The course aims to introduce students to the central problems of the theory and practice of social and cultural anthropology. In that sense, it will focus mainly on the themes of otherness, diversity, difference and comparison. The notions of culture, society and subjectivity will be considered as key analytical tools. Particular emphasis will be placed on the cross-cultural analysis of the ideas of the individual and personhood, therapeutic practices and the construction of suffering and well-being in relation to processes linked to class, ethnicity and religion. Topics to be discussed include: origins of Anthropology in the scope of social sciences: otherness, culture and society; diversity in humankind: from “biology” to “culture”; methodology and research methods in Social and Cultural Anthropology: ethnography and data production, fieldwork: description, analysis and writing; Subjectivity, Self, Subjectivation and the social construction of personhood in a cross-cultural perceptive, discussions and complementarity with psychology; emotions, suffering and well-being in the ethnographical imagination; anthropology of religion and its relations to body/soul/mind; ethnography of contemporary therapeutical pluralism.
- Docente: Nicolas Viotti