- Docente: Vincenzo Matera
- Credits: 6
- SSD: M-DEA/01
- Language: Italian
- Teaching Mode: Traditional lectures
- Campus: Ravenna
-
Corso:
Second cycle degree programme (LM) in
International Cooperation on Human Rights and Intercultural Heritage (cod. 9237)
Also valid for Second cycle degree programme (LM) in International Cooperation on Human Rights and Intercultural Heritage (cod. 9237)
Learning outcomes
The course aims at providing students abilities in cultural analysis with special reference to the making and representation of cultural diversity. The course aims at improving students participation, providing the gain of a specialistic terminology and of a critical attitude toward social and cultural facts.
Course contents
The course introduces students to basic theories and research methods in Social and Cultural Anthropology, with a special focus on contemporary societies, including ethnographic fieldwork and the analysis of cultural dimension. In its focus on the details of everyday activities across a number of communities, it is meant to provide a bridge between sociocultural anthropology and ethnography through the introduction of concepts and analytical techniques that privilege observation, participation, recording and transcription of spontaneous interaction. Topics include cultural theory, practices of ethnography, memory, time, travel and mobility, imagination, the power of communication, agency and aspiration, and universal and culture-specific properties of human condition.
Students are expected to arrive on time, attend all lectures, and complete all reading as scheduled on the syllabus, i.e., prior to the class meeting. The class participation grade is based on participation in discussions as well as on attendance in both lectures and study questions.
Readings/Bibliography
SYLLABUS
LECTURE 1: Feb. 7th, 2018
INTRODUCTION: My idea of Anthropology. DIVERSITY. USES AND ABUSES.
Reading for Lecture 2:
- Malinowski B., 1922, Argonauts of the Western Pacific, Introduction.
LECTURE 2: Feb. 14th, 2018
GO ON WITH FIELDWORK. DIVERSITY AND ANTHROPOLOGY
Reading 1: discussion and study questions
Reading for Lecture 3:
- Radcliffe Brown A. R., 1940, On Joking Relationships, Africa: Journal of The International African Institute, vol. 13, 3: 195-210.
LECTURE 3: Feb. 21th, 2018
SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS. FUNCTION AND STRUCTURE
Reading 2: discussion and study questions
Readings for Lecture 4:
- Evans-Pritchard E. E., 1940, The Political Structure of Nandi-Speaking People of Kenya, in Africa: Journal of The International African Institute, vol. 13, 3: 250-267 // -, 1950, Anthropology: Past and Present, The Marret Lecture, in Man, 50: 118-125.
LECTURE 4: Feb. 28th, 2018
OTHER WAYS TO ETHNOGRAPHY
Reading 3: discussion and study questions
Readings for Lecture 5:
- Matera V., We are all contemporaries. Time and Anthropology, in Gonzales Falcon I. (ed.), Understanding Cultural Diversity: Perceptions, Opportunities and Challenges, Nova Publisher, in press. (20 pagg.)
LECTURE 5: March 7th, 2018
WE ARE ALL CONTEMPORARIES. TIME AND ANTHROPOLOGY
Reading 4: discussion and study questions
Readings for Lectures 6 - 7:
- Gluckman M., 1940, Analysis of a Social Situation in Modern Zululand, in Bantu Studies, 14: 1-30.
- Fabian J., 2006, The Other revisited, in Anthropological Theory, 6: 139-152.
LECTURE 6: March 14th, 2018
THE SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS. FACING WITH SOCIAL AND CULTURAL CHANGE
Reading 5: discussion and study questions
LECTURE 7: March 15th, 2018
THE SOCIAL FIELD. BEYOND THE ANTHROPOLIGIST’S OWN FIELD EXPERIENCE
Reading 6: discussion and study questions
Readings for Lectures 8-9:
- Matera V., 2013, Ethnography: experiences, representations, practices for studying cultural diversity, in AAM, 15: 9-19.
- Fillitz T., 2013, Spatialising the Field. Conceptualising fields and interconnections in the context of contemporary art in Africa, in Matera V. (ed.), De.-constructing the field, AAM, 13: 103-112.
LECTURE 8: March 21th, 2018
ETHNOGRAPHY 1.
Reading 7: discussion and study questions
LECTURE 9: March 22th, 2018
ETHNOGRAPHY 2.
Reading 8: discussion and study questions
Reading for Lecture 10:
- Ingold T., 2008, Anthropology is not Ethnography, in Proceeding of the British Academy, 154: 69-92.
LECTURE 10: March 28th, 2018
BEYOND THE FIELD. ETHNOGRAPHY IN A GLOBAL WORLD
Reading 9: discussion and study questions
Mid-term Test (Final test for SA students).
CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY AND MIGRATION PROCESSES (PART II)
Readings for Lectures 11-12. CAMP students only:
- Matera V., 2016, Understanding Cultural Diversity. Culture, cultural traits and cultural change between global and local frames, in Panebianco, Serrelli (eds.), Understanding Cultural Traits, Springer, pagg. 21-42.
11. Geertz C., 1973, Thick Description. Toward an Interpretive Theory of Culture, in The Interpretation of Cultures, Basic Book, Ch. 1 (pagg. 3-30).
LECTURE 11: April 4th, 2018
CULTURAL THEORY 1. DIVERSITY AND ANTHROPOLOGY
Reading 10: discussion and study questions
LECTURE 12: April 5th, 2018
CULTURAL THEORY 2. UNDERSTANDING CULTURAL DIVERSITY
Reading 11: discussion and study questions
Readings for Lectures 13 – 14:
- Markowitz, 2004, Talking about culture. Globalization, Human Rights and Anthropology, in Anthropological Theory, 4: 329-352.
- De Haas, Vezzoli, 2013, Migration and Development on the South-North Frontier: A Comparison of the Mexico-USA and of Morocco-EU cases, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 39, 7: 1041-1065
- Menin L., 2016, Men are not scared: Luck, destiny and the gendered vocabularies of the clandestine migration in Central Morocco, Archivio Antropologico Mediterraneo, 18, 1: 25-36.
LECTURE 13: April 11th, 2018
CULTURES IN CONTACT I.
Reading 12: discussion and study questions
LECTURE 14: April 12th, 2018
Guest Laura Menin CULTURES IN CONTACT II.
Reading 13-14: discussion and study questions
Readings for Lectures 15-16:
- Marwan M. Kraidy, 2005, Hybridity or the Cultural Logic of Globalization, Tempe University Press, Preface and Ch. 1.
- Duvell F., 2012, Transit Migration: A Blurred and Politicized Concept, Population, Space, and Place, 18: 415-427.
- Menin L., 2016, “Anti-black racism”: debating racial prejudices and the legacies of slavery in Morocco, SWAB-WPS, 2.
LECTURE 15: April 18th, 2018
WE WANT OUR CULTURE! FROM ESSENTIALISM TO CREOLIZATION
Reading 15: discussion and study questions
LECTURE 16: April 19th, 2018
Guest Laura Menin BELONGINGS, MIMESIS, MODERNITY
Reading 16-17: discussion and study questions
Reading for Lectures 17 – 18:
- Sahlins M., 1999, Two or Three Things that I Know about Culture, in The Journal of The Royal Anthropological Institute, 5: 399-421
- Marcus G., 2007, “How Short Can Fieldwork Be?”, in Social Anthropology, 15: 353-367
LECTURE 17: May 2th, 2018
BELONGINGS, MIMESIS, IMAGINATION
Reading 18: discussion and study questions
LECTURE 18: May 3th, 2018
MAKING PAST. MEMORY AND IDENTITY
Reading 19: discussion and study questions
Readings for Lectures 19-20:
- Gupta A., 2015, An Anthropology of Electricity from the Global South, in Cultural Anthropology, 30, 4: 555-568.
- Appadurai A., 2004, The Capacity to Aspire, in Culture in Public Action, Stanford University Press.
LECTURE 19: May 9th, 2018
WHERE/WHAT MODERNITY IS?
Readings 20: discussion and study questions
LECTURE 20: May 10th, 2018
MAKING FUTURE.
Reading 21: discussion and study questions
FINAL TEST
Teaching methods
Lectures, discussions, weekly tests based on study questions.
Assessment methods
- First Test (Midterm) 7.50 points. Second Test (last week of classes) 7.50 points. Final short essay and oral presentation (15 points).
Office hours
See the website of Vincenzo Matera