Ateneo - UPO

Anthropology and tourism

A) Conrad Phillip Kottak (2020), Antropologia culturale, Milano, McGraw-Hill. See the document “MANUALE KOTTAK - PARTI DA STUDIARE.PDF” available on DIR (www.dir.uniupo.it) in the directory of the module; the course presentation slides will also be provided on the DIR website.
B) Davide Porporato (2023), Miti, riti, cibi della montagna occitana, FrancoAngeli, Milano.
C) Anthropology and tourism (a.a. 25-26), handout available on the DIR website.

• Objective - knowledge and comprehension: introducing the students to the study of anthropology; acquiring the basic knowledge of the discipline: theoretical concepts, methodologies, and fields of ethnographic investigation; acquiring critical thinking skills necessary to deconstruct the most common stereotypes; understanding the multiplicity and the plurality of worldviews; deepening the relationship between the anthropological dimension and tourism through some fundamental issues useful to understand new horizons for tourism, such as the tradition’s reinvention, food as cultural heritage, sustainable tourism, ethnic tourism, and responsible tourism.
• Objectives - ability to apply knowledge and comprehension: being able to identify, interpret and critically position some aspects of anthropological culture; acquiring the ability to critically read texts and documents.
• Objectives - expression of opinions and judgments: acquiring the ability to analyze and to make personal pronouncements about the concepts learned; comparing ethnographic data.
• Objectives - communication skills: ability to communicate ethnological issues, orally or by means of short written papers, using appropriate terminology.
• Objectives - ability to study: deepening the topics through bibliographic research on the basis of the knowledge acquired; combining theoretical and methodological concepts with the observation of ethnographic data.
The course is aimed at teaching students the main theoretical and methodological anthropological concepts and, for the most advanced students, the critical use of acquired theoretical and methodological knowledge. The assessment of the above mentioned goals will be verified during the exam.
Objectives and contents of the course fulfil the criteria required for the teaching in the first and second level secondary schools.

General culture knowledge deriving from high school.

Lectures, slides and ethnographic video recordings. Students will be involved in guided discussions on specific topics. Educational field outings.
Slides and other teaching materials will be available on the DIR website.

Students with physical disabilities, Learning Disabilities or Special Education Needs can request specific services and tools via reference office consulting the University webpage: https://www.uniupo.it/en/services/services-students-physical-or-learning-disabilities.
Students with disabilities, learning disabilities or special education needs, once they have contacted the University Staff, can refer to the tutor in charge of the course to define the examination modalities, concerning academic aspects.

E-mail: davide.porporato@uniupo.it.
Room: Dipartimento di Studi per l'Economia e l'Impresa, Studio T20 (third floor), via E. Perrone, 18- 28100 Novara.

Office hours: see
https://upobook.uniupo.it/davide.porporato

Students are kindly asked to contact the teacher in advance by e-mail.

The exam is aimed at verifying the achievement of the learning objectives. The exam is structured in two parts that can be taken on a single day or in two consecutive or non-consecutive calls, at student’s discretion. First part
The knowledge of the course book:
A) C.P. Kottak (2020), Cultural Anthropology, Milan, McGraw-Hill (only the chapters listed in the document MANUALE KOTTAK - PARTI DA STUDIARE available on DIR), and of the slides presented throughout the course will be evaluated by an e-test consisting in 30 multiple-choice questions. This e-test lasts approximately 30 minutes. 1 point is given to each correct answer. This part of the exam will be considered successful with a minimum of 18 correct answers.
Second part
The knowledge of the following volumes:
B) Davide Porporato (2023), Miti, riti, cibi della montagna occitana, Franco Angeli, Milano;
C) Anthropology and tourism (a.a. 25-26), handout available on the DIR website, will be assessed during the oral test.
Students will be asked to make an oral presentation on three themes of the program determined by the teacher. Answers will also enable to test the communication skills. Oral test takes approximately 20 minutes.
The assessment of the second part as well is expressed in thirtieths: the exam will be considered successful with a minimum score of 18 points/30. The final assessment is given by the average of the marks obtained in both tests.
The final mark is expressed according to the following criteria:
- from 18 to 21/30: acceptable knowledge and comprehension of the basic concepts of the discipline and of the ethnographic research field. Acceptable skills to understand and contextualize the relationship between the anthropological dimension and the tourism through the issues of the teaching module. Minimum skill level to apply the acquired knowledge and to communicate the issues using an appropriate terminology. Minimum skill level to acquire new competences.
- From 22 to 25/30: the same items with a satisfactory performance;
- From 26 to 28/30: the same items with a good performance;
- From 29 to 30/30 (with possible honors): the same items with an excellent performance.
Communication of assessments.
The results of the computerized test will be announced after the test itself. The final mark will be announced after the oral test and notified on the IT platform “Esse3 – Servizi informatici”.
During office hours for students, it will be possible to review the first part of the test.

Issues:
What is Cultural Anthropology?
Goals and objectives of Anthropology.
The anthropological concept of Culture.
The constituent elements of a culture.
Plurality and relativity of cultures.
Cultural relativism and ethnocentrism.
Ethnicity and race
Diversity and cultural creativity.
(Gender mainstreaming addition)
Sex and gender: roles, gender-based intersections, and sexual orientation.
The methods in Anthropology.
Livelihood systems.
Among contemporaneity and traditions.
The tangible and intangible ethno-anthropological cultural heritage.
The processes of reinvention and resemantization of tradition.
New traditions and complex society.
Food as cultural heritage.
Anthropology and enogastronomic tourism.
Folk festivals and tourism.
Sustainable tourism.
Ethnic tourism.
Responsible tourism.
Tourism and identity horizons.
The Tourism of Territorialization.

Knowledge and understanding:
knowledge of some fundamental theoretical concepts of the discipline; knowledge of the ethnographic research fields; ability to understand and contextualize the relationship between anthropological and tourism dimensions through the issues of the teaching module.
Ability to apply knowledge and understanding: skills to critically identify, interpret and place some aspects of ethno-anthropological culture; ability to critically read a text.
Expression of opinions and judgments: ability to make personal pronouncements about the concepts learned; ability to compare ethnographic data.
Communication skills: ability to communicate the acquired knowledge by using appropriate terminology.
Learning/studying skills: ability to draw on bibliographic resources in order to acquire new competences; ability to combine theoretical and methodological concepts with the direct observation of ethnographic data.
To achieve an advanced level, students must also prove to have:
- an organic vision of the topics addressed in class, and the attitude to synthetize and to analyze;
- the ability to elaborate a personal and critical vision of the topics with excellent language proficiency;
- the ability to explore particular topics autonomously.
These results are consistent with the requirements of the Annual Form (SUA) of the 3-year course.