504372 - POLITICAL ANTHROPOLOGY

courses

ID:

504372

Duration (hours):

40

CFU:

SSD:

DISCIPLINE DEMOETNOANTROPOLOGICHE

Year:

2025

Date/time interval

Primo Semestre (29/09/2025 - 12/12/2025)

Course Objectives

The course is a theoretical and methodological introduction to political anthropology. Its main aim is to provide students with adequate tools to understand anthropological texts and to critically discuss some case studies. At the end of the course students will have to know the main authors of political anthropology and learn how to apply different theoretical tools in a critical way. They will also need to have acquired a thorough knowledge of the debates regarding how power dynamics are articulated along different axis of social differentiation (class, gender, statutory groups and political affiliation, citizenship, caste, religion, etc...).

Teaching Methods

Frontal learning, class discussions and presentations

Assessment Methods

Oral exam: students will be asked to present and discuss the content of the books they studied. The evaluation is based on the degree of knowledge and critical understanding of the topics discussed.

Texts

Students will have to study three volumes. The first book must be chosen among the following list (Part 1).

Part 1:

Fabietti U., 2020, Storia dell’Antropologia. Quarta Edizione, Zanichelli, Bologna.

Gledhill, J., 2000, Power and Its Disguises, Anthropological Perspectives on Politics, Second Edition, London, Pluto Press.

Lewellen T. C., 2003, Political Anthropology. An Introduction, Third Edition, Praeger Publishers, disponibile online: https://mahabubjnu.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/59811078-lewellen-political-anthropology.pdf)

Matera E. (a cura di), 2020, Storia dell’etnografia, Autori, teorie, pratiche. Carocci, Roma.

The other two books must be chosen among the following list (Part two):

Part 2: Ethnographies

Abu-Lughod, L. 2022, Sentimenti velati. Onore e poesia in una società beduina, Rosenberg & Sellier, Torino.

Appadurai, A. 2014, Il futuro come fatto culturale. Saggi sulla condizione globale, Raffaele Cortina Editore, Milano.

Cordova, G. 2022. Karim e gli altri. La gioventù tunisina dopo la Primavera, Torino, Rosenberg&Sellier.

D’Orsi, L. 2020, Oltraggi della memoria. Generazioni, nostalgie e violenza politica nella sinistra in Turchia, Meltemi, Milano.

Fabietti, U. 2011, Ethnography at the Frontier : Space, Memory and Society in Southern Balochistan, Peter Lang, Bern.

Fassin, D. 2016, Quando i corpi ricordano. Esperienze e politiche dell'Aids in Sudafrica, traduzione di Lorenzo Alunni, Argo (Biblioteca di antropologia medica), Lecce.

Gardini, M. 2023, Anzianità e Invecchiamento in Africa e nella Diaspora. Prospettive Antropologiche. Carocci Editore, Roma.

Mangiarotti, E. 2024, Feminist Peace and the Violence of Communalism: Community, Gender and Caste in India. Routledge, New York.

Massa, A. 2021, Intrecci di frontiera. Percorsi, speranza e incertezze nelle migrazioni tra Eritrea ed Etiopia, CISU, Roma.

Mattalucci, C. (a cura di), 2012, Etnografie di genere. Immaginari, relazioni e mutamenti sociali, Edizioni Altravista, Campospinoso PV

Solinas, P. 2015, Colore di pelle colore di casta. Persona, rituale, società in India, Mimesis, Milano.

Viola, L. 2019, Corpi fuori controllo. Violenza omofoba ed eteronormatività a Malindi, Mimesis, Milano.

Viti, F. 2007, Schiavi, servi e dipendenti. antropologia delle forme di dipendenza personale in Africa, Raffaele Cortina Editore, Milano.

The first part of the course will focus on the forms of socio-political organization and local conceptions of power and authority in African and Asian societies. It is based on an excursus through the main anthropological theories and studies elaborated by the different schools. Seminars are planned around specific case studies and field research experiences. Area studies regarding political transitions in a contemporary context will be considered, with particular attention to conflicts and their historical-political roots. In the second part of the course, the micro dynamics through which power relations are shaped and renegotiated along axis of social differentiations based on class, gender, age, citizenship, caste, statutory groups, religious and political affiliations will be deepened through the anthropological analysis of some specific contexts, with attention to the long-term perspective.

Course Language

Italian

More information

Agli studenti che hanno ottenuto la certificazione di trovarsi nelle condizioni previste dalla normativa di Ateneo, (https://portale.unipv.it/it/didattica/servizi-lo-studente/modalita-didattiche-inclusive) saranno assicurate fino a due ore alla settimana di ricevimento online e indicazioni sui materiali didattici che consentano la preparazione dell'esame in autonomia.