The course analyzes anthropological reflection by reviewing the main currents of thought that, in history, have helped to redesign the theoretical-methodological paradigms through which to investigate the different human realities in cultural terms. After a brief introduction to cultural anthropology as a "discourse on otherness", the themes of multiplicity (the difference and the hierarchy) will be illustrated, and then move on to the fundamental themes. First of all, the methodological, hermeneutical and deontological specificities of anthropological research (ethnographic research, the terrain, methodologies of research in transformation, debates in progress). Then, economic systems (subsistence, consumption patterns, exchange systems, globalization and transformation of economic systems); the reproduction and development of human beings (reproductive dynamics, culture and fertility, personality and life cycle); sickness, sickness and care (ethnomedicine, theoretical approaches, globalization and change); kinship and family life (cultural construction of kinship, family groups and domestic life, transformation of kinship systems); social groups and stratifications; political and legal systems (political organization and leadership, order and conflict in human societies, systems transformations); communication (language, diversity and inequality); religion (comparative perspective, global religions and local variations, religious transformations); the expressive culture (art, play, myth, rituals, traditions, free time, expressive culture and cultural change); flows and migrations (forms of movement, new immigrants, policies and projects on migration in the globalized world); culture and development (definitions and strategies, development, indigenous peoples and women, urgent intercultural problems); the anthropological and educational value of decentralization as a path to overcome ethnocentrism; the processes of “patrimonialization”, the cult of heritage and the emphasis on rituals and traditions related to the past; the concept of “cultural heritage” and its political-institutional framework; the new regulatory and operational frameworks that indicate to the so-called "heritage communities” the opportunity to realize, with qualified operators, a path of participatory analysis of the traditions and their political meanings, with a view to joint reflection and a more responsible communication of cultural identity.

Educational goals

To know the main themes and conceptual apparatuses that base anthropological reflection; to acquire skills aimed at encouraging communication between different socio-cultural realities in a perspective of relationship, mediation and identification of shared values. To analyze pluralisms and expressive dynamics of local / global level; to observe the expressive activities of a context, exposing its political, relational and social functions; to think in a free way from preconceptions and clichés, for the benefit of professional situations in the field of cultural services, arts and education; to reflect on the expressive activities of a cultural context, exposing its political, relational and social functions.

Contents

The course analyzes anthropological reflection by reviewing the main currents of thought that, in history, have helped to redesign the theoretical-methodological paradigms through which to investigate the different human realities in cultural terms. After a brief introduction to cultural anthropology as a "discourse on otherness", the themes of multiplicity (the difference and the hierarchy) will be illustrated, and then move on to the fundamental themes. First of all, the methodological, hermeneutical and deontological specificities of anthropological research (ethnographic research, the terrain, methodologies of research in transformation, debates in progress). Then, economic systems (subsistence, consumption patterns, exchange systems, globalization and transformation of economic systems); the reproduction and development of human beings (reproductive dynamics, culture and fertility, personality and life cycle); sickness, sickness and care (ethnomedicine, theoretical approaches, globalization and change); kinship and family life (cultural construction of kinship, family groups and domestic life, transformation of kinship systems); social groups and stratifications; political and legal systems (political organization and leadership, order and conflict in human societies, systems transformations); communication (language, diversity and inequality); religion (comparative perspective, global religions and local variations, religious transformations); the expressive culture (art, play, myth, rituals, traditions, free time, expressive culture and cultural change); flows and migrations (forms of movement, new immigrants, policies and projects on migration in the globalized world); culture and development (definitions and strategies, development, indigenous peoples and women, urgent intercultural problems); the anthropological and educational value of decentralization as a path to overcome ethnocentrism; the processes of “patrimonialization”, the cult of heritage and the emphasis on rituals and traditions related to the past; the concept of “cultural heritage” and its political-institutional framework; the new regulatory and operational frameworks that indicate to the so-called "heritage communities” the opportunity to realize, with qualified operators, a path of participatory analysis of the traditions and their political meanings, with a view to joint reflection and a more responsible communication of cultural identity.


Bibliographic material

Barbara D. Miller, Antropologia culturale, a cura di Alessandra Broccolini, Milano, Pearson, 2019.

Adriano Favole, Vie di fuga. Otto passi per uscire dalla propria cultura, Utet 2018.

Final verification

Oral and written exam with marks out of 30, aimed at verifying the ability to expose the topics presented during the course with clarity and autonomy of judgment.