CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY

The course is compulsory for the MA in ACEL and optional for the MA courses in Philosophical sciences, History from the Middle Ages to Present. History of arts and conservation of artistic heritage.
The course has the objective to introduce students to the debates on kinship in Cultural Anthropology. The study of kinship has been at the centre of the development of Cultural Anthropology and it would be possible to say that it continues fo characterize the most significant theoretical and methodological turns of the discipline. The course proposes a critical reading of the main approaches to the study of kinship from the evolutionary period to today. The subjects include: kinship terminology in social evolutionism; kinship as a social and political organizing principle in structural functionalism; the elementary forms of kinship in levistrauassian structuralism; the post structuralist critique by Pierre Bourdieu; the symbolic approach critique by David Schneider; kinship understood within the broader notion of 'relatedness' by Janet Carsten. This notion shifts attention to the construction of kinship (performing kinship) through daily practices. What is kinship? In what ways anthropologist have explained the articulation between natural and social aspects of kinship? What does it mean to be related? What role has conviviality, co-residence and sharing of food, being close or distant in kinship relationships? The recent perspective focusing on the notion of relatedness emerges from the premise that natural/biological aspects are interdependent on the social construction of kin relations. In relation to specific ethnographic case studies, the course illustrates the efficacy of relationality in terms of "intersubjective belonging" (Stasch 2007:128, Sahlins 2011).

The course aims to provide students with knowledge and tools:
- to learn the main themes and debates in the study of kinship in Cultural Anthropology
- to acquire the ability to identify le limits of theoretical approaches in the light of more recent critiques
- to acquire an ability to synthesize ideas and articulate complex theoretical approaches

Attending class and participation in the course training activities (face-to-face lectures, class presentation, written exam essay) together with individual preparation of the compulsory readings will allow students to:
1. Knowledge an comprehension
- to know main themes and debates in the Anthropology of kinship
- to know theoretical approaches applied to contemporary realities (challenges of new reproduction technologies)
. to know main theoretical approaches characterizing the history . of anthropological thought
2. Ability to apply knowledge and comprehension
- to interpret a case study in the specific theoretical frameworks
- to apply theoretical notions to specific case studies from a comparative perspective
3. capacity for evaluation
- be able to formulate and express complex ideas comparing and contrasting different theoretical and methodological perspectives
- to develop a critical approach to the literature (identify contributes and limits)
4. Communicative abilites
- To be able to summarize and present complex ideas orally (class presentations) and in writing (final exam essay)
- to develop ability for synthesis and knowledge of technical language (expressions and terminology)
5. Learning capacity
- Specialized knowledge in structuring and writing a scientific essay
- capacity to develop research autonomy in the interpretation of data

Knowledge of anthropological theories and methodology acquired during introductory Anthropology courses, in particular knowledge of basic notions and themes in postcolonial studies from an anthropological perspective.
Students who do not have any knowledge in Cultural Anthropology are advised to read and prepare the following introduction to this field of studies: Mellino, M. 2005 La critica postcoloniale. Decolonizzazione, capitalismo e cosmopolitanismo nei postcolonial studies, Meltemi, Roma.

EXAM PROGRAM ATTENDING STUDENTS
1) Materiali di studio indicati in ordine di lettura di seguito e disponibili in formato pdf in MOODLE
2) TWO ARTICLES from the list " Testi facoltativi o letture integrative


EXAM PROGRAM NON ATTENDING STUDENTS

1) Compulsory readings indicated in reading order in "Compulsory readings" below, and available in pdf from MOODLE
2) ONE MONOGRAPH from the list "Testi facoltativi o letture integrative"
NOTA BENE: Students who have no anthropological background are advised to choose the monograph by Mellino, M. 2005 La critica postcoloniale. Decolonizzazione, capitalismo e cosmopolitanismo nei postcolonial studies, Meltemi, Roma.

COMPULSORY READINGS:
Mellino, M. 2005 La teoria postcoloniale come ricerca culturale (cap II), in La critica postcoloniale. Decolonizzazione, capitalismo e cosmopolitanismo nei postcolonial studies, Meltemi, Roma, pp. 113-150.
Clifford, J. 1999 Culture in viaggio (cap I), in Strade. Viaggio e traduzione alla fine del secolo XIX, Bollati e Boringhieri, Torino, pp.25-53.
Dirks, N. 2002 Le inquietudini del postcolonialismo. Storia, antropologia e critica postcoloniale, in Colonialismo, Annuario di Antropologia (a cura di U. Fabietti), 2, 2, Meltemi, Roma, pp. 16-46.
Fabietti, U. Culture e riconoscimento, in Lo spazio sociale della ragione. Da Hegel in avanti, (a cura di) Ruggiu, L. e I. Testa, in stampa (manoscritto cortesia del Prof. Fabietti)
Leiris, M. 2005 [1951] L’etnografo di fronte al colonialismo, in L’occhio dell’etnografo, razza e civiltà e altri scritti 1929-1968, Bollati Boringhieri, Torino, pp. 114-130.
Tamisari, F. 2008 I limiti del riconoscimento delle popolazioni indigene australiane. La politica del sentimento e la costruzione della volontà nazionale australiana, in Le identita' culturali nei nuovi strumenti UNESCO: un approccio nuovo alla costruzione della pace, a cura di L. Zagato, CEDAM, Padova, pp- 219-245
De Certeau, M. 2001 Culture popolari (cap II) e Modi d’uso: arti e tattiche (cap III), in L’invenzione del quotidiano, Edizioni Lavoro, Roma, pp. 45-79.
Comaroff, J. e J. Comaroff 1992 Bodily Reform as Historical Practice, in Ethnography and the Historical Imagination, Westview Press, Boulder, pp. 69-91.
Barker, J. 2003 Christian Bodies: Dialectic of Sickness and Salvation Among the Maisin of Papua New Guinea, in The Journal of Religious History, 27,3:271-292
Thomas, N. 1999 Beginnings and Hierarchies (cap I): From Traditional to Contemporary (cap VI), in Possessions. Indigenous Art/colonial Culture, Thames and Hudson, London, pp. 7-49 e 197-223.
Gravanzo, V. 2002 Artisti o maghi, in Avatar. Dislocazioni tra antropologia e comunicazione, 3, Meltemi, Roma, pp. 18-26.
Langton, M. 2003 Aboriginal Art and Film. The Politics of Representation, in Blacklines. Contemporary Critical Writing, (a cura di) M. Grossman, pp. 109-124.
Tamisari, F. 2006 La forza della performance, L’arte della contro-appropriazione degli indigeni australiani, in La negoziazione delle appartenenze. Arte, identità e proprietà culturale nel terzo e quarto mondo, (a cura di) M. Ciminelli, Milano, pp. 115-129.
Di Cori, P. 2002 Margini della città. Lo spazio urbano decentrato di Michel de Certeau e di Diamela Eltit, in Colonialismo, Annuario di Antropologia (a cura di U. Fabietti), 2,2, Meltemi, Roma, pp.138-161.

Attwood, B. Telling the Truth About Aboriginal History, Allen and Unwin, Crows NSW 2005.
Cuturi, F. (a cura di) In nome di dio. L’impresa missionaria di fronte all’alterità. Meltemi, Roma 2004.
De Certeau, M. L’invenzione del quotidiano, Edizioni Lavoro, Roma 2001.
Fabietti, U. L'identità etnica. Storia di un concetto equivoco, 2005 [1995]
* Fabietti. U. (a cura di) 2002 Il colonialismo, Annuario di antropologia, Meltemi, Roma 2002
Hage, G. White Nation. Fantasies of White Supremacy in a Multicultural Society, Pluto Press, Sydney 1988
Hannerz, U. La diversità culturale, Il Mulino, Bologna 2001 [1996]
Leiris, M L’occhio dell’etnografo, razza e civiltà e altri scritti 1929-1968, Bollati Boringhieri, Torino 2005 [1951]
Melillo, M. La critica postcoloniale. Decolonizzazione, capitalismo e cosmopolitanismo nei postcolonial studies, Meltemi, Roma 2005.
Povinelli, E. The Cunning of Recognition. Indigenous Alterities and the Making of Australian Multiculturalism, Due University Press 2002
* Stocking, G. Colonial Situations. Essays on the Contextualisation of Ethnographic Knowledge, University of Wisconsin Press, Madison 1991
NB I riferimenti con asterisco sono raccolte di saggi

Una lista di riferimenti bibliografici sarà inclusa nella dispensa.

Students are encouraged to carry out independent research (without fieldwork component) on theoretical and ethnographic questions dealt with in the course. Learning will be tested and evaluated as follows:
1) oral presentation in class: each student must present an article or book chapter choosing from the compulsory readings indicated in the exam program in collaboration with other students. Students are asked to contextualize the readings within specific theoretical approaches, present authors and formulate questions in order to stimulate class discussion. The oral presentation could serve to propose and get approved the argument of the final exam essay. Non attending students must obtain approval of the final essay topic from the lecturer.
2) Written essay (22.000 characters including spaces and references for attending students and 25.000 characters including spaces and references for non attending students) to be submitted to the lecturer in printed hard copy and in pdf format at least 15 days before the exam date.
3) Oral exam. Each student will receive comments on the written essay and on how to improve his/her own work (content and form). Each student will be asked a few questions on the exam material prepared.
4) The final vote is composed as follows:
70% written essay
20% oral exam
10% oral presentation in class

The course consists in face-to-face lectures with ppt aid aimed at presenting the main theoretical and methodological issues in this field of study and introduce the modalities and schedule of completion and submission of learning tasks (class presentation, written essay).
1. Class presentation. Each student must present one of the compulsory articles or book chapters in collaboration with other students. At the end of the presentation , each student must generate a discussion and answer colleague's questions
2. the written final essay must be submitted (printed hard copy and pdf format) 15 days before the exam date. The essay must present an issue dealt with in the course and discuss it in relation to the compulsory and the further readings indicated in "Testi facoltativi o letture integrative". The isse identified int he introduction must be demonstrated with ethnographic examples and theoretical approaches discussed during the course and in the course readings. The essay is not a simple summary of the readings but an opportunity to reflect on specific approaches in order to develop one own critical capacity. The written essay (22.000 characters including spaces and references for attending students and 25.000 characters including spaces and references for non attending students) must be printed (Times New Roman 12), with a 1,5 line spacing and with 2 cm margin. All ideas quoted directly or indirectly in the course and further readings (monographs, articles, book chapters) must be attributed to the author indicating the author's name, publication date and page number. The author-date method is preferred but must be completed by a list of references at the end of the text. Students are invited to use editorial guidelines of a national or international anthropological journal.

Italian

Class attendance is not compulsory but it is highly recommended. Both attending and non attending students must agree the essay topic with the lecturer. The written essay must be submitted close to the submission date. Students who do not submit the written essay (in hard copy and in pdf format) to the lecturer within the date and time indicated cannot sustain the exam and must sustain at the next scheduled exam session. All students are invited to regularly check the lecturer's notices in MOODLE and on her web page.

written and oral