BERGAMO
Overview
Date/time interval
Syllabus
Course Objectives
The course aims to allow students:
- to learn knowledge regarding the main themes, concepts, and methods which form the foundations of the discipline and being able to contextualize them in events of contemporary society in order to move from a multicultural society to an intercultural society;
- to understand the main theoretical approaches and methodological issues that have been characterizing the anthropological studies, with particular reference to school and educational processes and settings;
- to learn a subject specific vocabulary, acknowledging specific characteristics of anthropology in comparison with other human and social sciences, while enhancing interdisciplinary approaches to the study of education;
- to develop discursive and critical analysis skills (regarding texts and contexts) through a cultural-anthropological approach to phenomena of the contemporary era, with particular regard to diversity (concept of culture, race, ethnic group/ethnicity, gender, religion, generations) and plurality in school and educational contexts.
At the end of the course the student will be able:
- to translate the theoretical and methodological knowledge of anthropology and ethnography into critical and self-critical skills in his/her professional environment as a teacher;
- to autonomously and critically apply anthropological knowledge and the ethnographic approach in his/her future professional practice, with particular regard to the interpretation of the cultural, and specifically intercultural, dimension of school and educational contexts in order to overcome inequalities and promote social integration and democratic equality;
- to develop his/her anthropological knowledge to deepen his/her own analytical tools in terms of processes of change that are characterizing school and educational settings.
Course Prerequisites
None
Teaching Methods
The course consists in lectures with a particular attention to the discussion and dialogue with the students, who will be invited to make proposals for further discussion and deepening.
During the course, workshop-style lessons with a strong interactive component will be organized for attending students. During the workshop-style lessons case studies will be analysed, working groups and practical exercises will be organized to show the opportunities offered by the anthropological discipline and the ethnographic method in students’ future professional practice in school and educational fields. The results of group workshop activities will be presented in class and described in a written text prepared at home.
Assessment Methods
The exam consists of an oral examination. The grade is expressed as a mark out of thirty.
The oral examination consists of 3 questions concerning the exam bibliography aimed at assessing knowledge of the course contents taught during lessons (for attending students only) and the corresponding set texts.
Any research projects carried out during workshops will be part of the examination assessment (for attending students only). The final grade earned is the average of the grades obtained for workshop activities (presentation in class and written text prepared at home) and for the final oral exam, which is (only for attending students who have participated in workshop activities) a discussion about the workshop activities they have carried out during the course. The discussion will be also aimed at checking students’ ability of connecting the workshop activities with the course contents taught during lessons and the corresponding set texts.
The final mark will take into consideration: depth of knowledge; coherence of the discursive articulation, and ability to express themselves appropriately; ability to develop a personal and critical point of view on the topics of the course.
Contents
The course aims to provide a general background to the history of anthropology, to the key concepts, as well as to the main theoretical and methodological issues and debates that have been characterizing the discipline, with particular regard to the specific contribution of the anthropological studies to a critical understanding of educational processes in the time of contemporary globalization, as well as to a re-definition of some key-concepts (culture, identity-alterity, difference, inequalities, rights, citizenship) for a productive interpretation and management of complex processes of change at work in school and educational contexts in the present-day world.
The course will be divided in two parts. The first part of the course, which serves as an introduction to the second part, will adopt a theoretical perspective aimed to understand conceptual, analytical and methodological (ethnographic method) tools of anthropological investigation for a critical analysis and reading of educational processes, with a focus on debates that have been characterizing the discipline about educational practices in various social contexts, in an interdisciplinary and comparative perspective. The second part will take an applicative perspective aimed to enhancing a cultural-anthropological understanding of school and educational settings by especially focusing on the issues and problems the students will face in doing their future professional career. At the same time, the second part of the course will aim to highlight the potential of using an anthropological methodology (school ethnography and schooling) in school and educational settings in order to plan - adopting the epistemology of complexity - interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary teaching activities, which are able to grasp the relevant connections that learning settings and processes always have with the environmental, social, institutional, and organizational contexts where they are situated.
Online Resources
More information
The programme is the same for attending and non-attending students.
Erasmus students are asked to contact the teacher by e-mail to arrange a specific exam program. Erasmus students can take the exam in English, but this must be agreed before the examination period starts, and under direct request of the Erasmus incoming student.