Social Anthropology
PROF. MARTINO DONI
COURSE AIMS
The course sets out to provide the student with a basic grounding in the discipline
of Social Anthropology by illustrating its history and methodological approaches.
In particular, it will focus on the development of cultural diversity and on the
contemporary dynamics of globalization.
COURSE CONTENT
MODULE ONE
At the turn of the 20th century - first in Great Britain and then in France and
elsewhere - social anthropology, together with sociology, started to contribute to
the development and construction of a decisive yet problematic cultural identity:
Western man. Rereading the ethnographic accounts of a century ago, it is now
possible to reconstruct the progress of the scientific discussion of mankind.
Anthropology traditionally focused on studying the phenomena of “communities”
and thus was distinguished from sociology, which instead was established as the
scientific study of “the community”. Nevertheless, the past few decades have seen
these distinctions become blurred due to the diffuse or transitory nature of a social
and community scenario that resists being slotted into preconceived categories. For
that reason, a historical and dynamic debate on the rights (and wrongs) of social
anthropology can help us to refine our critical perception of the present.
In particular, the course will deal with the following topics: the birth of the
discipline; its relationship with sociology; cultural exoticism and the curiositas of
orientalism; the process of decolonisation and the post-colonial debate; field
research and social ethnography; religion and the ethos of transcendence; giving
and consumption.
MODULE TWO
The specificity of the anthropological view will be compared and “provoked” at
the epistemological and practical level through the discussion and opening of a
peculiar research field, in other words, play.
Play, meant as a basic human experience but also as a favoured rhetorical and
communicative dimension, will serve as both heuristic tool and object of study.
The aim is to develop the student’s anthropological training into an ability that
takes account of the many complexities that traverse the urgent issues raised by the
discipline and its horizons.
READING LIST
M. KILANI, Antropologia. Una introduzione, Italian translation, Dedalo, Bari, 1994 [Part 1,
chapters 1-2 (pp. 23-64); all of Part 2 (pp. 81-150); Part 3, chapters 1 (pp. 215-224), 9
and 10 (pp. 241-266); all of Part 4 (pp. 267-306)]. NB: a new edition of this text is now
on sale entitled Antropologia. Dal locale al globale and, while the contents of this new
edition remain practically the same, the layout is different, therefore, when preparing for
the exam, it is best to stick to the indications on the division of the Parts and Chapters.
One text to be chosen from
R. NEEDHAM, Caratteri primordiali, Medusa, Milan, 2006.
V. TURNER, Simboli e momenti della comunità, Morcelliana, Brescia, 2003.
One book to be chosen from the following:
R. CAILLOIS, La comunione dei forti, Bollati Boringhieri, Turin, 2007 (pp. 17-42, 53-68, 101-132).
J. CLIFFORD, I frutti puri impazziscono, Bollati Boringhieri, Turin, 1999, or later editions
(Introduzione, Chapter 1: Sull’autorità etnografica, 2: Potere e dialogo in etnografia, 3: Sul
modellamento etnografico dell’io).
M. DONI, L’esatta fantasia. Mente, memoria, narrazione, Medusa, Milan, 2009, second part (pp.
123-ss.).
Texts for Module Two
R. CAILLOIS, I giochi e gli uomini, Bompiani, Milan 2000.
M. DONI, S. TOMELLERI, Giochi sociologici, Cortina, Milan 2011.
TEACHING METHOD
Lectures.
ASSESSMENT METHOD
Oral exam.
NOTES
Further information can be found on the lecture’s webpage
http://www2.unicatt.it/unicattolica/docenti/index.html or on the Faculty notice board.
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