27280 - Seminars (1) (G.E)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the seminar (activities closely related to the objectives of the degree course), students will have acquired specific skills and knowledge to address central issues and problems of methodological relevance in the field of anthropology.

Course contents

The ‘bodily grammar’ between history, culture, religion, and society

The seminar will focus on the theme of the body, understood as a social “product” and as such subject to processes and dynamics of historical and cultural elaboration. The proposed theme will therefore be examined according to three lines of inquiry: memory, identity, and culture. Through the analysis of the body as a historical product, we will seek to identify the social function linked to the theme of corporeality, understanding the body as a semiotic medium with high semantic potential, at the center of elaborate discourses on the construction of identity (individual and collective) and the transmission of memory (historical and cultural). The function assumed by the body in ritual and performative contexts of social self-definition and the perception of the body in specific historical contexts and cultural situations, from classical antiquity to modernity, will therefore be evaluated.

 

DETAILED ARTICULATION:

First week - Theories of the body between the 19th and 20th centuries: from the ‘organic’ to the ‘post-organic’ body
Second week - Semantics of space and body language (the body as limen in Edward Hall's proxemics)
Third week - Body, culture, and society: self-building processes of the social man (the body as a 'sign' in the 'anthropopoietical' perspective)
Fourth week - Body, memory, and identity: ritualized bodies (the body as a medium in state transitions)
Fifth week - Body, discipline, and authority: “institutionalized” bodies and the use of the body in religious and social practices

 

At the end of the cycle of lectures and seminars, students will be required to write a short scientific report of between 15,000 and 20,000 characters (including spaces), corresponding to 7/10 pages in Word format, A4 size, with text written in Times New Roman (12 points), accompanied by footnotes (Times New Roman, 10 points) and a final bibliography. The report must be introduced by the title of the paper, the student's name, and their student ID number.

The topic of the report must be focused on one of the meetings they attended (as a sort of critical evaluation of the meeting's content enriched with individual insights and personal considerations) or on one of the topics covered and/ or issues addressed. The final reports will be discussed orally during the exam in order to provide a more comprehensive assessment of the knowledge acquired by the student.

 

Lesson period:

Fourth teaching period

Readings/Bibliography

For a critical analysis of the topic, we recommend several scientific articles and thematic volumes as recommended reading. This recommended bibliography may be useful in preparing the final report on aspects related to the theme of the body and corporeality freely chosen by the student in relation to the topics covered and/or issues raised in the seminar.


RECOMMENDED READING:

1. V. Bochicchio (ed.), Dal corpo al simbolo. Ermeneutiche della corporeità (Cultura, Scienza e Società – Sezione di studi filosofici diretta da Raffaele Bruno), Presentazione di Fabrizio Lomonaco, Introduzione di Eugenio Mazzarella, Franco Angeli, Milano 2011, pp. 17-42.
2. F. Borel, Le vêtement incarné: les métamorphoses du corps, Calmann-Lévy, Paris 1992.
   
3. P. Borgna, Sociologia del corpo, Laterza, Roma-Bari 2005.
   
4. P. Bourdieu, Les rites comme actes d’institution, in «Actes de la recherche en sciences sociales» 43, 1, 1982, pp. 58-63.
5. P. Bourdieu, Remarques provisoires sur la perception sociale du corps, in «Actes de la recherche en sciences sociales» 14, 1, 1977, pp. 51-54.
6. P. Bourdieu, Sur le pouvoir symbolique, in «Annales. Économies, Sociétés, Civilisations» 32, 3, 1977, pp. 405-411.
   
7. C. Capello, Anthropopoiesis, Embodiment, and Religious Ritual in Morocco: Towards a New Theoretical Approach, in Journal of Mediterranean Studies, 20/ 1, 2011, pp. 163-177 [https://iris.unito.it/retrieve/e27ce428-b3ca-2581-e053-d805fe0acbaa/AnthopopoiesisEmbodiment%26ReligoiusRitual.pdf].
8. M. Combi, Corpo e tecnologie. Simbolismi, rappresentazioni e immaginari, Meltemi, Roma 2000.
9. J. Fontanille, Soma et Séma: Figures du corps, Maisonneuve et Larose, Paris 2004.
10. M. Foucault, La volonté de savoir. Histoire de la sexualité, I, Gallimard, Paris 1976 [also available in Italian edition].
11. M. Foucault, Surveiller et punir. Naissance de la prison, Gallimard, Paris 1975 [also available in Italian edition].
12. M. Foucault, Naissance de la Clinique: une archéologie du regard médical, PUF, Paris 1963 [also available in Italian edition].
13. E.L. Galak, La configurazione di una grammatica del corporale. Il visibile, l’invisibile e il non visibile come fondamento delle immagini e dei corpi in movimento, in Rivista di Storia dell’Educazione 9(2), 2022, pp. 87-95 [https://rivistadistoriadelleducazione.it/index.php/rse/article/download/12800/11529/47935].
14. E.L. Galak, Corpo, modernità, immagine e movimento. La formazione della percezione estetica e politica del corporeo, in Antonio Donato, Leonardo Tonelli, Eduardo Galak (a cura di), Le pieghe del corpo, Mimesis Edizioni, Milano 2019, pp. 33-52.
15. J. Gil, s.v. “Corpo”, in Enciclopedia Einaudi, Einaudi, Torino 1978, vol. 3, pp. 1096-1162.
16. M. Glavac, A.-K. Höpflinger, D. Pezzoli-Olgiati (Hrsg.), Second Skin. Körper, Kleidung, Religion («Research in Contemporary Religion» 14), Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2013.
17. E.T. Hall, The Silent Language, Fawcett, New York 1966 [also available in Italian edition].
18. E.T. Hall, The Hidden Dimension, Doubleday, New York 1966 [also available in Italian edition].
19. A.-K. Höpflinger, S. Knauss, A.D. Ornella (eds.), Commun(icat)ing the Body. The Body As Medium in Religious Communication Systems, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2014.
20. T. Macrì, Il corpo postorganico, Costa & Nolan, Genova 1996.
21. G. Mura, R. Cipriani (a cura di), Corpo e religione, Città Nuova Editrice, Roma 2009.
22. F. Remotti, Cultura sul corpo, Gius.Laterza & Figli Spa., Bari 2015.
23. F. Remotti, Interventi estetici sul corpo, in F. Affergan et alii, Figure dell’umano. Le rappresentazioni dell’antropologia, Meltemi, Roma 2005, pp. 335-369.
24. F. Remotti, Luoghi e corpi. Antropologia dello spazio, del tempo e del potere, Bollati Boringhieri, Torino 1993.

Teaching methods

Lessons are held exclusively in presence and are not registered.

The seminar includes a) lectures with a strong interactive component and PowerPoint presentations; b) expository-argumentative conferences held by professors from the degree programs in History and Anthropology, Religions, Eastern Civilizations, and external professors.

Considering the nature of the course, students are encouraged to actively participate in lessons, including through analysis and discussion in class of the documents presented during lessons (ancient sources, scientific essays, iconographic repertoires, photographic, cinematographic and audiovisual materials).

Assessment methods

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

At the end of the cycle of lectures and seminars, students will be required to write short scientific report (see above, in the "Course contents" section) on one of the meetings they attended or on one of the topics covered and/or issues addressed. The paper may also consist of an in-depth analysis of a film, iconographic materials, or scientific or literary texts, chosen in agreement with the teacher.

The final reports will be discussed during the oral examination, in order to provide a more comprehensive assessment of the knowledge acquired by the student.

This seminar activity will not be graded on a scale of 1 to 30, but will only be assessed as pass/fail. Students who demonstrate in-depth knowledge of the recommended bibliography, critical analysis of the material studied, and adequate language skills will be considered to have passed.

 

*Students with learning disorders and\or temporary or permanent disabilities: please, contact the office responsible ( https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en/for-students ) as soon as possible so that they can propose acceptable adjustments. The request for adaptation must be submitted in advance (15 days before the exam date) to the lecturer, who will assess the appropriateness of the adjustments, taking into account the teaching objectives.

 

For the academic year 2025/26, there will be eight exam sessions, scheduled between the third and fourth weeks of May, June, July, October, November, December, January, and March.

For the actual dates please alwas check my website page > Teaching > Exam Sessions [https://www.unibo.it/sitoweb/giuseppina.viscardi/teachings?tab=appelli] or in the Almaesami app.

 

Teaching tools

Course materials, consisting of PowerPoint presentations, scans of articles and selected pages from the bibliography listed in the Texts/Bibliography section, and any lecture notes, will be provided in class and online (see Teaching Materials).

* 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): the office will propose some adjustments, which must in any case be submitted 15 days in advance to the lecturer, who will assess the appropriateness of these in relation to the teaching objectives.

Office hours

See the website of Giuseppina Paola Viscardi