ANTHROPOLOGY OF ARTS

Academic year
2018/2019 Syllabus of previous years
Official course title
ANTROPOLOGIA DELL'ARTE
Course code
EM3F01 (AF:263389 AR:158208)
Modality
On campus classes
ECTS credits
6
Degree level
Master's Degree Programme (DM270)
Educational sector code
M-DEA/01
Period
1st Semester
Moodle
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The course allows students who are graduating in Cultural Anthropology, Ethnology and Ethnolinguistics, or who are interested in learning the ethnographic method, to investigate the issues related to the use of audio-visual methodologies during fieldwork. The objective of the course is to provide students with the necessary theoretical tools both (a) to evaluate the opportunity of the use of audio-visual means in the research, and (b) to evaluate the audiovisual production of third parties by framing it as part of the wider theoretical-methodological debate that has developed within visual anthropology especially since the 60s to today. Some examples of experimental methods - such as curating exhibitions or graphic novels - will also be taken into consideration.
Classes attendance, individual study, individual or collective vision of ethnographic documentaries, participation in group debates, and the optional experimentation in the use of audio-visual means, will allow the student to:

1. Knowledge and understanding
Acquire the ability to critically analyze an audio-visual document; critically evaluate the role of different senses in ethnographic observation.
2. Applying knowledge and understanding
Acquisition of basic tools for experimenting with alternative research methods during fieldwork
Acquisition of basic tools for the use of dissemination methodologies in anthropological knowledge
3. Making judgements
Acquisition of the basic analytical tools necessary to analyze and evaluate the audio-visual production of third parties in anthropological research
4. Communication skills
Through the group exercises carried out during the course, the student will be familiarized with the audio-visual communication tools.
5. Learning skills
Through the editing of the final paper, the student will strengthen his critical and autonomous research skills.
Students will more easily benefit from the the course if they already possess a basic knowledge of the ethnographic method and the main concepts of the anthropological theory; no technical knowledge is required with regard to the use of audio-visual means more generally.
1. Critical analysis of the concept of 'visualism' within the contemporary anthropological debate; the role of the senses in the production of anthropological knowledge
2. The beginnings of the ethnographic documentary
3. Use of the voice off in the audio-visual production. Case study: a comparison between "Les maitres fous" by Jean Roush and "La taranta" by Mingozzi
4. Points of view in the ethnographic research: thinking through editing and framing
5. Visualscapes / Soundscapes: "Rivers of Sand" by Robert Gardner
6. Observational cinema and beyond
7. The ethnofiction method in the production of ethnographic documentaries
8. Curatorial practices, graphic novels, et al. as experimental methods of disseminating ethnographic knowledge.
Main texts [selected chapters]:

Hockings, P. (Ed.). (2003). Principles of visual anthropology. Walter de Gruyter.
Henley, P. (2010). The adventure of the real: Jean Rouch and the craft of ethnographic cinema. University of Chicago Press.
MacDougall, D. (2005). The corporeal image: Film, ethnography, and the senses. Princeton University Press.
Howes, D. (2005). Empire of the Senses. Oxford, UK: Berg Publishers.
Sjöberg, J. (2008). Ethnofiction: drama as a creative research practice in ethnographic film. Journal of Media Practice, 9(3), 229-242.

Filmography:

"Les maitres fous" e "Moi, un noir" di Jean Rouch.
"La taranta" di Mingozzi.
"To live with herd" di MacDougall.
"Eux et moi" di Stephan Breton.
"Rivers of sand" di Robert Gardner.
"Duka's Dilemma" di Jean Lydall.
"Transfiction" di Johannes Sjoberg.
The exam will consist of a written text. Students will be able to chose between two different modalities: (1) To write a small essay based on the critical review of films and articles; (2) To make a short documentary and accompany it with a written text

(A) Vision and commentary in the classroom through group dynamics of ethnographic documentaries; (B) shooting of a documentary about a particular aspect of the city of Venice; to carry on this activity the class will be divided in small groups
Italian
written

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Human capital, health, education" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development

Definitive programme.
Last update of the programme: 10/04/2018