Anthropology

From the patriotic tunes of the inter-war mandatory period to the underground music of the Arab Uprisings, Middle Eastern and North African popular music is deeply entangled with politics. Since the late nineteenth century, states and various social groups have attempted to channel the power of patriotic hymns and subversive songs. This course draws on the sociology and anthropology of culture to revisit the history of the region through music. It looks beyond periods of political upheaval to understand the everyday significance of musical practices in authoritarian, neoliberal, and postcolonial settings. Whether we understand it as a tightly knit web of meaning or as a soundwave that travels around and beyond the Middle East, popular music – its production, circulation, and consumption— tells a larger story about the making and remaking of identities and power relations in modern nation-states in the region.

Addressing urban change and apprehending the complexity of cities demands a distinct interdisciplinary approach across the arts, sciences, social sciences, and humanities, each bringing their own theoretical and methodological perspectives to bear on a phenomenon that has traditionally been studied from within disciplinary silos. This course acknowledges the complexity of cities as distinctive material environments for social life, raising questions of how the different dimensions of the built (and imagined) urban environment permeate everyday experiences of the contemporary city. 

In the last twenty years, historians have turned with ever more urgency to food as a key for understanding culture. Italy is particularly interesting in this respect. Food is one of the pillars of modern Italian identities: the result, in part, of a conservative and resilient society and, in part, of the vagaries of Italian community life since the 1850s. Many Italian ‘staples’ from pasta to olive oil, from ice-cream to wine, from pizza to risotto also have instructive back-stories that offer insights into Italian culture and Italian history. The course has two aims: first, to achieve a proper understanding of the last two centuries of Italian (food) history – the period of ‘unity in diversity’ with a particular focus on the pre-Second-World-war period; and second, to get a handle on contemporary food culture. The course will employ both a historical and an ethnographic approach. Most weeks will have one lecture and one seminar and most readings will come from two books: one sociological and one historical. There will be between 500 and 600 pages of reading over the semester. There will be a number of tastings. 

Despite recent societal changes, people with disabilities, chronic illnesses, and/or neurodivergence are still underrepresented in society, popular culture, medical and academic disciplines. In this course, students take an autoethnographic, reflexive approach to exploring disabilities, chronic illnesses, and neurodivergence in society in general by considering representations in film, literature, and media, by studying the social barriers experienced, by learning about equality and social justice and by exploring different approaches to disability and advocacy.

This course studies the unique federal cultural landscape of Germany and, more specifically, the international cultural metropolis of Berlin which is home to world-class cultural institutions (such as the Staatliche Museen, Museumsinsel, or the Berliner Philharmoniker), traditional theaters, artistic avant-garde, a diverse music and literary scene, sites of the Remembrance, as well as events and clubs. The course considers how the cultural business is structured, how it is funded, the actors involved, and the role that culture plays in Berlin's development. Students get to know cultural institutions from different areas: museums, orchestras, theaters, cultural-political highlights (such as the Humboldt Forum or private initiatives), music labels, and socio-cultural projects. With the help of current and historical texts, through research and field research (individually or in small groups), students develop an overview of what "culture in Berlin" means in concrete terms. Excursions are also planned in Berlin to see and experience the culture as well.

This course examines the intricate links and parallels between the arts, science, philosophy, architecture, mysticism, medicine (both western and eastern), law, and economics, through understandings of the human body.

This course examines health, lifestyle, and medicine from cultural analytical and ethnographic perspectives.  The course covers current societal issues relating to illness, diagnosis and well-being in contemporary and historical societies. Students discuss these issues in relation to different cases such as the meeting between doctor and patient, living with chronic disease, controversial biotechnological diagnoses and treatments, and discourses on risk and responsibility. The course is based on current research in ethnology, medical anthropology, and cultural studies, including questions about the body, illness experiences, disability, ethics, and the new health economy. Lectures, seminars, and group exercises cover the theoretical understanding of how aspects of identity, class, gender, ethnicity, and age intervene in medical treatments and lifestyle patterns.