Italian. Explanations in English can be given upon request.
Explications en Français peuvent etre données sur demande.
Course Content
The course is divided in two sections. The first one analyzes the development of fieldwork methodology in the UK, USA, France, Italy, focussing especially on the most interesting results concerning the economic and political spheres.
The instructor will subsequently present his own researches and will relate his personal experience of fieldwork. The second part shall focus on the contribution of anthropology to the analysis of conflicts. Ethnographic films will be screened and discussed.
Aime, Marco, "Il primo libro di antropologia", cap. 1 (only pp. 1-8), 2, 6, 8, 9.
Cacopardo, Augusto S., "Pagan Christmas. Winter Feasts of the Kalasha of the Hindu Kush". Gingko Library. London 2016..
Bowen, John, 'Il mito del conflitto etnico globale', in the volume"Antropologia della violenza", Fabio Dei ed., Meltemi, Roma 2005, pp. 125-145; (published on the website fareantropologia.it).
Cacopardo, Augusto, S., "Le radici arcaiche della nonviolenza" in Vargas Cancino, Hilda "Calidad de vida no-violenta", Mexico City 2015. Published on academia.edu and researchgate. (Both this and Bowen's text will be available on Moodle). Apart from these texts, students will have to study the recordings of the lessons, which will be at times accompanied by slides.
Suggestions for further readings:
Cacopardo, Alberto M. "Chi ha inventato la democrazia?", Meltemi 2019.
Dei, Fabio "Terrore suicida", Donzelli 2016.
The English version of Bowen's essay is available. Contact the teacher if in need.
Learning Objectives
Objective of the class is to enable students to acquire a historical knowledge about the methodological debate in ethnography with special attention to the role of anthropology in the planning and implementation of development projects and in the analysis of present-day conflicts. The problems of field research in situations of violent conflict will also be illustrated and discussed.
The course aims at giving students the following competences: a) assessing the soundness of the methodology adopted in view of a critical acquisition of its results b) using the techniques of ethnographic research for a better understanding of the social environment in which they will be called to operate.
At the end of the course students should have acquired the ability to use the research methodologies and the data collecting tools of ethnography in the implementation of development projects and in the analysis of situations of conflict.
Prerequisites
Previous attendance of a class in Cultural Anthropology is helpful, though not mandatory.
Teaching Methods
The class includes tendentially interactive lectures and laboratorial activities. These can consist in written papers or in powerpoint presentations by students on a topic of their choice among the ones treated in the lectures. The ethnographic films used as iconographic documentation will be followed by moments of collective reflection and discussion.
Further information
The recordings of the lessons will be available.
Type of Assessment
Final evaluation upon oral examination. Object of the examination will be the contents of the lectures (the recordings will be available) and of the readings.
Evaluation will be based also on a student's active contribution: participation in class-room discussions, and a powerpoint presentation or a brief paper (6-10 pages) in English or Italian, on a topic chosen among those treated in the course.
Course program
The first part of the course examines the origins and the developments of ethnographic fieldwork in the UK, USA, France and Italy. The different methodological approaches are analyzed taking into account the different historical contexts; the most interesting problems and findings of 20th century anthropology are illustrated with a special focus on the economic and political spheres. Subsequently the instructor will present his own researches and will describe his personal experience of fieldwork.
The second part of the class is focused on the contribution anthropology can offer to the analysis of present-day conflicts, starting from the notion of the 'continuum of genocide' which opens the way to an investigation of the forms of violence occurring in times of peace as well as those typical of armed conflicts. Among the topics to be discussed, ethnic conflicts, terrorism, State terrorism, structural violence, war in its many contemporary forms, the proposals of non-violent thought and the objections of its critics.
Ethnographic films from the Archives of the Festival dei Popoli of Florence will be shown and discussed.