Corsi di Studio del Dipartimento di Culture, Politica e Società

The course will be easier to follow for students who have acquired some previous knowledge of socio-cultural anthropology from introductory courses. However, this is no absolute requirement, as this module is designed to be essentially self-contained.

• The purpose of the course is to provide fairly advanced theoretical and methodological knowledge related to the most recent developments in socio-cultural anthropology and necessary to tackle from an anthropological vantage point a wide range of highly topical issues, from contemporary migrations to neoliberalism.
• More specifically, the aims of the course are:
  a) to follow the evolution of the anthropological study of complex societies from its origins up to its most recent developments;
  b) to single out the specificity of anthropological approaches vis-à-vis those of other disciplines that engage in the study of complex societies;
  c) to identify the distinctive methods and conceptual tools of the anthropological study of complex societies through the analysis of ethnographic monographs.

• Mainly through the analysis of ethnographic monographs and case-studies, this course provides students with theoretical tools and methodological skills which supplement the ones developed by socio-cultural anthropology in the study of so-called "simple societies", thus increasing their proficiency in the study of cultural complexity.
• The course also enables students to broaden their ethnological horizons by focusing on such areas as the Alpine region and the Mediterranean world and paying special attention to urban studies.

Whole class teaching. Lectures are expected to be delivered face-to-face, but they will be made accessible via streaming during regular class hours. (Changes in teaching methodology might be imposed by dispositions issued by health authorities.)

• The exam will be oral: in addition to assessing the extent to which knowledge - ethnological as well as theoretical and methodological - has been successfully acquired, it will also serve to evaluate the student's critical ability in reading the texts suggested for the exam and gauge the mastery of the anthropological skills required for the analysis of cultural complexity.

Topics:
• Origins, development and current tendencies of the social anthropology of complex societies.
• Anthropological studies of Europe and the Mediterranean area.
• The beginnings of urban anthropology: the Chicago and Manchester schools.
• Recent research in urban anthropology.
• The anthropological study of mobility and migration.
• Anthropological perspectives on neo-liberalism.

For the exam those students who have attended the lectures (in the classroom or online) will have to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

1. The course content (as presented, explicated and discussed in the lectures).

2. One general volume selected among the the four listed above;

3. One volume selected among the following:

• M. Aime, Fuori dal tunnel. Viaggio antropologico nel val di Susa, Milano, Meltemi, 2016.
• S. Allovio (ed.), Antropologi in città, Milan, Edizioni Unicopli, 2011.
• D. Basile, Le vie sbagliate. Giovani e vita di strada nella Torino della grande migrazione interna, Milano, Edizioni Unicopli, 2014.
• A. Blok, The Mafia of a Sicilian village, 1860-1960 A Study of Violent Peasant Entrepreneurs, Oxford, Blackwell, 1974.
• L. Bonato, P.P. Viazzo (eds.), Antropologia e beni culturali nelle Alpi, Alessandria, Edizioni dell'Orso, 2013.
• C. Capello, Le prigioni invisibili. Etnografia multisituata della migrazione marocchina, Milan, Angeli, 2008.
• N. Demarchi, Pregare in vetta. Pellegrinaggi sulle Alpi da San Besso a Cunéy, Gignod (AO), END Edizioni, 2021.
• L. Giliberti, Abitare la frontiera. Lotte neorurali e solidarietà ai migranti sul confine franco-italiano, Verona, Ombre Corte, 2020.
• J. González Díez, S. Pratesi, A.C. Vargas (eds.), (In)Sicurezze. Sguardi sul mondo neoliberale, Rome, Novalogos, 2014.
• G. Mascadri, I nuovi pellegrini delle Alpi, Torino, Meti, 2016.
• A. Membretti, I. Kofler, P.P. Viazzo (eds.), Per forza o per scelta. L'immigrazione straniera nelle Alpi e negli Appennini, Roma, Aracne, 2017.
• M. Riina, L’erba tinta. Dentro le crepe di Borgo Vecchio a Palermo: un racconto antropologico, Firenze Editpress, 2021.
• H.G. Rosenberg, A Negotiated World. Three Centuries of Change in a French Alpine Community, Toronto, Toronto University Press, 1988.
• P. Sacchi, P.P. Viazzo (eds.), Più di un Sud. Studi antropologici sull'immigrazione a Torino, Milan, Angeli, 2003.
• L. Urru, Il fantasma tra i ciliegi. Topografie di primavera a Tokyo, Naples, Liguori, 2007.
• L. Wacquant, Urban Outcasts. A Comparative Sociology of Advanced Marginality, Cambridge, Polity Press, 2008.
• R.C. Zanini, Salutami il Sasso. Dinamiche della popolazione e della memoria in una comunità alpina di confine, Milan, Angeli, 2015.

It will be possible to partly or totally replace these books with texts (mostly journal articles) on specific topics that will be analysed in the lectures and made available online. More detailed indications will be provided during the lectures.

Those students who have been unable to attend the lectures (or have preferred not to do so) will be expected to study, instead of the notes from the lectures, another volume selected among those listed at point 3 above .

It will be possible for them to partly or totally replace these books with texts (mostly journal articles) on specific topics that will be made available on line. These changes will have to be agreed with the teacher.

The course will take place in the second part of the second semester. Lectures will start on Monday 4th April 2022 and are expected to end on Wednesday 18th May.

They will take place each week on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday (14.00-16.00).

Students (especially, but non only, those who intend to attend the lectures) are strongly advised to register both in CampusNet and in Moodle.

This is all-important because it is through Campusnet and Moodle that you will receive information about dates and modes of exams, variations in the lecture timetable etc., and it is through Moodle that you will be able to access learning materials.

• This course is intended primarily for students of Intercultural communication, but all students from other degree courses are welcome.
• International and Erasmus students may prepare for examinations and take them in English or French. Specific reading lists consisting of books and articles in English will be made available on request from the teacher.