Aims

The seminar will aim to develop students' ability to:
- identify the processes of founding, reconstructing, articulating and expressing contemporary social symbols (meaning, values, and significant practices) through an understanding of the practices, the representations, and the way they are related;
- understand, in this respect, the substantive practices of data collection and analysis applied to a piece of socio-anthropological research (e.g. field observation, interviews, and the structural analysis of texts and discourse).

Main themes

There will be a substantive approach into the field under examination every year. Using this approach as a basis, students will familiarise themselves with data collection and analysis practices applied to a piece of socio-anthropological research.

Content and teaching methods

The seminar will link joint work phases and field phases in which participants will make their own observations and carry out their own analyses. The outcomes of these phases will be discussed in a final colloquium that will bring all participants' inputs together. At the end of this, they will finalise the presentation of their contributions. The best ones may be published.

Other information (prerequisite, evaluation (assessment methods), course materials recommended readings, ...)

The assessment will focus on participation in the various components of the project, and particularly (a) field observations, (b) the mark awarded for contribution to the colloquium-seminar and (c) the final presentation of the students' personal contributions.

Other credits in programs