Cultural anthropology:material approaches in post-colonial world
A.A. 2025/2026
Obiettivi formativi
The course explores the role of museums as spaces for discussion on issues of contemporary anthropology, such as intercultural relations, globalisation, climate change and sustainability. Museum anthropology focuses on these topics, using collections as a basis for research, highlighting both their potential and their limitations.
The course includes a mix of theoretical lectures and practical exercises, including fieldwork, to encourage students to understand the different facets of the discipline and to choose their own path within the many specialisations available.
The course will start with the basic principles of research in museum anthropology and the history of studies. Subsequently, it will focus on the formation of collections, with an emphasis on non-European objects, and the functions of museums. Topics such as repatriation, the ethics of collecting and cultural appropriation will be discussed.
It will also examine how postcolonial studies have changed the approach to the management of museum objects in cataloguing, conservation and display.
The use of museum collections to understand historical and contemporary cultures has long been a key objective of anthropology. For this reason, in the final part of the course, case studies of museum anthropology issues applied to Amerindian and Asian heritages of the Museo delle Culture in Milan will be presented.
The course aims to provide the basics of cultural anthropology through the analysis of objects, to acquaint students with the main articulations of the discipline, and to raise awareness of the various aspects of museum practice. The main objectives of the course are:
1. To provide information on anthropological methodologies used in the research, collection and display of materials of anthropological interest.
2. To develop skills in finding and critically reviewing primary sources related to objects.
3. To acquire awareness of the ethical issues involved in the collection, study, cataloguing and display of anthropological and ethnographic materials.
At the end of the course, students will be able to use advanced tools and methodological skills to critically analyse museum collections and heritage management. Furthermore, they will be able to apply these skills in specific projects, taking into account the critical issues related to the use of sensitive materials and using the most appropriate languages.
The course includes a mix of theoretical lectures and practical exercises, including fieldwork, to encourage students to understand the different facets of the discipline and to choose their own path within the many specialisations available.
The course will start with the basic principles of research in museum anthropology and the history of studies. Subsequently, it will focus on the formation of collections, with an emphasis on non-European objects, and the functions of museums. Topics such as repatriation, the ethics of collecting and cultural appropriation will be discussed.
It will also examine how postcolonial studies have changed the approach to the management of museum objects in cataloguing, conservation and display.
The use of museum collections to understand historical and contemporary cultures has long been a key objective of anthropology. For this reason, in the final part of the course, case studies of museum anthropology issues applied to Amerindian and Asian heritages of the Museo delle Culture in Milan will be presented.
The course aims to provide the basics of cultural anthropology through the analysis of objects, to acquaint students with the main articulations of the discipline, and to raise awareness of the various aspects of museum practice. The main objectives of the course are:
1. To provide information on anthropological methodologies used in the research, collection and display of materials of anthropological interest.
2. To develop skills in finding and critically reviewing primary sources related to objects.
3. To acquire awareness of the ethical issues involved in the collection, study, cataloguing and display of anthropological and ethnographic materials.
At the end of the course, students will be able to use advanced tools and methodological skills to critically analyse museum collections and heritage management. Furthermore, they will be able to apply these skills in specific projects, taking into account the critical issues related to the use of sensitive materials and using the most appropriate languages.
Risultati apprendimento attesi
At the end of the course, students will be able to use advanced tools and methodological skills to critically analyse museum collections and heritage management. Furthermore, they will be able to apply these skills in specific projects, taking into account the critical issues related to the use of sensitive materials and using the most appropriate languages.
Periodo: Secondo semestre
Modalità di valutazione: Esame
Giudizio di valutazione: voto verbalizzato in trentesimi
Corso singolo
Questo insegnamento può essere seguito come corso singolo.
Programma e organizzazione didattica
Edizione unica
Responsabile
Periodo
Secondo semestre
Programma
Sezione 1: Introduzione all'Antropologia Culturale
Definizione e origini dell'antropologia
Il concetto di relativismo culturale e l'approccio di Franz Boas
Evoluzione dei musei antropologici: dalle Wunderkammern ai Musei delle Culture del Mondo
Ruolo delle popolazioni indigene nei musei
Questioni etiche: restituzioni, riparazioni e decolonizzazione museale
Sezione 2: Introduzione all'approccio materiale
Strategie per la catalogazione e documentazione degli oggetti antropologici in ottica post-coloniale
La metodologia dell'ICCD (Istituto Centrale per il Catalogo e la Documentazione)
Documentazione digitale e cartacea
Introduzione alla ricerca di provenienza (provenance research): strumenti e finalità
Sezione 3: L'approccio materiale in pratica - Attività al MUDEC (o in alternativa attività laboratoriale in classe)
Applicazione pratica delle metodologie e strumenti teorici appresi
Esercitazioni e analisi di casi studio museali
Sezione 4: L'eredità materiale dei Nativi Americani in Europa
Storia della circolazione degli oggetti americani verso l'Europa
Controversie sul patrimonio culturale nativo americano
Gestione dei siti archeologici in Sud America: esempi e modelli
Sezione 5: L'eredità dell'Asia Orientale in Europa
Breve storia degli oggetti asiatici in Europa dalla "Febbre della porcellana" (XVI-XIX secolo) al Giapponismo
Caso studio: Tracce della "Guerra dei Boxer" nelle collezioni museali tedesche, in collaborazione con il Museo del Palazzo di Pechino
Definizione e origini dell'antropologia
Il concetto di relativismo culturale e l'approccio di Franz Boas
Evoluzione dei musei antropologici: dalle Wunderkammern ai Musei delle Culture del Mondo
Ruolo delle popolazioni indigene nei musei
Questioni etiche: restituzioni, riparazioni e decolonizzazione museale
Sezione 2: Introduzione all'approccio materiale
Strategie per la catalogazione e documentazione degli oggetti antropologici in ottica post-coloniale
La metodologia dell'ICCD (Istituto Centrale per il Catalogo e la Documentazione)
Documentazione digitale e cartacea
Introduzione alla ricerca di provenienza (provenance research): strumenti e finalità
Sezione 3: L'approccio materiale in pratica - Attività al MUDEC (o in alternativa attività laboratoriale in classe)
Applicazione pratica delle metodologie e strumenti teorici appresi
Esercitazioni e analisi di casi studio museali
Sezione 4: L'eredità materiale dei Nativi Americani in Europa
Storia della circolazione degli oggetti americani verso l'Europa
Controversie sul patrimonio culturale nativo americano
Gestione dei siti archeologici in Sud America: esempi e modelli
Sezione 5: L'eredità dell'Asia Orientale in Europa
Breve storia degli oggetti asiatici in Europa dalla "Febbre della porcellana" (XVI-XIX secolo) al Giapponismo
Caso studio: Tracce della "Guerra dei Boxer" nelle collezioni museali tedesche, in collaborazione con il Museo del Palazzo di Pechino
Prerequisiti
Non sono necessari prerequisiti.
Metodi didattici
Le sessioni didattiche consistono in lezioni (con l'ausilio di presentazioni PowerPoint e multimediali) e discussioni in classe. Se il numero degli studenti lo permetterà, si trascorreranno due giorni di lavoro nei magazzini e nei laboratori del Mudec (il Museo delle Culture di Milano), dove si sperimenterà in prima persona il lavoro quotidiano di un museo antropologico. In alternativa verranno proposte delle attività laboratoriali in classe.
Materiale di riferimento
AAVV Du musée colonial au musée des cultures du monde. Actes du colloque, Musée national des Arts d'Afrique et d'Océanie & Centre Georges-Pompidou, 3-6 giugno 1998.
AAVV. MUDEC - Global Milan. Museum of Cultures Collection Catalogue and Exhibition Guide. Milano: 24 Ore Cultura.
Ames, M. M. Cannibal Tours and Glass Boxes: The Anthropology of Museums.
Appadurai, A. (Ed.). (1986). The Social Life of Things. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Blanchard, P., & Boëtsch, G. (2011). Exhibitions: L'invention du sauvage.
Boas, F. (1955). Primitive Art. New York: Dover Publications.
Clifford, J. (1988). The Predicament of Culture: Twentieth-Century Ethnography, Literature, and Art. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Crosby, A. W. (2003). The Columbian Exchange: Biological and Cultural Consequences of 1492 (30th Anniversary Edition). Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers.
Delpuech, A., Laurière, C., & Peltier-Caroff, C. (Eds.). (2017). Les années folles de l'ethnographie: Trocadero 28-37. Paris: Publications scientifiques du Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle.
Dematté, P. (2013). Emperors and Scholars: Collecting Culture and Late Imperial Antiquarianism. In V. Rujivacharakul (Ed.), Collecting China: The World, China, and a History of Collecting. Newark: University of Delaware Press.
Gell, A. (1988). Art and Agency: An Anthropological Theory.
Hill, K. (Ed.). Museums and Biographies: Stories, Objects, Identities. Heritage Matters Vol. 9. Woodbridge: Boydell & Brewer.
Hodder, I. (1985). Post-processual Archaeology. In Advances in Archaeological Method and Theory, Vol. 8.
Impey, O., MacGregor, A. (Eds.). The Origins of Museums: The Cabinet of Curiosities in Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century Europe. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
La Porte, S., & Dagen, P. (2013). Charles Ratton. L'invention des Arts "Primitifs". Milan: Skira.
Malinowski, B. (1922). Argonauts of the Western Pacific: An Account of Native Enterprise and Adventure in the Archipelagoes of Melanesian New Guinea. London: Routledge.
The Machu Picchu Affair. Retrieved from: https://yris.yira.org/essays/third-place-repatriating-machu-picchu-on-the-yale-peruvian-expedition-and-the-imperialism-of-archaeology/
Orsini, C. Global Milan. An Innovative Collection Display Between Participation and Controversy. Milano.
Orsini, C., Venturoli, S., Benozzi, E., & Asencios Aliz Ibarra. (2024). Il Progetto Arts ("Arte Tradizionale per lo Sviluppo"): Un'archeologia da e per le comunità nella zona della Sierra di Ancash (Perù). In V. Polito & G. Volpe (Eds.), Patrimonio culturale e comunità in trasformazione. Bari: Edipuglia.
Orsini, C., & Antonini, A. (Eds.). Museum of Cultures. Objects of Encounters. Catalogue of Works and Exhibit Guide. Milan: Il Sole 24 Ore, pp. 18-31.
Pauketat, T. R. (2007). Chiefdoms and Other Archaeological Delusions. Lanham, MD: AltaMira Press.
Said, E. (1991). Orientalism: Western Concepts of the Orient, Penguin History.
Savoy, B., Guichard, C., & Howald, C. (Eds.). (2018). Acquiring Cultures: Histories of World Art on Western Markets. Berlin: De Gruyter.
Service, E. R. (1962). Primitive Social Organization: An Evolutionary Perspective. New York: Random House.
Tompkins, A. (2021). Provenance Research Today: Principles, Practice, Problems. London: Lund Humphries.
Turner, H. (2020). Cataloguing Culture: Legacies of Colonialism in Museum Documentation.
Visconti, C. (2019). Un secolo di archeologia cinese: Storia della disciplina dall'inizio del XX secolo ai giorni nostri. Milano: Mondadori.
Willey, G., et al. (1953). Prehistoric Settlement Patterns in the Virú Valley, Peru. Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 155.
This is a basic selection of reading. Articles and book chapters will be proposed during the course and will be uploaded in myariel platform.
AAVV. MUDEC - Global Milan. Museum of Cultures Collection Catalogue and Exhibition Guide. Milano: 24 Ore Cultura.
Ames, M. M. Cannibal Tours and Glass Boxes: The Anthropology of Museums.
Appadurai, A. (Ed.). (1986). The Social Life of Things. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Blanchard, P., & Boëtsch, G. (2011). Exhibitions: L'invention du sauvage.
Boas, F. (1955). Primitive Art. New York: Dover Publications.
Clifford, J. (1988). The Predicament of Culture: Twentieth-Century Ethnography, Literature, and Art. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Crosby, A. W. (2003). The Columbian Exchange: Biological and Cultural Consequences of 1492 (30th Anniversary Edition). Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers.
Delpuech, A., Laurière, C., & Peltier-Caroff, C. (Eds.). (2017). Les années folles de l'ethnographie: Trocadero 28-37. Paris: Publications scientifiques du Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle.
Dematté, P. (2013). Emperors and Scholars: Collecting Culture and Late Imperial Antiquarianism. In V. Rujivacharakul (Ed.), Collecting China: The World, China, and a History of Collecting. Newark: University of Delaware Press.
Gell, A. (1988). Art and Agency: An Anthropological Theory.
Hill, K. (Ed.). Museums and Biographies: Stories, Objects, Identities. Heritage Matters Vol. 9. Woodbridge: Boydell & Brewer.
Hodder, I. (1985). Post-processual Archaeology. In Advances in Archaeological Method and Theory, Vol. 8.
Impey, O., MacGregor, A. (Eds.). The Origins of Museums: The Cabinet of Curiosities in Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century Europe. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
La Porte, S., & Dagen, P. (2013). Charles Ratton. L'invention des Arts "Primitifs". Milan: Skira.
Malinowski, B. (1922). Argonauts of the Western Pacific: An Account of Native Enterprise and Adventure in the Archipelagoes of Melanesian New Guinea. London: Routledge.
The Machu Picchu Affair. Retrieved from: https://yris.yira.org/essays/third-place-repatriating-machu-picchu-on-the-yale-peruvian-expedition-and-the-imperialism-of-archaeology/
Orsini, C. Global Milan. An Innovative Collection Display Between Participation and Controversy. Milano.
Orsini, C., Venturoli, S., Benozzi, E., & Asencios Aliz Ibarra. (2024). Il Progetto Arts ("Arte Tradizionale per lo Sviluppo"): Un'archeologia da e per le comunità nella zona della Sierra di Ancash (Perù). In V. Polito & G. Volpe (Eds.), Patrimonio culturale e comunità in trasformazione. Bari: Edipuglia.
Orsini, C., & Antonini, A. (Eds.). Museum of Cultures. Objects of Encounters. Catalogue of Works and Exhibit Guide. Milan: Il Sole 24 Ore, pp. 18-31.
Pauketat, T. R. (2007). Chiefdoms and Other Archaeological Delusions. Lanham, MD: AltaMira Press.
Said, E. (1991). Orientalism: Western Concepts of the Orient, Penguin History.
Savoy, B., Guichard, C., & Howald, C. (Eds.). (2018). Acquiring Cultures: Histories of World Art on Western Markets. Berlin: De Gruyter.
Service, E. R. (1962). Primitive Social Organization: An Evolutionary Perspective. New York: Random House.
Tompkins, A. (2021). Provenance Research Today: Principles, Practice, Problems. London: Lund Humphries.
Turner, H. (2020). Cataloguing Culture: Legacies of Colonialism in Museum Documentation.
Visconti, C. (2019). Un secolo di archeologia cinese: Storia della disciplina dall'inizio del XX secolo ai giorni nostri. Milano: Mondadori.
Willey, G., et al. (1953). Prehistoric Settlement Patterns in the Virú Valley, Peru. Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 155.
This is a basic selection of reading. Articles and book chapters will be proposed during the course and will be uploaded in myariel platform.
Modalità di verifica dell’apprendimento e criteri di valutazione
Durante il corso verranno incoraggiate le discussioni in classe e verranno proposte delle esercitazioni. Gli studenti che partecipano ad almeno il 75% delle lezioni sono considerati frequentanti. I frequentanti effettueranno un test finale che consisterà in 31 domande a risposta sia chiusa che aperta. Dovranno inoltre presentare un breve saggio il cui argomento sarà concordato nel corso delle lezioni. I non frequentanti devono contattare la docente per un programma alternativo, che consisterà nel presentare almeno due libri a scelta tra quelli proposti in bibliografia.
Docente/i