ETHNOGRAPHIES OF OCEANIA

The course is among the non-compulsory teaching activities of the MA course in Anthropology Ethnology and Anthropological Linguistics.

The course explores Indigenous arts and performances as tactics of survival and resistance, as well as their role in decolonisation: modalities of acquiring, transmitting, sharing and renewing Indigenous knowledge, critical re-readings of colonial history and archives, and diplomatic arenas to negotiate Indigenous autonomy in neocolonial contexts.

The course aims to provide students with knowledge and tools:
1. to learn the main themes and debates in the study of Oceania in Cultural Anthropology
2. to acquire the ability to identify l.e. limits of theoretical approaches in the light of more recent critiques
3. to acquire an ability to synthesize ideas and articulate complex theoretical approaches

Attending class and participation in the course training activities (face-to-face lectures, class presentation, written exam essay) together with individual preparation of the compulsory readings will allow students to:
1. Knowledge and comprehension
- to know the main themes and debates in the Anthropology of art and performance, and Indigenous Studies in relation to art and performance
- to know theoretical approaches applied to contemporary realities (challenges of new reproduction technologies)
. to know the main theoretical approaches characterizing the history of anthropological thought
2. Ability to apply knowledge and comprehension
- to interpret a case study in the specific theoretical frameworks
- to apply theoretical notions to specific case studies from a comparative perspective
3. capacity for evaluation
- be able to formulate and express complex ideas by comparing and contrasting different theoretical and methodological perspectives
- to develop a critical approach to the literature (identify contributions and limits)
4. Communicative abilites
- To be able to summarize and present complex ideas orally (class presentations) and in writing (final exam essay)
- to develop the ability for synthesis and knowledge of the technical language (expressions and terminology)
5. Learning capacity
- Specialized knowledge in structuring and writing a scientific essay
- the capacity to develop research autonomy in the interpretation of data

No prerequisites. Students who approach for the first time a course in Cultural Anthropology, are invited to come to talk to the lecturer in order to arrange for a specific program.

The course explores Indigenous arts and performances as tactics of survival and resistance, as well as their role in decolonisation. It examines modalities of acquiring, transmitting, sharing, and renewing Indigenous knowledge; critical re-readings of colonial histories and archives; and diplomatic arenas through which Indigenous autonomy is negotiated in neocolonial contexts. In addition, Indigenous arts and performative practices are considered as methodological and theoretical innovative frameworks for articulating relational Indigenous onto-epistemologies that underpin Indigenous sovereignty claims and political presence. Finally, the course considers how the participatory and engaged forms of knowledge that characterise Indigenous arts and performances challenge the tyranny of vision, the hegemony of textualism, and the primacy of referential meaning that dominate analysis in the social sciences. Particular attention is given to the emergence of “performative ethnography” (Fabian 1990) or “artful anthropology” (Gretchen and Peterson 2017) in the growing number of experimental projects and collaborative forms involving Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists, scholars, and activists.

REFERNCE LIST
Blue Swadener, Beth and Kagendo Mutua 2008 Decolonizing Performances: Deconstructing the Global Postcolonial, in Handbook of Critical and Indigenous Methodologies
Butler, Judith 2010 Bodies in Alliance and the Politics of the Street. https://transversal.at/transversal/1011/butler/en
Casagrande, Olivia, Claudio A. Lincocopi e Roberto C. Martinez 2022. Performing the Jumbled City. Subversive Aesthetics and Anticolonial Indigeneity in Santiago de Chile. Manchester University Press.
Dufrenne M. 1953, La phenomenologie de l'espérience esthétique, Presses Universitaires de France, Paris.
Feld. S. 1990 [1982]. Sound and Sentiment. Birds, Weeping, Poetics and Song in Kaluli Expression. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Firmino Castillo, María Regina 2016 Dancing the Pluriverse: Indigenous Performanceas Ontological Praxis, Dance Research Journal, 48, 1:55-73.
Flynn, Alex and Jonas Tinius eds. 2010 Anthropology, Theatre, and Development. The Transformative Potential of Performance. Palgrave Macmillan.
Gatt, Caroline and Valeria Lembo 2022 Knowing by Singing, Cultural Anthropology pp.830-940
Gatt, Caroline, Valeria Lembo, Diego Galafassi, Gey Pin Ang, Nickolai D. Nickolov, Suk-Jun Kim, and Daniel Rocha 2025, “Of Words and Sounds: Curating an Epistemically Plural Anthropology Symposium.” Journal of Embodied Research 8(1): 2 (24:37). DOI: https://doi.org/10.16995/jer.15519
Gell, A. 1998 Art and Agency: An Anthropological Theory, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Hallam, E. and T. Ingold. 2007 Creativity and Cultural Improvisation, E. Hallam and T. Inglold eds., Berg, Oxford and New York pp. 1-24.
Hymes, D. 1975. Breakthrough into Performance. In Folklore, Performance and Communication. D. Ben-Amos and K. S. Goldstein, eds. pp. 11-74. The Hague: Mouton.
Gilroy, P. 1990, It Ain’t Where You are From, It’s where You’re At … The Dialectics of Diasporic Identification, Third Text 5,13:3-16.
Lea, Tess and Elizabeth Povinelli 2018 Karrabing: An Essay in Keywords. Visual Anthropology Review, 34, 1, pp. 36–46.
Magnat, Virginie 2012 “Can Research Become Ceremony? Performance Ethnography and Indigenous Epistemologies.” Canadian Theatre Review 151: 30–36.
Morphy, Howard 1990. From Dull to Brilliant: The Aesthetics of Spiritual Power among the Yolngu. In Man 24:21-40
Shea Murphy, J. 2016 ed. Indigenous Dance Today, Dance Research Journal 48, 1
Schieffelin, E. L.1985. Performance and the Cultural Construction of Reality. American Ethnologist 12(4):707-724.
Schneider, Arndt, Cristopher Wright eds. 2013 Anthropology and Art Practice, London, Routledge.
Schechner, Richard 2013 [2002] Performance Studies: An Introduction, Sarah Lucie
Tamisari, Franca 2024. Enacted Relations. Performing Knowledge in an Australian Indigenous Community. London, New York: Berghahn Books.
Tamisari, F. 2021 Creating Your Vision and Understanding. The Musical Legacy of Wirrinyga Band Within and Beyond Northeast Arnhem Land, L’Uomo Società Tradizione Sviluppo, 11,1:113-148.
Tamisari F. 2010. Dancing for Strangers. Zorba the Greek Yolngu Style. A Giullarata By the Chooky Dancers of Elcho Island, La Ricerca Folklorica, 61:61-72.
Tamisari, F. e F. Di Blasio (a cura di) 2007. La Sfida dell’arte. Tradizione, contemporaneità e
innovazione nell’arte indigena australiana, Milano, Jaca Book.
Taussig, Michael 2011. I Swear I Saw This. Drawings in Fildework, Namely my Own. Chigago and London: The University of Chicago Press.
Turner, Victor 1993. Are Thre Universal of Performance in Myth, Ritual and Drama? In By Means of Perforamnce. Intercultural Studies of Theatre and Ritual, R. Schechner and W. Appel eds., Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, pp. 8-18.
Wilson, Shawn 2008. Research Is Ceremony: Indigenous Research Methods. Black Point, Nova Scotia: Fernwood.

EXAM PROGRAM

COMPULSORY READINGS, see below. READINGS WILL BE AVAILABLE in pdf format in pdf in MOODLE

Bell, Richard 2002. Bell’s Theorem. Aboriginal Art It’s a White Thing. https://www.kooriweb.org/foley/great/art/bell.html
Conquergood Dwight 2002 Performance Studies Interventions and Radical Research. The Drama Review 46, 2: 145-156.
Deger, Jennifer, V. Baskin Coffey, C. Kingston, S. J. Lowe, L. Stefanoff 2024. Epistemic Attunements: Experiments in Intermedial Anthropology, The Australian Journal of Anthropology, Special Issue Epistemic Attunements – Regenerating Anthropology’s Form 35, 1-2:3-19, see video essa yat: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/taja.12492
Gurrumuruwuy Paul , Jennifer Deger, Enid Guruŋulmiwuy, Victoria Baskin Coffey, Meredith Balanydjarrk, Warren Balpatji 2024. Lung’thun. Sand Saltwater and Collaborative Attunements. The Australian Journal of Anthropology, Special Issue Epistemic Attunements – Regenerating Anthropology’s Form, 35, 1-2: 27-38 (online)
https://www.curatorium.au/taja-journal/form-content/lungthun-sand-saltwater-and-collaborative-attunements
Fabian, Johannes 1990 Reflections on Ethnography, in Power and Performance. Ethnographic Explorations Through Proverbial Wisdom and Theatre in Shaba, Zaire, The University of Wisconsin Press, Madison.pp. 3-20.
Mouffe, Chantal 2013. Chapter 5 Agonistic Politics and Artistic Practices, in Agonistics. Thinking the World Politically. London, New York: Verso, pp.85-105
Tamisari, Franca 2007. The Art of the Encounter: The Cheek, Drama and Subterfuge of Performative Tactics, in The Revenge of Genres, Australia Contemporary Art. Les Brasserurs Liege: AINU.
Tamisari, Franca 2005. Writing close to dance. Reflexions on an Experiment, in Aesthetics and Experience in Music Performance, a cura di E. Mackinlay, D. Collins and S. Owens, Cambridge, Cambridge Scholars Press, pp. 174-203
Taylor, Diana 2016. Framing [Performance] in Performance, Duke University Press, pp. 1-41
Teves, Nohelani Stephanie 2018. The Theorist and the Theorized: Indigenous Critiques of Perforamance Studies, Drama Review 62, 4:131-140.

written and oral

17 FAIL
18-20 PASS
Limited comprehension of notions, limited skill of exposition and reflection, no critical capacity
21-23 SATISFACTORY
Sufficient comprehension of notions presented in an unclear and reflexive manner; difficulties in elaborating, and synthesizing ideas
24-26 GOOD
Good comprehension of notions but limited capacity of exposition, reflection, and synthesis
27-28 VERY GOOD
In-depth comprehension of notions that are presented in a clear and articulated manner; remarkable synthesizing capacity and critical reflection
29-30 VERY GOOD
Broad and in-depth comprehension of notions that are presented in an articulated and sophisticated manner. Excellent ability in exposing ideas synthetically, and critical ability
30 CUM LAUDE EXCELLENT
Broad and in-depth comprehension of notions showing an advanced knowledge of broader disciplinary and interdisciplinary debates, a mastery of academic language, and a capacity for original and critical thinking

Students' learning will be verified through an individual or group class presentation, a written essay, and an oral exam.

The written final essay must present and discuss a theme dealt with during the course and in the study material gathered in Moodle and in the list of 'furhter readings'. The essay topic must be approved by the lecturer. The essay must be well written and structured and the issue identified int he introduction must be demonstrated with ethnographic examples and theoretical approaches discussed during the course and in the course readings. The essay is not a simple summary of the readings but an opportunity to reflect on specific approaches in order to develop one own critical capacity. The written essay (22.000 characters including spaces and references must be printed (Times New Roman 12), with a 1,5 line spacing and with 2 cm margin. All ideas quoted directly or indirectly in the course and further readings (monographs, articles, book chapters) must be attributed to the author indicating the author's name, publication date and page number. The author-date method is preferred but must be completed by a list of references at the end of the text (in alphabetical order).

Students are asked to submit the written essay on time in order to be able to sustain the exam. Students should regularly check the lecturer's messages posted in Moodle and/or on her personal page. For further information write to Prof. Franca Tamisari: tamisari@unive.it

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Poverty and inequalities" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development