ANTHROPOLOGY OF IMAGES IN THE EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN

Anthropology and History of the Image in the Eastern Mediterranean is part of the MA degree in Cultural Anthropology.
The course introduces to key issues of image science by focusing on an emblematic topic. Students learn how to "read" images and built space across the ages through selected case-studies, adopting the point of view of cultural studies and historical anthropology. The case studies vary from class to class; students will pay special attention to the Eastern Mediterranean, but will also be expected to go beyond this specific region and seek a comparative and global approach.

1. Knowledge and understanding of:
- theory and methods of Image Studies, with a specific focus a cultural anthropological perspective
- issues and scientific challenges of the study of images in the Eastern Mediterranean

2. Applying knowledge and understanding:
- you can discuss the meaning and function of emblematic images discussed in class from the perspective of Image Science
- given a topic discussed in class, you can design a simple research strategy to address it

3. Making Judgements
- you can formulate your own interpretative hypothesis for the images discussed in class
- you can formulate your own critical opinion of the textbooks and articles read in class

4. Communication
- you learn to cooperate in groups to solve problems
- you exercise your ability to speak appropriately in front of an audience
- you exercise your ability to write a short academic essay

5. Lifelong learning skills
- you can frame images in the perspective of cultural anthropology and image studies
- you can quickly scan a scientific article for essential information
- you can study texts written in a language different than your mother tongue
- you can pitch your own ideas to a stakeholder and/or a wider public

Command of the English language. Interest in visual strategies and affinity to visual communication.

The topic of the course is "Statues Also Die." We will focus on the life and death of monuments. People build monuments as markers of history and repositories of collective memory. Then some monuments are forgotten, others are hated and destroyed, or modified and reborn as something else. In this course, we will investigate the lives of monuments, and why we build them. We will try to understand different paradigms of monumentality, and why certain monuments endure and others fall, or fail. We will use case-studies from the remote past to today. We will use the case-studies and selected writings from historians, theorists, archaeologists, architects and artists to discuss how monuments relate to space, politics, religion, and the public sphere. We will also look into counter-monuments, anti-monuments, and iconoclasm.

This course requires the active participation of each student. Reading assignments will be discussed in class. In order to pass the final exam, students are required to prepare an oral presentation and a short essay on a case study of choice.

Students will refer to the papers and book chapters uploaded on the Moodle platform

The successful student is required to participate proactively in-class activities, including homework and oral presentations (50% of final grade) and to write a short essay on a selected topic (50% of final grade).

Lectures, integrated by research and study activities in class. Participants are required to prepare recommended readings and written assignments before the lecture, to prepare presentations, to engage in class activities, access and interact with materials uploaded on the Moodle platform. The course uses blended learning and includes a week of online activities.

Italian

Students planning to pass the final examinations without attending lectures are required to contact the teacher via email in due advance in order to discuss the possibility of tailored contents and an appropriate timetable.

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