’accoglienza e pratiche locali di integrazione educativa, Eunoedizioni, 2012;
  • Un saggio a scelta da: Francesca Cappelletto (a cura di), Vivere l’etnografia, SEID, Firenze, 2009