Bi7851 Anthropology of Ethnicity

Faculty of Science
Autumn 2023
Extent and Intensity
2/0/0. 4 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
Teacher(s)
Paride Bollettin, MSc., Ph.D. (lecturer)
prof. PhDr. Jaroslav Malina, DrSc. (lecturer)
RNDr. Robin Pěnička, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
prof. PhDr. Jaroslav Malina, DrSc.
Department of Anthropology – Biology Section – Faculty of Science
Contact Person: Paride Bollettin, MSc., Ph.D.
Supplier department: Department of Anthropology – Biology Section – Faculty of Science
Timetable
Tue 16:00–17:50 Bp1,01007
Prerequisites
No pre-requisites. The course is suitable both for who have a prior background in anthropology (social and biological) and for who have experience in related disciplines who wish to improve their knowledge of the diversity of human experiences.
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
The course aims at introducing lived experiences of ethnicity from ethnographic perspectives for developing a critical reflection on diachronic and synchronic human variability and self-identification.
Learning outcomes
Through the course, participants will increase their skills in critically approach human variability from an anthropological perspective. Specifically, the participants will deepen: 1) the knowledge of historical and contemporary debates on the concept of ethnicity and related controversies; 2) the ability to describe, interpret and discuss the variability of humanity in relation with both historical and contemporary dimensions; 3) a critical reflection on situated experiences involving the topics of “ethnicity” and “identity” in connection with the self-identification in the global panorama.
Syllabus
  • 15th September - Week 1
  • This week will be dedicated at a general overview of the course, at the explanation of the tasks, at personal introduction of participants, at discussion of evaluation format, and at the definition of the topics for the semester works. Additionally, it will be requested a personal introduction of all the participants.
  • Recommended readings:
  • Bauman, Zygmunt. 2001. Identity in the globalizing world. Social Anthropology 9(2): 121-129. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1017/S096402820100009X
  • 22nd September - Week 2
  • The lectures will introduce some concepts related with the discussions about ethnicity, with special attention to some key ideas such as boundaries, fluidity, hybridity, politics of recognition, and integration.
  • Recommended readings:
  • Barth, Fredrik. 1969. Introduction. In Fredrik. Barth (Ed.). Ethnic Groups and Boundaries: The Social Organization of Culture Difference, pp. 09–38. Bergen: Universitetsforlaget.
  • 29th September - Week 3
  • The lecture will focus on the concept of “self-identification” and “ethnocentrism” as a key element for the current controversies and politics about ethnicity and identity.
  • Recommended readings:
  • Lévi-Strauss, Claude. 1973. Race and History. In Structural anthropology. Vol. 2, pp. 324-362. New York: Basic Books.
  • 6th October - Week 4
  • The lecture will discuss the case study of Central and South America. We will receive as a guest lecturer Prof. Marcelo Moura Melo from the Universidade Federal da Bahia (Brazil).
  • Recommended readings:
  • Brackette F. Williams. 1991. The Politics of Cultural Struggle in the Conception of a Guyanese People, and Religion, Class, Culture, and the Ghost of Hegemony. In Stains on My Name, War in My Veins, pp. 33-38, and 201-225. Durham: Duke University Press.
  • 13th October - Week 5
  • The Lecture will focus on ethnicity and historical migrations in Europe. Can we talk about ethnicities in prehistoric times?Where were the nations of Celts, Germanic people, Romans and Slavs born? We will try to do that in this lecture.
  • Recommended readings:
  • McSparron, Cormac et al. 2020. Migration, Group Agency, and Archaeology: A New Theoretical Model. International Journal of Historical Archaeology 24: 219-232. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10761-019-00519-6
  • 20th October - Week 6
  • The Lecture will focus on ethnicity and contemporary migrations in Europe. We will receive as a guest lecturer Prof. Andrea Ravenda from the Università degli Studi di Torino (Italy).
  • Recommended readings:
  • Ravenda, Andrea. 2009. Embodying Temporary Stay Centres. An ethnography of immigrants and institutions in the south-eastern border of Italy (Apulia). AM Rivista della Società italiana di antropologia medica 12(27-28): 113-135. https://www.amantropologiamedica.unipg.it/index.php/am/article/view/264
  • 27th October - Week 7
  • The lecture will focus on ethnicity and food in contemporary Europe. We will receive as a guest lecturer Prof. Donatella Schmidt from the Università degli Studi di Padova (Italy).
  • Recommended readings:
  • Schmidt Donatella and Palutan Giovanna. 2020. Food and Refugees in Rome. Humanitarian Practices or Agency Response? In R. Matta (Ed.). Food Identities at Home and on the Move. Explorations at the Intersection of Food, Belonging and Dwelling, pp. 131-154. London: Bloomsbury.
  • 3rd November - Week 8
  • The lecture will be dedicated to the oral presentations (max 10 minutes each) of reading groups (students will create 3 groups of 4/5 people and each group will read a book, for presenting it during the lecture).
  • List of possible readings (each group will select one):
  • Agarin, Timofey, and Brisig, Malte (Eds). 2009. Minority Integration in Central & Eastern Europe: Between Ethnic Diversity and Equality. New York: Rodopi.
  • Baker, Lee D. 2010. Anthropology and the Racial Politics of Culture. Durham: Duke University Press.
  • Brubaker. Rogers. 2004. Ethnicity Without Groups. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Comaroff, John L, and Comaroff, Jean. 2009. Ethnicity Inc. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
  • Mudde, Cas. 2007. Populist Radical Right Parties in Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge university Press.
  • Puleri, Marco. 2020. Ukrainian, Russophone, (Other) Russian: Hybrid Identities and Narratives in Post-Soviet Culture and Politics. Berlin: Peter Lang.
  • Telles, Edward. 2014. Pigmentocracies: ethnicity, race and color in Latin America. Chappel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press.
  • 10th November - Week 9
  • The Lecture will be focused on ethnic groups in the Czech republic. Are we “one-ethnic” nation or we are “colourfull” nation? We will discuss the self-identification and position of minorities and folk-groups in the Czech Republic.
  • Recommended readings:
  • Lupač, Petr. 2011. Postoje Čechů k etnickým minoritám a jejich právům: otázka etnické integrace jako problem etnické exluze. Acta Universitatis Carolinae. Philosophica et Historica 2/Studia Sociologica XVII: 53-67. DOI: https://karolinum.cz/data/clanek/4641/PheH_2_2011_04_Lupac.pdf
  • 17th November – Holiday
  • 24th November - Week 10
  • The lecture will be dedicated to ethnicity and ethnic representations in popular magazine in Central Europe between the I and the II World Wars. We will receive as a guest Lecturer Julia Secklehner from Masaryk University (Czech Republic).
  • Recommended readings:
  • Dagnosław Demski and Kamila Baraniecka-Olszewska. 2010. Introduction. Encountering Images of the Other. In Dagnosław Demski and Kamila Baraniecka (Eds.). Images of the Other in Ethnic Caricatures of Central and Eastern Europe, pp. 11–27. Warsaw: Polish Acad. of Sciences.
  • 01st December - Week 11
  • The lecture will concentrate on ethnicity in Africa. We will receive as a guest lecturer Prof. Patrício Batsîkama (Angola).
  • Alternative lecture activity:
  • Visit to the Muzeum Romské Kultury
  • Recommended readings:
  • 08th December - Week 12
  • Lecture topics:
  • The lecture will concentrate in a discussion on the bio-socio-cultural dimensions of ethnicity, on the current political tensions between “equality” and “difference”, and on alternative epistemologies of identity.
  • Recommended readings:
  • Santos, Boaventura de Sousa. 2016. Nuestra America: Postcolonial Identities and Mestizajes. In Epistemologies of the South, pp. 48-69. Oxon: Routledge.
  • 15th December - Week 13
  • Presentation of the final works, participative evaluation of the course.
Literature
  • Lupač, Petr. 2011. Postoje Čechů k etnickým minoritám a jejich právům: otázka etnické integrace jako problem etnické exluze. Acta Universitatis Carolinae. Philosophica et Historica 2/Studia Sociologica XVII: 53-67. DOI: https://karolinum.cz/data/clanek/4
  • McSparron, Cormac et al. 2020. Migration, Group Agency, and Archaeology: A New Theoretical Model. International Journal of Historical Archaeology 24: 219-232. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10761-019-00519-6
  • Schmidt Donatella and Palutan Giovanna. 2020. Food and Refugees in Rome. Humanitarian Practices or Agency Response? In R. Matta (Ed.). Food Identities at Home and on the Move. Explorations at the Intersection of Food, Belonging and Dwelling, pp. 131-154.
  • Lévi-Strauss, Claude. 1973. Race and History. In Structural anthropology. Vol. 2, pp. 324-362. New York: Basic Books.
  • Bauman, Zygmunt. 2001. Identity in the globalizing world. Social Anthropology 9(2): 121-129. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1017/S096402820100009X
  • Ravenda, Andrea. 2009. Embodying Temporary Stay Centres. An ethnography of immigrants and institutions in the south-eastern border of Italy (Apulia). AM Rivista della Società italiana di antropologia medica 12(27-28): 113-135. https://www.amantropologiam
  • Dagnosław Demski and Kamila Baraniecka-Olszewska. 2010. Introduction. Encountering Images of the Other. In Dagnosław Demski and Kamila Baraniecka (Eds.). Images of the Other in Ethnic Caricatures of Central and Eastern Europe, pp. 11–27. Warsaw: Polish A
  • Brackette F. Williams. 1991. The Politics of Cultural Struggle in the Conception of a Guyanese People, and Religion, Class, Culture, and the Ghost of Hegemony. In Stains on My Name, War in My Veins, pp. 33-38, and 201-225. Durham: Duke University Press.
  • Ethnic groups and boundaries : the social organization of culture difference. Edited by Fredrik Barth. Boston: Little, Brown and comp., 1969, 153 s. ISBN 0881339792. info
Teaching methods
The course will be organised in a participative and collaborative modality and it will mobilise diverse teaching-learning strategies: 1) studying and discussing bibliographic materials suggested in advance; 2) the participation of guests presenting (in presence and/or online) specific case study; 3) seminaries for a the collective and critical reflection on core aspects of the controversies about the topics of “ethnicity” and “identity”.
Assessment methods
The grade will be composed of three self-evaluations: 1) the active participation in the course’s meetings (20%); 2) the oral group presentation of a selected monograph (from the list) (30%); 3) a written final essay on a selected case study (50%). In the self-evaluations, students should demonstrate a reflexive discussion about the level of obtained knowledge of the issues discussed during lectures, the development of critical capacities for the analysis of an ethnographic case, and the demonstration of clear argumentative skills. The final essay is expected to briefly introduce and discuss a case study of students’ choice. The case study should be related with the main topic of the course, namely the ethnicity, with a focus on a contemporary or historical experience in Czech Republic. The final essay should be maximum 10 pages long, including an introduction (to situate the discussion), a description of the selected case study (detailing sources of information, presenting the specificities, etc.), and a conclusion (discussing the case study with the ideas introduced in the course).
Language of instruction
Czech
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
Study Materials
The course is taught annually.
Teacher's information
The lectures are held in Czech and English.
The course is also listed under the following terms Autumn 2007 - for the purpose of the accreditation, Autumn 2010 - only for the accreditation, Autumn 2007, Autumn 2008, Autumn 2009, Autumn 2010, Autumn 2011, Autumn 2011 - acreditation, Autumn 2012, Autumn 2013, Autumn 2014, Autumn 2015, Autumn 2016, autumn 2017, Autumn 2018, Autumn 2019, Autumn 2020, autumn 2021, Autumn 2022, Autumn 2024.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Autumn 2023, recent)
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