29424 - Seminars (1) (LM) (G.A)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the workshop students will acquire critical skills and knowledge to address specific anthropological issues and problems or activities strictly relevant to the objectives of this course.

Course contents

Each year, the Degree Programme in Cultural Anthropology and Ethnology organises a number of seminars on topics relevant to the programme’s learning objectives. These seminars give students the opportunity to engage directly with the scientific research activities of scholars and experts.

Students must attend in person an appropriate number of these seminar meetings, selecting them exclusively from the overall seminar programme, including seminars belonging to different series. The programme is published on the Degree Programme website, on the Open Seminars page [link available shortly] and the Closed Seminar Series page [link available shortly].

Seminars organised by other Degree Programmes may count towards the achievement of the 6 ECTS credits only where an explicit agreement exists between the Degree Programmes concerned and is indicated in the announcement for the relevant event.

Readings/Bibliography

Attending students

The course consists of 30 hours of seminars.

Students will be considered attending students if they participate in at least 22 hours of seminars, corresponding to 75% of the total. Attendance must be certified by the lecturers organising each individual seminar through the attendance form available here [link available shortly].

Students must collect attendance certificates for at least 22 hours of seminars and write four analytical reports, in either Italian or English. Each report must be between a minimum of 900 words, approximately three standard pages, and a maximum of 1,500 words, approximately five standard pages.

Each report must provide a comprehensive account of the seminar’s contents, highlighting how the object of analysis was constructed, the theoretical approach adopted and the methodological choices made by the speaker.

Each report must indicate, at the top of the document, the student’s full name, Degree Programme, student identification number and email address. Reports relating to one of the Open Seminars must be sent to the lecturer who organised the seminar within one month of the date on which it took place. Reports relating to a seminar within a Closed Seminar Series must be submitted within one month of the conclusion of the relevant series.

The report may be submitted as a Word document attached to an email. Students are responsible for waiting for the lecturer’s assessment of each report and for collecting the relevant approval confirmations sent by email.

Any required reading or bibliography will be indicated as part of each individual seminar initiative.

Non-attending students

Seminar-based teaching has, by its very nature, an experiential component that cannot be replicated: direct engagement with scholars, in-person discussion and exposure to different disciplinary perspectives. The programme for non-attending students cannot replace this component but seeks to reproduce its cognitive structure:

collection of diverse stimuli → critical analysis → reasoned synthesis

Students who are unable to attend the seminars must therefore prepare a dossier consisting of four assignments, organised progressively according to the following modules.

1 — Seminar Journal (approximately 1,500 words)
Students must select and listen to four audio or video contributions presented in a seminar format, such as conference presentations, academic podcasts or keynote lectures, each with a minimum duration of 45 minutes. For each contribution, students must provide a critical summary and a personal observation concerning the methodology employed or the theoretical and interpretative approach proposed.

2 — Research Statement (approximately 1,200–1,500 words)
Students must conduct a systematic review of the book-review sections of two or three academic journals in the relevant field, covering a period of at least three years. They must select six to eight reviews that converge around a common issue, map the emerging debate, formulate a reasoned research question and propose a working hypothesis.

3 — Annotated Bibliography (approximately 1,200 words)
Students must compile and critically discuss a selection of bibliographical sources relevant to the research question identified in Module 2.

4 — Argumentative Essay (2,500–3,500 words)
Students must develop a reasoned discussion of the research problem identified, making critical use of the relevant bibliographical sources. A definitive answer to the research question is not required. The essay must instead provide a theoretically and methodologically grounded discussion structured as follows:

a) definition of the object of analysis;
b) theoretical framework to be adopted in problematising the object of analysis;
c) sources required for the analysis and appropriate research methods;
d) research question.

Use of AI Tools

Assignment 3 or Assignment 4 may include an optional section of approximately 400 words reporting on and critically assessing the use of artificial intelligence tools. This section may include:

• a declaration concerning the use of AI;
• documentation of at least one specific interaction, with the prompt and output included in an appendix;
• a critical assessment of the output;
• a methodological reflection on the relationship between generative tools and anthropological research.

The extended document containing full instructions for each module is available on Virtuale.

The dossier comprising the four assignments must be submitted to the coordinators of activity 29424 – Seminars, Ivo Quaranta and Luca Jourdan, at least one month before the relevant examination date. The coordinators are also available to answer any questions concerning the programme for non-attending students.

Teaching methods

Seminar activities are held in person and provide an advanced forum for discussion among students, lecturers and experts from different disciplinary and professional fields.

The seminars include lectures, guided discussions and in-depth sessions devoted to the main contemporary debates in the socio-anthropological disciplines, situated within the broader framework of the social sciences and humanities.

Assessment methods

To obtain a pass, attending students must send the following documents to the coordinators of activity 29424 – Seminars, Ivo Quaranta and Luca Jourdan:

1. the attendance form certifying participation in at least 30 hours of seminars;
2. the four seminar reports;
3. the email confirmations containing the assessments and approvals issued by the lecturers who organised the individual seminars.

To obtain a pass, non-attending students must send the dossier comprising the four assignments required under the programme for non-attending students to the coordinators of activity 29424 – Seminars, Ivo Quaranta and Luca Jourdan.

Activity 29424 – Seminars is not assessed through a numerical grade. Students receive a pass upon successful completion of the requirements.

Teaching tools

Students with specific learning disabilities or temporary or permanent disabilities are advised to contact the relevant University office well in advance:
https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en/for-students

The office will propose any appropriate adjustments for the students concerned. These arrangements must nevertheless be submitted to the lecturer for approval at least 15 days before the examination date. The lecturer will assess their suitability, taking into account the learning objectives of the course.

Office hours

See the website of Ivo Quaranta