04718 - Social Anthropology

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course, the student will master the main lines of the history of social anthropology and he will acquire a critical knowledge of the anthropological paradigms aimed at studying different forms of personal dependence, work and social exclusion. Besides, he will master the anthropological debate on anthropocene and inequality.

Course contents

The course is divided into 2 modules of 6 CFU each. Students with the exam of 12 CFU will have to study the books indicated in both modules; student with exam of 6 cfu will have to choose one module:

During the first module, we will focus on the general history and paradigms of social anthropology, analyzing the main themes, authors and debates. Ethnographic examples will be discussed in order to illustrate the history of the discipline, its essential theoretical elements and its fundamental methodological tools. Particular attention will be given to the topics of work and forms of personal dependence.

In the second module two macro themes will be addressed: 1) ecological crisis 2) inequality.

First, we will focus on the anthropological debate on anthropocene, that is to say on the current era in which human action increasingly conditions and determines the environment in a process out of control that develops itself at a local and global scale. Finally, we will focus on the anthropological approach to inequality and marginality in the current phase of neoliberalism in which the strongly unequal concentration of wealth produces marginality and social conflicts that are mostly governed through security and the criminalization of poverty.

Readings/Bibliography

First part (2 books):

1) Meillassoux, C. 1992. Antropologia della schiavitù, Mursia.

2) One book to be chosen among:

- Viti, F. 2007. Schiavi, Servi e Dipendenti. Antropologia delle forme di dipendenza personale in Africa. Milano: Raffaele Cortina Editore.

- Vignato, S. (a cura di). 2010. Soggetti al lavoro. Un'etnografia della vita attiva nel mondo globalizzato. Novara: UTET Università.

 

Second part (2 books): 

1) One book to be chosen among:

- Eriksen T. H., Fuori controllo. Un'antropologia del cambiamento accelerato, Einaudi 2017.

- Hickel J. 2018. The divide. Guida per risolvere la disuguaglianza globale, Il Saggiatore.

2) One book to be chosen among:

Bourgois, P. 2005. Cercando rispetto. Drug economy e cultura di strada, Derive Approdi.

Bourgois P., Schonberg J. 2011. Reietti e fuorilegge. Antropologia della violenza nella metropoli americana, Derive Approdi.

Teaching methods

Lessons will be frontal and occasionally the teacher will use audiovisual material to give more concreteness to the topics discussed. Students will be solicited to ask questions and open up debates on the issues addressed in the course.

Assessment methods

The exam is written, and the inscriptions have to be made on the website almaesami. Students with 12 cfu exam will have to study four books; students with 6 cfu exam will have to study 2 books according to the list above.

Students with 12 cfu exam will have 150 minutes to answer 4 questions; students with 6 cfu exam will have 80 minutes to answer 2 questions.

They will have to prove to be able to contextualize the texts, to place them within the history of discipline and to reconstruct their theoretical frameworks. They will have two hours and thirty minutes to answer to four open questions on the computers in the computer lab. The program is the same both for students attending classes as well as for the non-attending ones.

Teaching tools

The teacher will occasionaly use audio-visual sources (documentaris, maps and photos)

Office hours

See the website of Luca Jourdan

See the website of Marco Gardini