Teaching code

4S010529

Teacher

Anna Maria Paini

Coordinator

Anna Maria Paini

Credits

6

Also offered in courses:

• Cultural Anthropology of the course Master’s degree in Historical Studies (interuniversity)

Language

Italian

Scientific Disciplinary Sector (SSD)

M-DEA/01 - DEMOLOGY, ETHNOLOGY AND ANTHROPOLOGY

Period

CuCi 2 A dal Feb 17, 2025 al Mar 29, 2025.

Courses Single

Authorized

Lessons timetable Moodle Seminars 0

Learning objectives

The approval of the UNESCO Convention on intangible cultural heritage (2003) has led to a broadening of the understanding of cultural heritage. The primary objective of the course is to bring an anthropological perspective to aspects of the material and intangible heritage of communities and their contexts. Through various teaching methods (lectures, discussions, meetings with experts), that favor the seminar-type approach, the course aims to bring students to a critical understanding of some of the themes and concepts of the discipline so as to approach with a relativistic gaze the different practices and productions of human societies and reflect on how historically the ‘others’ were built and narrated (first part) and how these representations have influenced – and continue to do so – the perception of their material and intangible heritage inside and outside museums (monographic part). Students are expected to actively participate in class discussions and to engage in a personal research project. At the end of the course the student is expected to: 1. have acquired knowledge of the categories and language used in anthropology to investigate patrimonial processes related to tangible and intangible assets; 2. be capable of making use of the acquired tools to critically approach such processes.

Prerequisites and basic notions

some knowledge of key concepts of cultural Anthropology

Program

The course is divided into two parts. Initially, some theoretical and methodological themes of the discipline will be addressed and then the status of ethnographic objects, outside and inside the museum institution, will be addressed. First part: belongings, borders, gaze, relativism and universalism, indigenous ontologies, fieldwork and its ethical implications. Second part: the social and cultural biography of objects. People-things relationships. The circularity of objects, the creation of social bonds. How ethnographic collections were formed in European museums. The change of gaze and posture. The decolonial practices underway in some European museum institutions. Whose memories and stories are on display in contemporary museums? What is the point of view through which they are told? How can the museum move in a cross-cultural perspective? The requests for restitution made by groups demanding the return home of objects stolen from their ancestors.
Course Readings.
First Part:
a) Allovio, Stefano, Ciabarri, Luca, Mangiameli, Gaetano, a cura, (2024) Antropologia culturale. I temi fondamentali. Raffaello Cortina Editore, Milano
Second Part:
b) Lattanzi, Vito (2021) Musei e antropologia. Storia, esperienze, prospettive. Carocci, Roma.
c) Kopytoff, Igor (1986) The cultural biography of things. Commodization as process. In Appadurai, Arjun (ed) The social life of things. Commodities in cultural perspective. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Disponibile anche nella versione italiana 2005 [1986] La biografia culturale degli oggetti: la mercificazione come processo. In E. Mora (a cura) Gli attrezzi per vivere. Forme della produzione cultuale tra industria e vita quotidiana. Vita e Pensiero, Milano, pp. 77-111.

Bibliography

Didactic methods

Teaching methods:
a) lectures
b) discussions
c) meetings with experts
d) at least one field trip
In-presence attendance is strongly recommended.

Learning assessment procedures

Final oral exam.
For those attending classes: class participation, in-class presentation and final report.
For those NOT attending classes: Final oral exam. The student is asked questions about the course readings and about the central issues and thematic aspects addressed. The student should bring with her/him the texts which s/he has studied.

Evaluation criteria

For those attending classes: class participation, in-class presentation and final paper. More specific details will be given at the beginning of the course.
For those not attending classes: final oral exam on the whole program. The student is asked questions about the course readings and about the main thematic issues they addressed. The knowledge acquired will be verified and the competence achieved will be evaluated.
The oral exam - through some questions on the scheduled texts and on the thematic aspects covered in them - aims to verify:
- depth and breadth of the knowledge acquired;
-language skills;
-critical and argumentative ability
Erasmus and international students may take the final oral exam in English or French. If interested, they need to discuss the choice of (eventually) new reading materials with me during Office hours.

Criteria for the composition of the final grade

The final evaluation is based on 30/30.
For those attending classes and choosing to write the final paper: paper (max 26/30) + oral discussion (max 4/30). Otherwise oral exam (max 30/30).

Exam language

Italiana

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