Current Issues in Anthropology
Objectives
The main objetive of the curricular unit is to discuss some main topics in contemporary anthropology. The seminarfocuses on three main thematic areas: globalization, nationalism and contemporary migrations. The seminar addressestheoretical debates on these topics and examines some representaive ethnographical studies. The curricular unit seeksto stimulate the articulation between the topics under discussion and relevant predicaments in contemporary socialand cultural life.
General characterization
Code
01105759
Credits
6.0
Responsible teacher
Paula Cristina Antunes Godinho
Hours
Weekly - 4
Total - 168
Teaching language
Portuguese
Prerequisites
N/A
Bibliography
- Anderson, B., 1991 [1983], Imagined Communities. Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. New York: Verso.
- Barth, Frederick, 1969. “Introduction“. In F. Barth (ed) Ethnic Groups and Boundaries. The Social Organization of
- Cultural Difference. Bergen-Oslo: Universitets Forlaget, London, George Allen & Unwin, pp. 9-38.
- Basch, L., N. Glick Schiller & C. S. Blanc, 1994. Nations Unbound. Transnational Projects, Postcolonial Predicaments and Deterritorialised Nation-States. Basel: Gordon and Breach Publishers.
- Errington, F. & D. Gewertz, 1991. Twisted Histories, Altered Contexts. Representing the Chambri in the World System.
- Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Handler, R., 1994. “Is Identity a Useful Cross-Cultural Concept?”. In J. Gillis (ed.), Commemorations. The Politics of National Identity. Princeton: Princeton University Press, pp. 27-40.
- Smith, A. D., 1991. National Identity, Hardsmondworth, Penguin Books.
Teaching method
The curricular unit is organized around two kinds of sessions:
1) lecturing sessions, preceded by students' oral presentations of the bibliographical references for each session;
2) seminar sessions, centred around the oral presentation, by goups of two students, of the results of exercises of ethnographic observation. A
Evaluation method
Continuous assessment - 1) oral presentations of bibliographical references for each session; 2) oral presentation of the exercices of ethnographical observation; 3) assiduity and participation on the discussions; 4) final test(100%)
Subject matter
1. Introduction.
2. Globalization: anthropological perspectives.
Globalization: concepts and debates. Anthropological perspectives. Globalization and culture: circulation;
hibridizations; ethnocíde and ethnic revivals. Globalization seen from the North.
3. Nation and nacional identity.
The social sciences and the nation: consenses and debates. The place of anthropology in the study of the nation.
4. Migrations: ethnicity, transnationalism.
Theoretical perspectives on ethnicity. Ethnicity and migrations. Migrations and transnacionalism.
6. The limits of identity