Educational objectives The course is divided into two parts. The first part of course introduces students to the fundamental issues, methods, and concepts of ethnology and cultural anthropology. A review of the history of the discipline will provide an opportunity both to deepen the knowledge of and compare methods and approaches of research, and to investigate the question of how problems emerging in research may be correlated to a particular historical and political era.
The second half of the course focuses on the role of gift giving in social systems at local and global level, covering a wide range of topics, including the forms of gift in so-called “archaic societies” (the melanesian kula, the potlach, etc.), hospitality, blood and organ donations, the practice of online gift giving in the form of mutual help and peer-to-peer file sharing, the images and concepts related to solidarity used in humanitarian aid campaigns.
A) Knowledge and understanding
By the end of the course students will have a basic theoretical history of the discipline and be able to identify the strengths and weaknesses of various concepts and theoretical perspectives.
The will become familiar with the research methods and the sources of data that anthropologists use and they will develop an awareness of the ethical issues in anthropological research experiences. Furthermore, they will learn the meanings of gift in different cultures and historical contexts and how the study of gift-giving process enriched and renewed our understanding of human experience in a wide range of social situations.
B) Applying knowledge and understanding
Students should be able to use the knowledge acquired to critically analyse and evaluate anthropological documents and reports and they will be expected to be able to use ethnographic and comparative approach as a method for documenting and understanding cultural diversity and processes of culture change in today’s global world. In interactive situations, students will be engaged in exercises that using ethnographic approach as a method to describing situations of everyday life.
C) Making judgements
Autonomy of judgment is enhanced encouraging students to think critically about the course materials (texts, films, lectures, etc.), specifically getting students to ask themselves questions such as, “how reliable are the sources being used to substantiate an argument? Could the research be influenced more by opinion bias than evidence? Are there alternative explanations to those being presented? Why has the author chosen to use that particular style of writing?”
The course will provide a combination of group or individual activities that prompt students to a constant re-examination of descriptions and interpretations of the same phenomenon or case study and to develop a reflexive awareness of the limitations of the observer’s point of view.
D) Communication skills
Students should be able to improve communication skills participating actively in class discussion with the knowledge acquired and with their own ideas. All students will be also encouraged to submit short written papers (approximately 4-5 pages) on topics related course contents and create comprehensible and relevant reports.
E) Learning skills
This course is designed to give students the basic theoretical and methodological skills in anthropology and ethnology also as preparation for subsequent master-level education. The course provides motivations to pursue anthropology at more advanced level in fields of interest ranging from the sharing economy and study the social implications of organs donation to the representations of human suffering in the media and humanitarian communication.
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Educational objectives The course aims at analyzing the presence and impact of television on Italian society, in a context of great and irreversible change that also involves television ecologies (development of digital communication, multicanalization, proliferation of screens and platforms, etc.). A specific focus will be devoted to the relationship between TV and politics, through the evolution of the television talk show, which represents some of the most characteristic traits of the Italian Media-era: the balance between the power of traditional politics and the chances given by communicative innovation.
At the end of the course, also thanks to the historical-comparative reconstruction adopted, the student will have acquired an adequate understanding of the ways in which the television - as technology and cultural form - has contributed to the overall transformation of the human experience.
He will also have acquired the critical capacity necessary to apply the acquired knowledge to the analysis of the transformations that have marked the evolution of television, highlighting the main processes of social, cultural and political change generated outside the sphere of the media. This with particular reference to some key topics: the role of Public Service, the changing in audiences’ dynamics, the regulation of the audiovisual sector, the relationship between TV and politics.
Starting from these key topics, the acquired knowledge will be applied in classto concrete case studies, and put into practice encouraging students to select and analyze specific television formats, placing them in their social, cultural, political and technological context and carrying out analyzes useful to understand strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and risks associated with their placement in the reference publishing market.
If the above is functional to the objective of contributing to the development of critical skills and judgment of the student, the planning of moments of public discussion of the analyzes conducted will serve to the implementation of his ability to communicate what has been learned.
The set of these knowledges and skills the student will acquire is aimed at stimulating an interest in a sociological reading of television products, sensitive to new topics and interdisciplinary, approach intended to be applied independently.
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