METHODOLOGIES OF ANTHROPOLOGICAL RESEARCH

The course is part of the master's degree in Cultural Anthropology, Ethnology and Ethnolinguistics and is compulsory for students enrolled in the academic year 2022-23 (optional for the previous years). The course aims to introduce the students to the theories and methods of advanced ethnographic research, allowing them to acquire the basic skills to conduct an independent research. The course is practical and experience-based, but also focuses on the critical approaches (feminist, postcolonial, intersubjective, multispecies) that have contributed to transforming ethnography from a practice of "writing others" to a participatory reflection on human experience and its possibilities.
The course gives center stage to the ethnographers, with their affiliations, gender and personal specificities, as fundamental players in the research with human and non-human interlocutors, offering the opportunity to collect and interpret ethnographic data through a short field exercise to be presented in class and to be developed in a written essay which is part of the exam. In the classes, the course presents and, where possible, allows students to experience the main methods for data collection (participant observation, informal conversations, interviews, focus groups, online ethnography) paying particular attention to the intersubjectivity of the ethnographic encounter and to different types of writing in the field (notes as mnemonic help, extended notes, field diary, transcript of informal interviews, recordings) and final writing. The use of photography and video will not be approached specifically as they are covered by the course in visual anthropology.
The objective of the course is to provide theoretical and practical knowledge relating to:
1. learning the fundamentals of data collection in ethnographic research;
2. setting up and conducting a research;
3. making a suitable bibliography;
4. interpret data in the light of the selected literature;
5. write ethnographically.

Attendance and active participation in the activities proposed by the course together with the individual study of the compulsory exam material will enable students to:
1. Knowledge and understanding:
- being familiar with the data collection methods that characterise the anthropological research
- being familiar with the debates that characterize data collection and its methods
2. Ability to apply knowledge and understanding:
- learning how to set up a field research (identifying the general topic, choosing a case study, formulating research questions, considerince the ethical needs, writing a research project)
- being aware of one's own positionality in relation to the interlocutors, the themes and the research materials
- knowing how to use data collection methods in field research according to the basic ethical criteria
3. judgment skills:
- knowing how to formulate the research themes and identify the appropriate bibliography
- contextualising and interpreting the ethnographic data collected in the light of the identified literature
- developing a critical approach to literature
4. Communication Skills:
- being able to present the research, both orally (presentations during classes) and in written form (final essay)
- developing skills of synthesis and specialized language (terminology and formal expression)
5. Learning skills:
- specialized knowledge of ethnographic data collection
- ability to critically reflect on one's role as researcher and analyst
- ability to develop autonomy in anthropological research

Basic knowledge of the theories and methods typical of Social and Cultural Anthropology, acquired through the other courses of the master's degree, in particular Cultural Anthropology sp and Ethnography sp.
Students who consider they lack the necessary knowledge may complement the study with:
Hendry J. 'An Introduction to Social Anthropology. Sharing Our Worlds'. Palgrave, 2016 (third edition).
Eriksen T.H. 'Small Places, Large Issues: An Introduction to Social and Cultural Anthropology'. Pluto Press, 2015 (fourth edition).

L'antropologia è etnografia
Per un'etnografia anti-coloniale e ecologica: corpo, genere, posizionalità, partecipazione e interlocutori "più che umani"
La relazione in etnografia: intersoggettività, mutualità, risonanza
L’etica della/nella ricerca
La definizione del tema di ricerca, la ricerca dei materiali bibliografici e la scrittura del progetto di ricerca
L'osservazione partecipante, i colloqui informali
Le note e il diario di campo, le registrazioni
L'intervista etnografica, il gruppo focale e l'intervista di storia di vita
L’antropologia della/nella rete

Pavanello Mariano, Fare antropologia. Metodi per la ricerca etnografica. Zanichelli, 2010.
Articles and book chapters made available in moodle.

Attending students will be divided into workgroups (approximately 4 members each) and will present in class a research project concerning a topic of interest, written according to the instructions provided during the first classes. The project will then be implemented through a short research whose results are to be presented in class at the end of the course. The group reseach constitutes the material for a written essay, to be prepared on an individual basis and presented for the exam. The essay must include, as an appendix, the field diary written during the research and must not exceed 3500 words (appendices and bibliographies excluded, but notes included).
In addition to the written essay, non-attending students will undertake an oral examination concerning the topics covered in the course, based on a brief discusison of the essay and on the assessment of the contents of the course manual (see the Readings section) and of the articles/book-chapters made available in moodle (one text for each course topic, see moodle). Non-attending students are required to agree the theme of research and essay with the instructor via email, delivering a short research project.
Further indications for the realization of the essay will be made available in the appropriate section in moodle.

The course combines face-to-face lectures, participatory activities and the main research exercise.
Students' presentations consist of:
1. Oral and written presentation (500 words) of the research project.
2. Oral presentation of the research results, which includes the type of data collected, the methods used and the tentative theoretical framework to be adopted for interpretation. The presentations are followed by a short discussion in which other students and the instructor explore themes and methods and provide comments to develop the final essay.
3. The 3500 words essay (appendixes and references exluded, but notes included) must be delivered in pdf format at least 10 days before the exam session through the specific delivery page in moodle.
4. During the field exercise, students must keep a field diary in which take note of the collected data. The diary must be attached to the final essay as an appendix.

Italian

written and oral

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