30036 - ANTROPOLOGIA CULTURALE E DELLO SVILUPPO / CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY

Scopo del corso è quello di fornire agli studenti una comprensione adeguata del mondo contemporaneo da una prospettiva culturale. Dopo un’introduzione all’antropologia culturale in cui se ne esaminano le origini, i fondamenti teorici e metodologici e le relazioni con le altre scienze sociali e umane, si tratta delle dinamiche culturali dei processi di globalizzazione. Basandosi su una serie di casi di studio riferiti a diverse aree del pianeta, il corso illustra il ruolo svolto da simboli e oggetti nella definizione delle relazioni sociali (uguaglianza, disuguaglianza, gerarchia) e delle identità culturali in contesti diversi (politici, economici, religiosi, etnici).

• Campi dell’antropologia.
• La ricerca antropologica, i suoi fondamenti teorici e le sue basi metodologiche.
• Il concetto antropologico di cultura.
• Diversità culturale e politiche culturali.
• Comunicazione e significato.
• Potere e risorse.
• La competizione per le risorse economiche e materiali.
• Dono, scambio, merce.
• Modelli di consumo culturale.
• L’arte come sistema culturale.
• Identità, sviluppo e globalizzazione.

• Conoscere in modo adeguato i concetti e i metodi basilari dell'antropologia culturale.
• Comprendere i rapporti culturalmente significativi che si instaurano tra individui o tra comunità.
• Comprendere il collegamento esistente tra lo scambio e l'uso di immagini, di oggetti, di merci, di doni e le forme di relazione sociale improntate a fattori quali uguaglianza, disuguaglianza, gerarchia in rapporto a dinamiche di tipo economico, religioso, interetnico ecc.

• Utilizzare strumenti antropologici adeguati per collocare le conoscenze acquisite nel contesto dell'iter formativo previsto dal corso di laurea, in riferimento soprattutto agli aspetti socio-culturali connessi con gli eventi artistici e culturali e con speciale attenzione per la comunicazione inter-culturale.

• Lezioni frontali
• Analisi casi studio / Incidents guidati (tradizionali, multimediali)

• Lezioni frontali con utilizzo di software e/o tecnologia innovativa.
• Discussioni di teorie e/o casi di studio anche in riferimento ad etnografie condotte in prima persona dal docente.

Il docente attraverso domande accerta la conoscenza  e comprensione dei contenuti del corso (la bibliografia dell'esame comune a  studenti frequentanti e non frequentanti, ma che per questi  ultimi prevede un testo aggiuntivo). Gli studenti frequentanti devono anche dimostrare la conoscenza e comprensione degli specifici argomenti  trattati in aula.

• U. FABIETTI, Elementi di Antropologia culturale, Mondadori Università, Milano, 2010 (tranne parte VI).
• I. BARGNA (a cura di), Mediascapes. Pratiche dell'immagine e antropologia culturale, Mimesis, Milano, 2018 (in stampa).
• I. BARGNA, Gli usi sociali e politici dell’arte contemporanea fra pratiche di partecipazione e di resistenza, Milano, Annuario di Antropologia, 2011.
• I. BARGNA, Collecting Practices in Bandjoun, Cameroon: Thinking about Collecting as a Research Paradigm, African Arts, University of California, Los Angeles, 49,2, 2016.
• I. KOPYTOFF, La biografia culturale degli oggetti: la mercificazione come processo, in E. MORA (a cura di), Gli attrezzi per vivere. Forme della produzione culturale tra industria e vita quotidiana, Vita e Pensiero, Milano 2005, pp. 77-111.
• S. PLATTNER, A Most Ingenious Paradox: The Market for Contemporary Fine Art, American Anthropologist, Vol. 100, No. 2, 1988.

Agli studenti non frequentanti è richiesta la lettura, oltre ai testi di cui sopra, anche di:

• U. HANNERZ, Diversità culturale, Il Mulino, Bologna, 2001.

The course aims to provide the theoretical tools to understand the contemporary world from an anthropological point of view. After an introduction to cultural and social anthropology, (origins, theoretical and methodological foundations, relationships with the other sciences), the course examines the current processes of globalization. Drawing on ethnographic case-studies from different areas, it probes into the dynamic relations between tradition and modernity, between local and global, between centers and margins. From these perspectives the course will discuss the application of the anthropological approach to the study of organizations, of development, of finance and of art.

•  
• Lesson 1: anthropology today.
• Lesson 2: the scientific status of anthropology and the anthropology of science.
• Lesson 3: the ethnographic method.
• Lesson 4: the ethnographic method and the contemporary world.
• Lesson 5: cultural complexity.
• Lesson 6: globalization from an anthropological perspective.
• Lesson 7: globalization and nationalism.
• Lesson 8: identitarian policies.
• Lesson 9: anthropology of organizations and cross-cultural management.
• Lesson 10: anthropology of development and cross-cultural management.
• Lesson 11: anthropology of finance.
• Lesson 12: anthropology of art.
•  

After successful completion of this course students are able to:

• Understand the contemporary world from an anthropological perspective.
• Analyze the current processes of globalization
• Identify the dynamic relations between tradition and modernity, between local and global, between centers and margins.
• Comprehend the cultural perspective to the study of organizations, of development, of finance and of art.

After successful completion of this course students are able to:

• Apply the conceptual tools presented during the course to the analysis of the contemporary world and of the processes of globalization.
• Use the cultural approach to study organizations, development processes, the world of finance and of art.
• Interact and communicate effectively in intercultural contexts.

• Face-to-face lectures
• Guest speaker's talks (in class or in distance)
• Case studies /Incidents (traditional, online)

• Lectures are structured according to the standard format: they include, in addition to face-to-face lectures, case-studies discussions and interactions with guest speakers who have actively contributed to the scientific literature on a specific topic. The lectures analyze the material contained in the required readings, which the students should read before classes, in order  to enhance in-class discussions and students’ participation.
• Attendance: some of the assigned readings feature a high degree of theoretical sophistication. Therefore, students’ attendance is strongly recommended. Although no formal prerequisites are required, the lectures provide students the  necessary background to understand the contents of the teaching materials.

For attending and non-attending students: oral exam (100% of the finale grade) based on open questions. It aims to assess the student's skills to critically elaborate the contents proposed by the course, discussed in class and analyzed by the required readings, and to verify the ability to analyze some implications related to them through their application to case-studies.

The required readings for this course are scientific articles and book chapters that represent some of the key contributions to the different topics analyzed. All the reading materials are provided by the instructor and are available on Bboard. This is the complete list of the required readings: 

• Lesson 1. anthropology today:
  • E.A. SHULTZ, R.H. LAVENDA, Cultural Anthropology, Oxford University Press, 2014 (chapter 1, Wat is the Anthropological perspective?; chapter 4 How has Anthropological Thinking about Cultural Diversity Changed over Time?).
• Lesson 2. the scientific status of anthropology and the anthropology of science:
  • E.A. SHULTZ, R.H. LAVENDA, Cultural Anthropology, Oxford University Press, 2014 (chapter 3 What is Fieldwork?).
  • R. MALIGHETTI, The plural unification of sciences: the epistemological contributions of a perpetually dissatisfied discipline, in International Journal of Anthropology and Ethnology, 2019, 3:1, https://doi.org/10.1186/s41257-019-0016-8
• Lesson 3. the ethnographic method:
  • J. URRY, A history of field method, in R.F. ELLEN (a cura di), Ethnographic Research: A Guide to General Conduct, Academic Press, San Diego, 1984, pp. 35-61.
• Lesson 4. the ethnographic method  and the contemporary world:
  • C. GEERTZ, Thick Description: Toward an Interpretive Theory of Culture, in  C. GEERTZ, The Interpretation of Culture, Basic Books, New York, 1973, pp. 3-30.
  • G. MARCUS, Ethnography in/of the World System: The Emergence of Multi-Sited Ethnography Annual Review of Anthropology, 1995, Vol. 24. pp. 95-117.
• Lesson 5. cultural complexity:
  • E.A. SHULTZ, R.H. LAVENDA, Cultural Anthropology, Oxford University Press, 2014 (chapter 2 Why Is the Concept of Culture Important?).
  • U. HANNERZ, The Nature of Culture Today, in U. HANNERZ, Cultural Complexity. Studies in the  Social Organization of Meaning, Columbia University Press, New York, 1992, pp. 1-40.
• Lesson 6. globalization from an anthropological perspective:
  • E.A. SHULTZ, R.H. LAVENDA, Cultural Anthropology, Oxford University Press, 2014 (chapter 14 What Can Anthropology Tell Us about Globalization?).
  • A. APPADURAI, Introduction: Here and Now, in A. APPADURAI, Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization, University of Minnesota Press, 1996, Minneapolis London, pp. 1-26.
• Lesson 7. globalization and nationalism:
  • B. ANDERSON, Introduction, in B. ANDERSON, Imagined Communities. Reflections on the Origins and Spread of Nationalism, London, 1983, verso pp.1-9. 
• Lesson 8. identitarian policies:
  • A. APPADURAI, Dead Certainty. Ethnic Violence in the Era of Globalization, Pubblic Culture, 1998, v. 10 n.2, pp. 225-247.
  • R. MALIGHETTI, Identitarian Policies in the Quilombo Frechal: Live Histories in a Brazilian Community of Slave Descendants, Outlines, 2010, Critical Practice Studies, n° 2, pp. 97-112.
• Lesson 9. anthropology of organizations and cross-cultural management:
  • M.L. BABA, Anthropology and business: influence and interests, Journal of Business Anthropology, 1(1): 20-71.
• Lesson 10.  anthropology of development and cross-cultural management:
  • A. ARCE, N. LONG, Reconfiguring modernity and development from an anthropological perspective, in A. ARCE, N. LONG, Anthropology, development and modernity, London, Routledge, 2000, pp. 1-31.
  • D. LEWIS, D. MOSSE, Encountering Order and Disjuncture: Contemporary Anthropological Perspectives on the Organization of Development, Oxford Development Studies, 2006, Vol. 34, No. 1, March 2006, pp. 1-13.
• Lesson 11. anthropology of finance:
  • A. APPADURAI, The Logic of Promissory Finance, in A. APPADURAI, Banking on Words. The Failure of Language in the Age of Derivative Finance, Chicago, Chicago University Press, 2016, pp.1-14; 149-156  (Chapter one: The logic of promissory finance pp. 51-14; Chapter nine: The end of the contractual promise pp. 149-156).
• Lesson 12. anthropology of art:
  • E.A. SHULTZ, R.H. LAVENDA, Cultural Anthropology, Oxford University Press, 2014  (chapter 6, How Do We Make Meaning?).
  • C. GEERTZ, Art as a cultural system, in C. GEERTZ, Local Knowledge, Basic Books, New York, 1983, pp. 94-120.
  • J. CLIFFORD, On Collecting Art and Culture, in J. CLIFFORD, The Predicament of Culture: Twentieth-Century Ethnography, Literature, and Art, Harvard University Press, Cambridge MA, 1988, pp. 215-251.

Non-attending students should add to the required readings one of the following texts:

• U. HANNERZ, Cultural Complexity, New York, Columbia University Press, 1992.
• A. APPADURAI, Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization, University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis London, 1996.
• M. HERZFELD, Cultural Intimacy: Social Poetics in the Nation-State, Routledge, New York, 1997.