2/129 - Cultural Anthropology (AL)

Cultural anthropology aims to achieve cognitive and interpretative objectives concerning the ways human beings—organized in societies and active within complex linguistic and cultural networks—act, experience, think, imagine, and communicate. Anthropological knowledge has a long-standing history of theories and methods that critically challenge a priori categories and notions, and it is fundamentally based on fieldwork.

It requires everyone to take an ethical stance against inferiority-based thinking, racialization, and socio- cultural impoverishment caused by renewed forms of colonization.

Students are expected to acquire the theoretical tools, concepts, and methods of cultural anthropology that will enable them to interpret the plurality of dimensions, and the variety of cultural and linguistic aspects of human societies, as well as study the historical processes that led to the recognition of the value of cultural differences.

APPLIED KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING

With these tools, students should be able to reflect on and interpret their own cultural history through a relativistic lens, in connection with the long journey that has led—beyond academia—to the recognition and value of studying Other societies and languages.

What students will have gained—both in terms of awareness of the history of scientific theories (including anthropological thought) and in knowledge of other cultures—will be essential for their future roles as professionals and citizens. They will develop an attentive attitude toward multiculturalism, active listening, respect, and understanding (if not advocacy) of cultural and linguistic differences, in an anti-racist, non-ethnocentric manner, and in opposition to any form of forced dependency, violence, or discrimination.

ADDITIONAL EXPECTED LEARNING OUTCOMES

Cultural anthropology provides the methodological, theoretical, and conceptual tools needed to reflect on, interpret, and study existing cultural and linguistic diversity and plurality. It enables independent judgment and awareness in favor of relativistic and non-ethnocentric perspectives.

The discipline offers knowledge, theoretical and interpretative perspectives, and empirical research practices to take reasoned positions against prejudice and racism, including those related to cultural and gender diversity.

Studying cultural anthropology is especially recommended for students pursuing public careers in national and international institutions, including teaching at all levels, so they can better understand and navigate the immense cultural and linguistic variety of humanity they will encounter.

For these reasons, 8 (or 6) CFU in Cultural Anthropology are a required qualification (Ministerial Decree 616, August 10, 2017) to participate in teacher qualification exams.

Communication Skills

Studying cultural anthropology equips students with the tools to reflect on and discursively construct their own cultural identity, fully aware of living in a global multicultural context. This is essential in any professional setting, such as:

• mediation roles
• teaching
• healthcare and legal settings
• heritage preservation (material and immaterial)
• archival studies
• conflict resolution processes
• "induced" social change projects
• migration management
• gender rights advocacy
• combating slavery and violence
• safeguarding indigenous self-determination and language rights
• monitoring environmental and food resource exploitation
• addressing religious conflicts
• analyzing social and family structures, youth conditions, employment and precarity, use of new media, bioethics theories, rights, and scientific knowledge, etc.

Learning Skills

Anthropology offers theories and methods for acquiring knowledge about cultural differences through empirical research (fieldwork, archival research, work in museums) and bibliographic research, which are essential for undertaking any type of study or profession (as previously described).