OVERVIEW

The course aims to offer a general overview of cultural anthropology and intercultural mediation, through the analysis of their methodological tools and their main thematic fields. Special attention will be put on the possible contribution given by cultural anthropology to social workers in their different settings.  

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The aim of this course is to introduce students to the knowledge of the key-concepts of anthropology, its research methods and its main sub-fields. Special attention will be paid to the contribution of anthropology to the analysis of intercultural mediation and to the activity of social workers.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

The course aims to provide students with a general knowledge of the main anthropological theories and methodological perspectives and to facilitate the integration of an anthropological approach  into the professional practice of social work .

The purpose of the course is particularly to encourage the anthropological analysis of the following topics:

• Culture, cultural diversity, cultural relativism
• Identity, “race”, ethnic group
• Family and kinship
• Sex and gender
• Body, embodiment, illness/sickness/disease
• Pure/impure, contamination, risk perception
• Myth, rite, cult
• Language and communication
• Economic and political systems
• Migration

and also to introduce the student to the role, skills and functions of the cultural-linguistic mediators in their different settings.

The participation to lessons and individual study will allow students to:

identify, understand and remember the main theoretical and methodological perspectives of cultural anthropology and intercultural mediation;

read and analyse anthropological texts, making autonomous, critical and independent judgements;

apply the theoretical and methodological tools of cultural anthropology to the close contexts, with special reference to the professional field of social work;

use appropriately the anthropological terminology in the analysis of specific socio-cultural contexts and phenomena;

deconstruct the supposed “natural” dimension of notions like identity, culture, sex, body, family,  by valuating their conventional and cultural dimension. 

PREREQUISITES

none

TEACHING METHODS

The course ((36 hours, 6 CFU) will be organized in accordance with the University provisions concerning Covid pandemic and will include different teaching methods (lectures, instant polls, chat, audiovisual material, group discussions). The attendance is not mandatory, but highly recommended.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

The course will be divided into two didactic units. The first one will be focused on the key concepts of the discipline, its methodological tools, its theoretical paradigms, its main research sub-fields. Special attention will be paid to the study of the different settings and processes of intercultural mediation. Selected topics concerning the anthropological debate on COVID 19 pandemic will be discussed: risk perception, pure/impure, representations of danger and vulnerability responsability and stigmatization, practices of prevention and confinement.The second didactic unit will be centred on the anthropology of migration, with special reference to the dynamics of social, political, economic exclusion and violence. 

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

Attending students (+75% of classes):

DEI, Cultural Anthropology, Il Mulino, 2016

VILLANO, RICCIO, Cultures and Mediations, Il Mulino, 2017

MACHETTI, SIEBETCHEU, What is Linguistic-Cultural Mediation, Il Mulino, 2019

Non-attending students: the three books by attending students + one book of their choice from the following:

Boni S., Koensler A., Rossi A., Militant Ethnographies, Perspectives and Dilemmas, Meltemi, 2020

Farmer P. (ed. Weigel J.), Fixing the World. Social Inequalities, Public Health, and Human Rights, Motus, 2024

Gallotti C., Tarabusi F., Anthropology and Services: Ethnographic Intersections between Research and Application, Ledizioni, 2024.

Riccio B., Tarabusi F., Anthropology and Ethnography for Social and Educational Services, Edizioni Junior, 2024

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

LESSONS

LESSONS START

I semester 

17 september until 5 december

Class schedule

ANTROPOLOGY AND CULTURAL MEDIATION

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

The oral exam will be focused on the topics and the bibliography indicated. For the attenders it will be possible to arrange an intermediate written exam concerning the topics discussed during the lessons and the texts indicated in the syllabus in the first didactic unit. This written exam will take place, indicatively, during the first week of December. The average between the score of the written exam and the score of the oral exam (concerning in these case only the second didactic unit) will be the final score.

Differentiated syllabi can be arranged with the professor by Erasmus students.

ASSESSMENT METHODS

The oral exam and the possible intermediate written exam aim to verify the correct acquisition of the theoretical and methodological contents of the course. The communication skills and the property of language will be considered as relevant evaluation criteria, together with the ability to use the proper anthropological terminology.

The examination will test the ability to identify, summarize in own words and analyse the key concepts discussed during the lessons, apply anthropological concepts and tools to the analysis of socio-cultural context and phenomena, with particular reference to the professional context of social work.