Didactics of Anthropology

Semester 2 · 82093 · University course for initial training of secondary school teachers in the Italian language - 60CP · 2CP · IT

The course provides theoretical and practical tools for teaching sociocultural anthropology (or themes of sociocultural anthropology) at school. During the lectures the key concepts of the discipline, its main theoretical and methodological approaches, as well as some specific topics of the discipline, will be presented and discussed in relation to different possible teaching methods.

Lecturers: Daniela Salvucci

Teaching Hours: 12
Lab Hours: 0
Mandatory Attendance: In accordance with the regulation

Course Topics
1. Key concepts of sociocultural anthropology, which is conceived of as the study of the social, relational, environmental, material and symbolic dimensions of human beings (ecological-cultural process of hominization, cultural relativism and critique of ethnocentrism, culture as dwelling and as representation, power relations, connections between local and global dynamics). 2. Main theoretical-methodological approaches of the discipline (synchronic and diachronic approaches, ethnographic method and participant observation, interpretation, critical reflexivity, anthropology “at home”, applied anthropology). 3. Main themes of socio-cultural anthropology (cosmologies and ontologies, rituals, body, gender, kinship, community, migration, colonialism, globalisation, power, intersectionality).

Teaching format
Lectures and in-class discussions

Educational objectives
The aim of the course is to train teachers of sociocultural anthropology for schools who are able to explain and discuss the key concepts, the main theoretical-methodological approaches and the main themes of the discipline through different teaching methods, encouraging dialogue and critical reflection in the classroom. Expected learning outcomes: - Knowledge and ability to understand and discuss the key concepts, the theoretical-methodological approaches and the main themes of sociocultural anthropology, as well as to apply this knowledge to the teaching of the discipline at school. - Autonomy of judgement and ability to critically reflect on course contents. - Communication skills and ability to use appropriate and scientifically grounded vocabulary for teaching sociocultural anthropology (or of themes of sociocultural anthropology) at school. - Ability to learn, autonomously, additional disciplinary perspectives and contents.

Assessment
Written exam on the contents of the course

Evaluation criteria
Understanding of the topics covered during the lessons. Ability to develop critical thinking on the topics covered. Ability to adapt the contents of a scientific essay (to be read, chosen from the compulsory bibliography) to the design of a socio-cultural anthropology lesson for schools, establishing connections with at least one of the topics covered in class.

Required readings

Appadurai, Arjun, 2001 (1996), Etnorami globali: appunti e questioni per un’antropologia transnazionale, in Appadurai, Modernità in polvere, Meltemi, pp. 71-92.

Boos, Tobias, 2024, Play and Playgrounds of a Traditional Urban Festivity. The Case of the Palio di Siena in Italy, Ethnologia Europaea: Journal of European Ethnology, SIEF, 54, 1, pp. 67–87.

Busoni, Mila, 2000, Genere, sesso, cultura. Uno sguardo antropologico, Carocci editore, pp. 41-63.

Cole, John, e Wolf, Eric, 1993 (1974), La frontiera nascosta. Ecologia e etnicità fra Trentino e Sudtirolo, Carocci editore, Museo degli Usi e Costumi della Gente Trentina, pp. 275-301.

Csordas, Thomas J., 2003 (1999), Incorporazione e fenomenologia culturale, in Antropologia n. 3, pp. 19-42

Descola, Philippe, 2020 (2017). Dalla natura universale alle nature singolari. Quali lezioni per l’analisi delle culture. InCircolo, 9, pp. 16-29.

Della Rocca, Marina, 2024, Ambivalenze, possibilità e impossibilità di un’etnografia «at home» in un centro antiviolenza. L’Uomo, vol. XIV, n. 2, pp. 47-68

Gallo, Ester, 2025, Uomini in equilibrio. Migranti, rimesse e mascolinità tra India e Italia, ANUAC 14 (1), pp. 51-78.

Geertz, Clifford, 2003 (1973), Verso una teoria interpretativa della cultura, in Geertz, Interpretazione di culture, il Mulino, pp. 9-42.

Grilli, Simonetta, 2019, Antropologia delle famiglie contemporanee, Carocci editore, pp. 21-44.

Guerzoni, Corinna S. e Viviana L. Toro Matuk, 2022,

Profili e (s)-oggettività della generazione Z. Etnografia di TikTok. RAC-Rivista di antropologia contemporanea, pp. 119-138.

Ingold, Tim, 2001 (2000), Abitare o costruire: come uomini e animali fanno del mondo la propria casa, in Ingold (a cura di Grasseni e Ronzon) Ecologia della cultura, Meltemi, pp. 111-139.

Malinowski, Bronislaw, 2004 (1922), Argonauti del Pacifico occidentale. Introduzione, Bollati Boringhieri, pp. 9-34.

Marcus, George E., 2009 (1995) L’etnografia nel/del sistema-mondo. L’affermarsi dell’etnografia multi-situata, in Cappelletto F., Vivere l’etnografia, SEID.

Remotti, Francesco, 2011, Il concetto di cultura, in Allovio, Ciabarri, Mangiameli, Antropologia culturale. I temi fondamentali, Raffaello Cortina editore, pp. 6-38.

Ribeiro Corossacz, Valeria, 2013, L’intersezione di razzismo e sessismo. Strumenti teorici per un’analisi della violenza maschile contro le donne nel discorso pubblico sulle migrazioni, Antropologia n. 15, pp. 109-129.

Salvucci, Daniela 2022, Incanto e malattia. Esperienze del corpo-persona nell’Argentina andina, DADA-Rivista di Antropologia post-globale, n. 1, pp. 83-106.

Turner, Victor, 2004 (1982), Dramma e riti di passaggio, lo svago e il lavoro. Saggio di simbologia comparata, in Turner, Dal rito al teatro, il Mulino, pp. 49-115.

Viveiros de Castro, Eduardo, (1998) 2015, I pronomi cosmologici e il prospettivismo amerindio. Liberazioni – Rivista di critica antispecista n. 22, pp. 4-32.

Zinn, Dorothy L., 2017, Migrant Incorporation in South Tyrol and Essentialized Local Identities, in Decimo F., A. Gribaldo (eds.), Boundaries within: Nation, Kinship and Identity among Migrants and Minorities, Springer International Publishing, pp. 93-114.

* During the first lesson, specific information will be given on the requested bibliography for attending students

Supplementary readings

Further readings will be indicated during the lessons.

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Sustainable Development Goals
This teaching activity contributes to the achievement of the following Sustainable Development Goals.