00045 - Cultural Anthropology

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course the student should know the main topics and the conceptual framework which constitute the basis of the discipline and should be able to address critically the main lines of thought as well as to apply them to the real world characterized by a variety of socio-cultural situations. The student should also acquire expertise enabling him/her to favor the communication among people belonging to different socio-cultural groups.

Course contents

The first part of the course will address the major theoretical and methodological issues of Cultural Anthropology as a discipline, and fundamental knowledge/tools to perform ethnographic research will be given. The following topics will be addressed: the concept of culture, the field work and the tools to perform ethnographic research, the study of religions, kinship types, gender, art anthropology of arts, different ways of political systems. Each topic will be addressed theoretically and methodologically with specific references to the history of the discipline.

The second part of the course will address the development of the discipline, and will include the History of Anthroplogy starting from the mid of Nineteenth century till the Contemporary Anthropology. Life and work of the most important Authors who contributed to the history of Anthropology will be analyzed. Three books will be presented (the student should choose one) including Clifford Geertz (interpretative anthropology), Marjorie Shostack (post-modern anthropology) and Vanessa Maher (an Italian anthropologist who pursues ethnographic research in Italy combining ethnography, historical anthropology and women’ history).

The course will start on September 26th

Class hours and rooms:

Wednesday 17-19

Thursday 15-17

Friday 17-19

SALA BERTI
Piano Terra
Via Ludovico Berti, 2/7 - Bologna

DETAILED PROGRAMME OF THE COURSE:

• WEDNESDAY September 25th - PRESENTATION OF THE COURSE. WHAT IS CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY? THE CONCEPT OF CULTURE (Fabietti, Elementi di Antropologia Culturale parte prima cap. 2)

• THURSDAY September 26th FIELD-WORK (Fabietti, Elementi di Antropologia Culturale parte prima cap. 2 & 3)

• FRIDAY September 27th INDIGENOUS PEOPLE TODAY.THEMES AND ISSUES FOR CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGIST

• WEDNESDAY October 2nd INDIGENOUS PEOPLE TODAY.THEMES AND ISSUES FOR CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGIS

• THURSDAY October 3rd BIOLOGICAL AND PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY AND LINGUISTICS. “THE CONCEPT OF RACE”. THE HUNTHERS-GATHERERS SOCIETY. HORTICULTURE-AGRICULTURE(Fabietti, Elementi di Antropologia Culturale parte seconda cap. 1)

• FRIDAY October 4th NO LESSON. PATRON SAINT DAY

• WEDNESDAY October 9th WHAT IS RELIGION? MAGIC AND RELIGION. ANIMISM, MANA AND TABOO. (Fabietti, Elementi di Antropologia Culturale parte terza cap. 1)

• THURSDAY October 10^th NO LESSON FOR AN INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR

• FRIDAY October 11th NO LESSON FOR AN INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR

• WEDNESDAY October 16th ANTHROPOLOGY AND ARTS (Fabietti, Elementi di Antropologia Culturale parte ottava cap. 1, 2 & 3)

• THURSDAY October 17th SEX AND GENDER (Fabietti, Elementi di Antropologia Culturale parte quinta cap. 2)

• FRIDAY October 18th ETHNICITY AND RACE (Fabietti, Elementi di Antropologia Culturale parte quinta cap. 1 & 3)

• WEDNESDAY October 23rd FAMILIES, KINSHIP, AND DESCENT (Fabietti, Elementi di Antropologia Culturale parte sesta cap. 1, 2 & 3)

• THURSDAY October 24th FAMILIES, KINSHIP, AND DESCENT (Fabietti, Elementi di Antropologia Culturale parte sesta cap. 1, 2 & 3)

• FRIDAY October 25th ORIGINS, FUNCTIONS AND EXPRESSION OF RELIGION: RITUALS (Fabietti, Elementi di Antropologia Culturale parte settima cap. 1 & 2)

• WEDNESDAY October 30th POLITICAL SYSTEMS (Fabietti, Elementi di Antropologia Culturaleparte nona cap. 1 )

• THURSDAY October 31st Field-work in the Argentinian Chaco region

• FRIDAY November 1st NO LESSON All Hallows' Day

• WEDNESDAY November 6th CONCLUSION OF THE FIRST PART OF THE COURSE

• THURSDAY November 7th EVOLUTIONISM

• FRIDAY November 8th THE BOASIAN

• WEDNESDAY November 13th THE CONFIGURATIONALISM. MARGARET MEAD & RUTH BENEDICT.

• THURSDAY November 14th THE BOAS’ DISCIPLES. ALFRED KROEBER AND THE CULTURAL AREAS

 • FRIDAY November 15th ÉMILE DURKHEIM AND THE SOCIOLOGICAL SCHOOL

• WEDNESDAY November 20th ARNOLD VAN GENNEP, ROBERT HERTZ & MARCEL MAUSS

 • THURSDAY November 21st CLAUDE LEVI-STRAUSS: THE STRUCTURALISM

• FRIDAY November 22nd FILM: LE SIÈCLE DE CLAUDE LÉVI-STRAUSS. Par Jean-Claude Bringuier & Marcelo Fortaleza Flores (2008).

• WEDNESDAY November 27th ERNESTO DE MARTINO. THE ITALIAN ANTHROPOLOGY

• THURSDAY November 28th BRONISLAW MALINOWSKI E MARCEL GRIAULE. FIELD-WORK AND THEORY

• FRIDAY November 29th BRONISLAW MALINOWSKI AND MARCEL GRIAULE. FIELD-WORK AND THEORY

 • WEDNESDAY December 4th BRITISH STRUCTURAL FUNCTIONALISM: ALFRED REGINALD RADCLIFFE-BROWN & EVANS PRITHCHARD

•THURSDAY December 5th ANTROPOLOGY IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY: INTERPRETATIVISM AND CLIFFORD GEERTZ. LIFE AND WORKS

• FRIDAY December 6th POST-MODERN ANTHROPOLOGY. NISA, MARJORIE SHOSTACK

• WEDNESDAY December 11th CONCLUSION and VANESSA MAHER’ TEXT.

 

 

Readings/Bibliography

MANDATORY READINGS: 

6 CFU programme (for attending and non-attending students)

• Ugo Fabietti 2015. Elementi di Antropologia Culturale, Mondadori, Milano (Terza Edizione)

12 CFU programme (for attending and non-attending students) 

• Ugo Fabietti 2015. Elementi di Antropologia Culturale, Mondadori, Milano (Terza Edizione)

• Ugo Fabietti 2011. Storia dell'antropologia, Zanichelli, Bologna (Terza edizione).

One among the following:

• Geertz Clifford. Opere e vite. L’antropologo come autore. Bologna. Il Mulino 1990 [1988].

• Vanessa Maher. Tenere le fila. Sarte, sartine e cambiamento sociale 1860-1960. Torino. Rosemberg & Sellier 2007.

• Shostack Marjorie. Nisa. La vita e le parole di una donna !Kung. Roma. Meltemi 2002 [1988].

N.B. The non-attending students will not receive any additional teaching lessons and a much higher personal effort is required.

Teaching methods

The course will consist of lectures supported by audio visual material (when required).

At the end of each lecture there will be a concept checking session to ensure students’ understanding of the themes and issues covered, which will also allow active student participation.

Assessment methods

Open questions on each of the texts in the syllabus.

The test will be 3 hour long.

It is essential that students demonstrate they have read all 3 (three) of the volumes mentioned in the syllabus. Lexis, format, as well as the student’s capacities for organization and synthesis will be assessed.

In marking the following assessment criteria will be applied:

30 cum Laude: exceptional exam, solid knowledge, articulate discursive skills, expressive competence, and ability to synthesize.

30: outstanding result, adequate and appropriate knowledge, well-articulated and correctly expressed notions. Good ability to synthesize.

29-27: good exam, more than adequate knowledge, good capacity for expression. Fair ability to synthesize

26-24: fair exam, basic but not exhaustive knowledge, and or not consistently well articulated. Sufficient ability to synthesize.

23-21: passable exam, general but superficial knowledge; limited capacity for expression and confused discourse management. Passable ability to synthesize.

20-18: barely passable exam, discourse management and expressions demonstrating inadequate knowledge. Modest ability to synthesize.

<18: inadequate exam, deficient or severely inadequate knowledge, lack of bearing as regards the subject matter.

EXAM RESULT: The professor will communicate the mark via email to the student’s Unibo email address 10 days after the exam date. Students will have a week from the date of said communication to accept or refuse their mark.

If students wish to see their paper they may do so during office hours, within a two week frame.

For information on exam dates and signing up, please see the Almaesami program, at the following address: [http://www.unibo.it/Portale/Guida/AlmaEsami.htm].

Teaching tools

Students attending the course are kindly requested to enroll in the following distribution list, so as to receive any urgent notices on changes to the timetable or the venue of lessons:

zelda.franceschi.Antropologia-Culturale

Office hours

See the website of Zelda Alice Franceschi