OVERVIEW

“All cultures have equal dignity”: when taken seriously, this statement entails a number of relevant, and sometimes bewildering, consequences (philosophical, political, epistemological and existential). The course accompanies students in exploring these consequences, conducted as much through an “archaeological” excavation in our cultural foundations as by anthropological comparison with other human worlds present on the planet.

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

Among the great partitions that structure Western thought, that of /nature/ and /culture/ plays, in modernity, a crucial role: it is on this that are based, among other things, the claim of universality of science, the discourses on (in)tolerance and the separation of body and mind. The course investigates the connection between ontology and knowledge, already called into question within the West by the philosophical and scientific vicissitudes of the twentieth century, in the light of the new voices that are beginning to be heard in the anthropological field in recent years; it reports on the debate on multinaturalism / multirealism; and explores the connections between forms of life, systems of knowledge, local ontologies and the possibilities of democracy.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

Upon completion of the course of study, students
1) will know the terms and stakes of the ongoing debate in contemporary anthropology, in its ontological, ethical, epistemological and political implications;
2) will know how to critically connect observed phenomena, theories and data;
3) will have acquired the ability to approach “other worlds” without presumption;
4) will have developed cultural sensitivity to the connections between life forms, knowledge systems, local ontologies and modes of humanity.

PREREQUISITES

None.

TEACHING METHODS

Teaching is entirely carried out through lectures given by the lecturer and, in some cases, by other experts in the anthropological field or on relevant topics.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

1) The philosophical and ethical crisis of contemporary modern world.

2) Philosophical archeology of the Western worldview.

3) The building of a human being: bio-cultural becoming in its different aspects.

4) The concept of crisis: from de Martino's “presence in the world” to “cultural apocalypses”; path for integration.

5) The multiplicity of worlds.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

Preparation for the 6 CFU syllabus exam involves studying the textbook (a), one text of your choice from the list (b) and two articles of your choice from the list (c).

The textbook and books from list (b) are available in bookstores. Part of the choice papers from list (c) will be made available to students during class (nonattending students can request them via email to the lecturer).

(a) Consigliere S., 2014. Antropo-logiche. Mondi e modi dell’umano. Colibrì, Milano.

(b) One book among the following:

• Amiech M. (2023) L'industria del complottismo, malamente, Urbino 2024. [existe aussi en français]
• Arendt H. (1951-1966) Le origini del totalitarismo, Edizioni di Comunità, Torino 1999. [also available in English][existe aussi en français]
• Bouznah S. & Lewertowski C., (2013) Quando gli spiriti incontrano i medici, Colibrì, Paderno Dugnano (MI) 2017. [existe aussi en français]
• Cangiano M. (2024), Guerre culturali e neoliberismo, Nottetempo, Milano.
• Comaroff J. & Comaroff J. (2012) Teoria dal sud del mondo. Ovvero, come l'Euro-America sta evolvendo verso l'Africa, Rosenberg & Sellier, Torino 2019. [also available in English][
• Consigliere S., a cura di (2022) Materialismo magico, DeriveApprodi, Roma 2022.[some of the papers it contains are available in English]
• Danowski D. & Viveiros De Castro E. (2014) Esiste un mondo a venire? Saggio sulle paure della fine, Nottetempo, Roma 2017. [also available in English][existe aussi en français]
• de Martino E. (1948-1973) Il mondo magico. Prolegomeni a una storia del magismo, Bollati Boringhieri, Torino 2007. [existe aussi en français]
• De Sousa Santos B. (2014) Epistemologies of the South. Justice against Epistemicide, Routledge, London & New York.
• Descola P. (2005) Oltre natura e cultura, Raffaello Cortina, Milano 2021. [also available in English][existe aussi en français]
• Fanon F. (1961) I dannati della terra, Einaudi, Torino 2000. [also available in English]
• Federici S. (2003) Calibano e la strega. Le donne, il corpo e l'accumulazione originaria, Mimesis, Milano 2015. [also available in English]
• Feyerabend P. K. (1975) Contro il metodo. Abbozzo di una teoria anarchica della conoscenza, Feltrinelli, Milano 2024.
• Feyerabend P. K. (2024) Coscienza e libertà. Scritti anarco-dadaisti, Elèuthera, Milano 2024.
• Ghosh A. (2021) La maledizione della noce moscata. Parabole per un pianeta in crisi, Neri Pozza, Vicenza 2022. [also available in English] [existe aussi en français]
• Gordon A.F. (1997) Cose di fantasmi. L’haunting e l’immaginazione sociologica, DeriveApprodi, Roma.[also available in English] [existe aussi en français]
• Graeber D.: «Alea», Rivista indipendente di Antropologia Culturale, numero speciale B2 / 2023 (dedicato a David Graber) [all the papers it contains are available in English]
• Kohn E. (2013) Come pensano le foreste, Nottetempo, Roma 2021. [also available in English]
• Ingold T., Il futuro alle spalle. Ripensare le generazioni, Meltemi, Roma 2024. [also available in English]
• Lapassade G. (1976) Saggio sulla transe, Feltrinelli, Milano 1980. [existe aussi en français]
• Löwy M. & Sayre R. (1992) Rivolta e malinconia, Neri Pozza, Vicenza 2016. [existe aussi en français]
• Nathan T. (2001) Non siamo soli al mondo, Bollati Boringhieri, Torino 2003. [existe aussi en français]
• Remotti F. (2011) Cultura. Dalla complessità all'impoverimento, Laterza, Roma-Bari 2011.
• Sironi F. (2007) Violenze collettive. Saggio di psicologia geopolitica clinica, Feltrinelli, Milano 2010. [existe aussi en français]
• Taussig M. (1980) Il diavolo e il feticismo della merce, DeriveApprodi, Roma 2017. [also available in English]
• Van Aken M. (2026) Decarbonizzare l’immaginario cantando, AnimaMundi, Otranto.
• Viveiros de Castro E. (2012) Prospettivismo cosmologico in Amazzonia e altrove, Quodlibet, Macerata 2019.  [also available in English]

(c) Two papers among the following:

• Bird-David N. (1999) “Animism” Revisited: Personhood, Environment, and Relational Epistemology. «Current Anthropology» 40, Supplement: Special Issue: Culture. A Second Chance? (Feb., 1999), pp. S67-S91. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2991332?seq=5
• Comaroff J. & Comaroff J. (1999) Occult Economies and the Violence of Abstraction: Notes from the South African Postcolony. «American Ethnologist» 26 (2), pp. 279-303.
• Comaroff J. & Comaroff J. (2001) Sul concetto di persona. Una prospettiva dall'Africa, in Consigliere S., a cura di (2014) Mondi Multipli. II. Lo splendore dei mondi, Kaiak, Napoli 2014, pp. 129-150. [also available in English]
• Devereux G. (1965) La schizofrenia, psicosi etnica o la schizofrenia senza lacrime, in id. (1973) Saggi di etnopsichiatria generale, Armando Editore, Roma 2007, pp. 245-268. [existe aussi en français]
• Ginzburg C. (1979) Spie. Radici di un paradigma indiziario, in Gargani A., a cura di, Crisi della ragione. Einaudi, Torino 1979, pp. 57-106.
• Graeber D. (2004) Frammenti di antropologia anarchica, Elèuthera, Milano 2011. [also available in English] [existe aussi en français]
• Graeber D. (2012) Dead zones of the imagination. On violence, bureaucracy, and interpretive labor, «HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory» 2 (2), pp. 105-128.
• Grosfoguel R. (2013) The Structure of Knowledge in Westernized Universities. Epistemic Racism/Sexism and the Four Genocides/Epistemicides of the Long 16th Century, «Human Architecture: Journal of the Sociology of Self-Knowledge», XI (1), pp. 73-90.
• Haraway D. (1988) Situated knowledges: the science question in feminism and the privilege of partial perspective, «Feminist Studies» 14 (3), pp. 575-599.
• Ingold T. (1996) Caccia e raccolta come modi di percepire l'ambiente, in Consigliere S., a cura di (2014) Mondi Multipli. I. Oltre la Grande partizione, Kaiak, Napoli 2014, pp. 89-127. [also available in English]
• Ingold T. (2023) On not knowing and paying attention: How to walk in a possible world. «Irish Journal of Sociology», 31 (1), pp. 20-36.
• Latour B. (2000) Fatture/fratture: dalla nozione di rete a quella di attaccamento, «I Fogli di ORISS», n. 25 (2006), pp. 11-32. [existe aussi en français]
• Latour B. (2000) Guerra di mondi - offerte di pace, in Cconsigliere S., a cura di, (2014) Mondi multipli. Vol. 1. La Grande partizione, Kaiak, Napoli 2014, pp. 165-182. [existe aussi en français] [also available in English]
• McCallum C. (1996) Il corpo che conosce: dall'epistemologia Cashinaua a un'antropologia medica delle Terre Basse sudamericane, in Consigliere S., a cura di (2014) Mondi Multipli. II. Lo splendore dei mondi, Kaiak, Napoli 2014, pp. 91-128. [also available in English]
• Nahoum-Grappe V. (1996) L'uso politico della crudeltà: l'epurazione etnica in ex-Iugoslavia (1991-1995). In: Héritier F. (ed), 1996. Sulla violenza. Meltemi, Roma 1997, pp. 190-227. [existe aussi en français]
• Sahlins M. (2013) La parentela. Cos’è e cosa non è, Elèuthera, Milano 2015. [also available in English]
• Sahlins M. (1996) The Sadness of Sweetness: The Native Anthropology of Western Cosmology, «Current Anthropology» 37 (3), pp. 395-428.
• Sayad A. (1999) La "colpa" originale e la menzogna collettiva, in id., La doppia assenza. Dalle illusioni dell'emigrato alle sofferenze dell'immigrato. Cortina, Milano 2002, pp. 17-42. [existe aussi en français]
• Singleton M. (2014) Fuori… niente! in Consigliere S., a cura di (2014) Mondi Multipli. II. Lo splendore dei mondi, Kaiak, Napoli 2014, pp. 207-230.
• Stengers I. (1994) La Grande partizione, «I Fogli di ORISS», n. 29-30 (2008), pp. 47-61. [existe aussi en français]
• Viveiros de Castro E. (2012) Immanenza e paura. Eventi-estranei e soggetti in Amazzonia, in Consigliere S. (a cura di), 2014. Mondi Multipli. I. Oltre la Grande partizione. Kaiak, Napoli 2014, pp. 63-88. [also available in English]

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

LESSONS

LESSONS START

Lesson start on the week of 15 September 2026, according to the weekly timetable of the course.

Class schedule

The timetable for this course is available here: Portale EasyAcademy

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

Examination sessions are held exclusively in person. Registration for the exam must be done online within eight days of the exam session date. The lecturer will email you the time and room details a few days beforehand. Priority will be given to working students, parents with young children, and students living away from home.

The examination is conducted exclusively in oral form and consists of a dialogue to ascertain knowledge of the examination program, i.e., the content and meaning of the above texts, and to assess the ability to critically analyze the proposed topics. To this end, a short text may be proposed for reading, in order to identify and critically analyse its cultural, philosophical and ideological implications. Methods of assessment, learning objectives and examination syllabus are identical for both attending and non-attending students.

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Official notice for students with disabilities or specific learning difficulties (SLD)

Students with disabilities or specific learning difficulties (SLD) can find guidance on how to apply for services, compensatory tools or special arrangements, and specific aids in the document available at the following link: https://unige.it/disabilita-dsa/modulistica

ASSESSMENT METHODS

Knowledge of the exam syllabus counts for 20/thirtyths. The ability to critically investigate the proposed topics counts for 10/thirtyths.