Anthropology

In this course, students focus on how bodily experiences shape sickness, disability, health, and wellbeing. The course also explores more general themes in anthropology by addressing how multisensory bodily experience shapes and is shaped by factors such as identity, gender, religion, kinship, the material world, and political economy.  This course introduces students to the "sensory turn" in anthropology and equip students with knowledge of relevant theories for studying the sensorial body, including concepts such as phenomenology, embodiment and perception. Students gain ethnographic knowledge regarding how people experience the world through multisensory bodily experience and the role this has in shaping cultural life in many contexts. Students explore the methodological skills needed to carry out ethnography that focuses on the sensorial body, and they have the space to put this knowledge into practice as students are required to design and conduct your own mini research project as the summative assessment. 

This course provides the tools to understand the intersection between religion, media, entertainment, and popular culture in the context of processes generally described as globalization. The course focuses on the formations of contemporary religious communities in various parts of the world, so as to highlight the differences between several religious traditions, the socio-political contexts in which they thrive, and the various means through which these religions are channeled to their audiences and adherents. The focus on media and popular culture includes anthropological understandings of religion, such as the effects that film, music, radio, and social media have in the shaping of power relations between groups of people. 

This course explores the complex and influential connections between food, culture, self, place, and taste. Across the world, food is increasingly on the agenda, in relation to many themes: health, economy, politics, climate, famine, and obesity. There is an increased need for humanistic approaches to the understanding of how tradition, history, and cross-cultural practices influence people's eating and food choices. The course provides students with humanities-based insights into a wide array of aspects of food culture, including lifestyle; food politics; identity and the body; food and media; urban gardening; food taboos; food security; commensality; the globalization of taste; and the history of the chef.

The course introduces students to the fundamental principles of intercultural competence and ethnographic research. It proposes to develop perception and appreciation of different cultural perspectives and values. It prepares students to carry out an ethnographic project. It also guides and prepares students for the challenges of intercultural experiences and of conflict resolution by developing practical tools to be applied in a diverse cultural environment.