Learning outcomes

To provide a basic introductory knowledge of general anthropology in terms of content, the main debates in the course of the history of the discipline, the methods and ethical questions.

Program

As an introduction to anthropological knowledge, several topics, from the most classic (like the concept of culture, ritual, cosmology, etc.) to those most currently under debate (such as multi-culturalism, globalisation, neo-racism, etc.) will be selected and discussed in detail. Part of the course will deal with a more detailed analysis of the anthropology of religious phenomena comparing classic studies to more recent research.

Texts
E. A. Schultz and R. H. Lavenda, Antropologia culturale, Zanichelli, Bologna, 2010 (only the second Italian edition).

P. Williams, Il miracolo e la necessità. Lo sviluppo del movimento pentecostale fra gli zingari in Francia, CISU, Rome, 2012.

C. Geertz, Islam. Lo sviluppo religioso in Marocco e Indonesia, Cortina, Milano, 2008.

B. Barba, Dio negro, mondo meticcio, SEID, Firenze, 2013.


Note
The programme is for all students, including those from previous years, attending and non-attending students and is valid, for everyone, until the last roll call in February 2015.

Students from previous courses who need to take the 8-credit examination should exclude chapter 11 from the Schultz and Lavenda text.

Students who need to take the 4-credit examination (or as an old system "half-year" exam), and who have never taken a Cultural Anthropology examination before, should study Schultz and Lavenda as well as the Williams text.

Students who need to take the 4-credit examination (or as an old system second "half-year" exam) and have already taken an initial examination in Cultural Anthropology, should study the Geertz and Barba texts

Examination Methods

Written.