Università Roma Tre

After briefly introducing, also form an historical perspective, the most important notions in anthropology knowledge and ethnographic methodology, the course will focus on the nature/culture relationship, examining some of the most important essays in the anthropological literature, including some of the most important texts on Amerindian perspectivism. Lessons will then focus on the meanings of a dichotomic representation of nature and culture, looking in particular to the notions of race, sex, gender relations, sexuality, reproduction, always in reference to specific ethnographic evidences and currents events. The cultural character of the dual opposition of nature and culture will be discussed in reference to the idea of “human nature” and naturalization processes in contexts of social and economic inequalities.

Monder Kilani, L’invenzione dell’Altro. Saggi sul discorso antropologico, Parte prima (Capitoli 1, 2, 3, ,4, 5) e della Seconda parte il capitolo 11.

And a text chosen from the following:

- Paola Tabet, 2014, Le dita tagliate, Ediesse;
- Michael T. Taussig, 2017, Il diavolo e il feticismo della merce, Derive Approdi;
- Colette Guillaumin, 2020, Sesso, Razza e Pratica del Potere. L’idea di Natura, Ombre Corte, le seguenti parti: “Pratica del potere”, “Razza e natura. Sistemi di marchi, idea di gruppi naturali”, “’Lo so, ma…’ o gli avatar della nozione di razza”;
- Anna Tsing Lowenhaupt, 2021, Il fungo alla fine del mondo. La possibilità di vivere nelle rovine del capitalismo, Keller;
- Francesco Bisogno, Flora Ronzon (a cura di), 2007, Altri generi. Inversioni e variazioni di genere tra culture, Il dito e la luna (volume messo a disposizione dalla docente).

For those attending, it is possible to replace the text of your choice with the following essays (which the teacher will make available to the students during the course). Attending students are invited to present and discuss collegially in class one essay chosen with the teacher.

Dispensa Natura/cultura
* Claude Lévi-Strauss, 1984, "Natura e Cultura", in Le strutture elementari della parentela, Feltrinelli, pp. 39-50;
* Mila Busoni, “Sesso biologico e genere sociale?”, da p. 41 a p. 48 e da p. 56 a p. 58;
* Paola Tabet, “Lo sfruttamento della riproduzione”, in Non si nasce donna. Percorsi, testi e contesti del femminismo materialista in Francia, a cura di Sara Garbagnoli e Vincenza Perilli, Alegre, pp.121-142;
* Eduardo Kohn, 2019, “Come sognano i cani: le nature amazzoniche e la politica dell’interazione tra specie”, in Metamorfosi. La svolta ontologica in antropologia, a cura di Roberto Brigati e Valentina Gamberi, Quodlibet, pp.145-190;
* Philippe Descola, 2021, “Figure di continuità”, in Oltre natura e cultura, Raffaello Cortina, pp. 13-44.

Students not attending classes will also study Francesco Remotti, Contro Natura. Laterza, 2008, from p.11 to p. 26, and from p. 86 to p.191 (chapters 1, 2, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11).

The teaching is configured as an introduction to ethnography as practice and theory of the description of social and cultural phenomena born in the history of anthropology. Ethnography will be presented as both the practice of fieldwork in anthropology and the translating of this experience and knowledge into writing. The first part will focus on field research through a historical examination of the methods and reflection on them: from the expeditions season, to participatory observation, to the most recent and innovative forms, with special regard to feminist and postmodern anthropology. A second part will focus on specific ethnographic experiences, with special attention to the contribution of gender and feminist anthropology. In this section we will analyze the construction of the research question, the identification of the object of analysis, its empirical development, the role and relationship with the “informants” and the tensions and changes that may occur during fieldwork. Classroom readings and presentations of classical and more recent anthropological ethnographies will be held in order to develop discussion and reflection about these and other questions will rise during classes.

- Vivere l’Etnografia, a cura di Cappelletto, Seid, 2009.

And a text chosen from the following:

- Bronislaw Malinowski, 2011 (1922), Argonauti del Pacifico Occidentale, Bollati Boringhieri;
- Ruth Behar e Deborah A. Gordon, editors, 1995, Women writing culture, i seguenti capitoli: Introduction (pp. 1-29), capitolo 8 (pp. 166-185) e capitolo 9 (pp. 186-206);
- Alessia (Leo) Acquistapace, 2022, Tenetevi il matrimonio e dateci la dote. Il lavoro riproduttivo nelle relazioni di intimità, solidarietà e cura oltre la coppia nell’Italia urbana contemporanea, Mimesis, fino a p. 161;
- Frances Larson, 2021, Le intruse, De Agostini;
- James Clifford, I frutti puri impazziscono, Bollati Boringhieri, 1999, Introduzione e parte Prima;
- Gloria Wekker, 2006, The politics of passion: women's sexual culture in the afro-surinamese diaspora, Columbia University Press, i seguenti capitoli: capitolo 1 (pp. 1-54) e capitolo 2 (pp. 55-82);
- Valeria Ribeiro Corossacz, 2015, Bianchezza e mascolinità in Brasile, Meltemi.

For those attending, it is possible to replace the text of your choice with the following essays (which the teacher will make available to the students during the course). Attending students are invited to present and discuss collegially in class one essay chosen with the teacher.

Dispensa Etnografie femministe
* Michela Fusaschi, 2018, “L’etnografia attraversata dal genere. Uno sguardo storico e pratico-politico sulle soggettività”, in Etnografia e Ricerca Qualitativa, n.2, pp. 387-401;
* Gayle Rubin, “Lo scambio delle donne: una rilettura di Marx, Engels, Lévi-Strauss e Freud”, fino a p. 45, in DWF, 1989, n.10-11;
* Nicole-Claude Mathieu, "Critiche epistemologiche sulla problematica dei sessi nel discorso etno-antropologico", in DWF, numero 10-11, 1989, pp. 8-54.
* Valeria Ribeiro Corossacz, “Molestie sessuali e oppressione di classe, sesso e razza. Una ricerca tra lavoratrici domestiche in Brasile”, About Gender, Rivista internazionale di Studi di Genere, Vol. 8 N° 15, 2019, pp. 118-143
* Louise Lamphere, “Unofficial Histories: A Vision of Anthropology from the Margins”, American Anthropologist, Vol. 106, No. 1, 2004, pp. 126-139.
Students not attending classes will study also Fabietti, Malighetti, Matera, Dal tribale al globale. Introduzione all'antropologia, Pearson, 2020, First and Second parts.