METHODOLOGIES OF ANTHROPOLOGICAL RESEARCH

The optional course inserts itself in the MA in ACEL and aims at introducing students to methods and theories of advanced ethnographic research applied to the tourist context. The course offers students the opportunity of gathering and interpret data through a brief fieldwork exercise to be presented in class and elaborated in the final essay together with the writing of the field diary. During the face-to-face lectures the course presents the main methods to gather data with particular attention to different styles of writing (scratch notes, extended notes, field diary, netnography, informal conversations, participant observation). Further, the course starts from a brief history of tourism in order to contextualize the anthropological approaches developed from the mid-Seventies up to today and focus on the main theoretical notions in this field of study (the tourist gaze and experience, the tourist journey as structure and the experience, the research of authenticity, the ambiguity of hospitality).
The course offers students the theoretical and ethnographic tools:
1. to learn the main methods in the gathering of ethnographic data (participant observation, field notes writing, formal and informal conversations, anthropologist's positioning)
2. to learn the main themes and debates in the Anthropology of tourism (representation, authenticity, roles and performances on the tourist scene)

Students' attendance and participation to the four teaching activities proposed in this course (face-to-face lectures, field exercise, class presentations, final essay) together with the preparation of the compulsory material selected will allow students to:
1. Knowledge and comprehension
- to learn methods of data gathering at the basis of anthropological research
- to learn theoretical approaches in the Anthropology of tourism
2. Capacity of apply knowledge and comprehension
- to learn how to prepare a field research (identification of a general argument, selection of a case of study, formulating research questions)
_ to learn how to use data collecting methods in fieldwork research
3. Capability of evaluation
- to learn how to formulate the research argument
- to contextualize and to interpret ethnographic data in relation to the literature
- to develop a critical approach to the literature
4. Communicative abilites
- to learn how to present the research topic orally (class presentation) and in written form (final exam essay)
- to develop abilities in synthesizing ideas and acquiring specialized language (terminology and formal expression)
5. Leaning capacity
- to acquire specialized knowledge in ethnographic data collecting
- acquiring the capacity to reflect critically on one's own role as researcher and analyst
- to be autonomous in the carrying out of anthropological research

Knowledge of basic theories and methodology of Cultural or Social Anthropology acquired through undergraduate anthropological courses. Students who do not have a previous preparation in Cultural Anthropology are invited to read the following introductory text:

The exam program deals with the main course providing students with a selection of articles on ethnographic method collection (participant observation, writing of fieldnotes and field diary, formal and informal conversations, the anthropologist's positioning) and on key question in the Anthropology of tourism (search and negotiation of authenticity, tourist experience and perforamance)

EXAM PROGRAM FOR ATTENDING STUDENTS
Articles and book chapters are available in pdf format in MOODLE

1. Bruner E. M. 2005 Introduction. Travel stories told and retold, Culture on tour. Ethnographies of Travel, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London, pp. 1-29.
2. MacCannell D. 1979 [1989] La messa in scena dell’autenticità, Il turista. Una nuova teoria della classe agiata, Torino, UTET, pp. 97-114.
3. Smith S. 2018 Instagram abroad: performance, consumption and colonial narrative in tourism, Postcolonial Studies, 21,2:172-191
4. Tamisari F. 2015 Il secondo sguardo. Oltre le aspettative di ospiti e di visitatori nell'incontro turistico. in La Ricerca Folklorica vol. 70, pp. 219 234.
5. Clifford J. Notes on fieldnotes, Fieldnotes, The makings of Anthropology (a cura di) R. Sanjek, Cornell University, pp. 47-70.
6. Olivier de Sardan, J. 2009 La politica del campo. Sulla produzione di dati in antropologia, Vivere l’etnografia, (a cura di) F. Cappelletto, SEID, pp. 27-63.
7. Simmel, G. 2003 [1909] Lo straniero, in Georg Simmel, Ventura e sventura. Antologia degli scritti sociologici, Bollati Boringhieri, pp. 467-474.
8. Wu, M. & P.L. Pearce 2014 Appraising netnography: towards insights about new markets in the digital tourist era, Current Issues in Tourism, 17:5, 463-474.

EXAM PROGRAM FOR NON ATTENDING STUDENTS
Articles and book chapters are available in pdf format in MOODLE (except for the monograph by Aime)

1. Bruner E. M. 2005 Introduction. Travel stories told and retold, Culture on tour. Ethnographies of Travel, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London, pp. 1-29.
2. MacCannell D. 1979 [1989] La messa in scena dell’autenticità, Il turista. Una nuova teoria della classe agiata, Torino, UTET, pp. 97-114.
3. Smith S. 2018 Instagram abroad: performance, consumption and colonial narrative in tourism, Postcolonial Studies, 21,2:172-191
4. Tamisari F. 2015 Il secondo sguardo. Oltre le aspettative di ospiti e di visitatori nell'incontro turistico. in La Ricerca Folklorica vol. 70, pp. 219 234.
5. Clifford J. Notes on fieldnotes, Fieldnotes, The makings of Anthropology (a cura di) R. Sanjek, Cornell University, pp. 47-70.
6. Olivier de Sardan, J. 2009 La politica del campo. Sulla produzione di dati in antropologia, Vivere l’etnografia, (a cura di) F. Cappelletto, SEID, pp. 27-63.
7. Simmel, G. 2003 [1909] Lo straniero, in Georg Simmel, Ventura e sventura. Antologia degli scritti sociologici, Bollati Boringhieri, pp. 467-474.
8. Wu, M. & P.L. Pearce 2014 Appraising netnography: towards insights about new markets in the digital tourist era, Current Issues in Tourism, 17:5, 463-474.

For students who do not have a formation in Cultural Anthropology, it is advised to read: F. Cappelletto (eds.) 2009 Vivere l'etnografia. SEID

Compulsory readings: please see section "contenuti"

Optional and further readings:

Adler, J. 1989a Origins of sightseeing, Annals of Tourism Research, 16, pp:7-29.
Adler, J 1989b Travel as performed art, American Journal of Sociology, 94, pp. 1366-91.
Agar, H.M. 1980. The Professional stranger. An informal introduction to ethnography, Orlando: Academic Press Inc.
Aime, M. 2007 (a cura di) Antropologia del turismo, La Ricerca Folklorica n. 56.
Amit, V. 2000. Constructing the field. Ethnographic fieldwork in the contemporary World. London: Routledge.
Bruner, E. M. 2005 Culture on tour. Ethnographies of travel, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London.
Chambers, E. 2000 Native Tours, The Anthropology of travel and tourism, Illinois, Waveland Press, Prospect Heights.
Cipollari, C. 2009 Scenari turistici. Luoghi, spazi, persone, CISU, Roma
Clifford, J. 1983. On Ethnographic self-fashioning: Conrad and Malinowski, Reconstructing Individualism, Stanford, California: Standford University Press.
Cohen, E. 1988 Authenticity and commoditization in Tourism, Annals of Tourism Research 15, pp371-386.
Cohen, E. (1979) A phenomenology of tourist Experiences, Sociology 13:179-201.
Edensor, T. 2001 Performing tourism, Staging tourism. Reproducing tourist space and practice, Tourist Studies, 1, pp. 59-81.
Edensor, T. 2000 Staging tourism: Tourists as performers, Annals of Tourism Research 27, 2: 322-344.
Fabietti, U. 2001 [1998] Etnografia e culture. Antropologi, informatori e politiche dell’identità. Carocci.
Geertz, C. 1973a. Thick description: Towards and interpretative theory of Culture, The interpretation of cultures, New York: Basic Books.
Jackson, M. 1996. Things as they are. New directions in phenomenological anthropology, (a cura di) M. Jackson, Bloomington: Indiana University Press, pp. 1-50.
Leed, E. J.2007 La mente del viaggiatore. Dall'Odissea al turismo globale, Il Mulino.
MacCannell, D. 1979 [1989] Il turista. Una nuova teoria della classe agiata, Torino, UTET
MacCannell, D. Staged authenticity: Arrangements of social space in tourist settings, The American Journal of Sociology, 79, 3:589-603.
Malinowski, B. 1965 (1935) Confessions of ignorance and failures (subsections 1, 2 & 3), Coral Gardens and their magic, Volume I. London: George Allen and Unwin, pp. 452-462
Malinowski, B. 2004 [1922] Oggetto, metodo e fine della ricerca, Argonauti del Pacifico occidentale. Riti magici e vita quotidiana nella società primitiva, (a cura di) G. Scoditti, Bollati Boringhieri, pp.9-34.
Merleau-Ponty, M. 1964. From Mauss to Claude Lévi –Strauss. In Signs. Trans. of R. C. McLeary Evanston, Illinois: Northwestern University Press, pp. 114125.
Pennaccini, C. 2010 (a cura di) La ricerca sul campo in antropologia. Oggetti e metodi. Carocci Editore.
Rosaldo, R. 2001 [1989] Cultura e Verità. Rifare l’analisi sociale, Meltemi.
Simonicca, A., 1997 Antropologia del turismo. Strategie di ricerca e contesti etnografici, Roma, Carocci.
Smith, V. L. (a cura di) 1989 [1978] Hosts and guests. The anthropology of tourism, The University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia.
Stoller, P. 1989. The taste of ethnographic things. The senses in anthropology. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Tamisari, F. 2007 La logica del sentire nella ricerca sul campo. Verso una fenomenologia dell’incontro antropologico, Molimo 2:139-162.
Tonaner, A. F. Tamisari e E. Venbrux (a cura di) 2010, Indigenous Tourism, Performance, and Cross-Cultural Understanding in the Pacific, numero monografico 61, La Ricerca Folklorica.
Urry, J. 1995a Lo sguardo del turista. Il tempo libero e il viaggio nelle società contemporanee, Roma, SEA

Each students must propose, carry out and present in class a research project consisting in the documentation of an aspect of the tourist encounter in Venice. The exercise's aim is to reflect on the theoretical and methodological issues raised by the authors indicated in the course program. The final exam consists in the writing up and submission of a written essay (3.000wds for attending students and 3.500wds for non attending students) and oral exam. The final mark is composed by:
Evaluation criteria
70% written essay (including fiednotes e field diary)
20% oral exam
10% project presentation in class (oral and written)

Attendance to lectures is highly recommended especially in order to frame the fieldwork exercise that is an integral part of the exam. Non attending students should contact the lecturer in order to propose and get approved the fieldwork exercise subject and the structuring of the written essay.

The course consists in a series of face-to-face lectures with the use of powerpoint aimed at presenting the course's theoretical and methodological key issues and introduce the modalities and schedule for the completion and submission of other learning activities.
1. Oral and written presentation of the case study in the context of tourism in Venice: what one wants to study, the rationale for one's choice, and the methods one intends to use
2. Oral presentation of the exercised carried out. The presentation must include the typology of data collected, methods used and provide, if possible, the theoretical framework to adopt for the interpretation of the data. Each student's presentation will be followed by a brief discussion in which the lecturer and other students will have the opportunity to discuss raised methodological and theoretical issues and recieve comments and advice on how to elaborate and structure the fieldwork project in a written essay.
3. Submission of written essay. The final essay must be submitted (in hard copy and pdf format) 15 days before the examination date. Every student must write an essay (3.000wds for attending students and 3.500wds for non attending students) in which the data collected during the fieldwork exercise are presented and interpreted. Students must discuss the data in relation to the theoretical and methodological issues dealt with in the lectures and in the course readings.
4. During the fieldwork exercise students must write a filed diary in order to annotate data. Students must also write down their own comments and observations on data analysis and interpretation as well as on all aspects of the ethnographic experience. The field diary must be submitted at the oral exam.

Italian

Both attending and non attending students must obtain the lecturer's approval for the field exercise, presentation in class and final essay they intend to carry out. Non attending students must carry out a brief field exercise as part of the course. Non attending students must prepare the compulsory readings before proposing a case study to the lecturer. Detailed information on all learning activities to be carried together with submission date ill be uploaded in the course folder in MOODLE.

written and oral