Cultural anthropology with aspects of the anthropology of performance

obligatory courses

Classroom

A course in anthropological knowledge based on the author's textbooks "Anthropology of Culture", "Anthropology of Spectacles" and "Anthropology of the Body", introducing the basic phenomena, concepts and categories of cultural analysis, with particular emphasis on the treatment of culture as dramatic practice. Presentation of various anthropological orientations enriched by the perspective of sociology and cultural history.

The class will discuss selected categories key to the analysis of a variety of cultural phenomena, with a particular focus on issues such as social mechanisms and practices of subjectivity formation, forms of collective action of both emancipatory and oppressive nature (e.g. communitas spectacles, performances of power), and the experience of the body.

1 The person, identity

2 The double, the figure

3) The Other, Stranger

4. Gift, exchange

5 Ritualisation

6. The body

7. Emotions, senses

8. Time, duration, change

9. Space, travel

10. Play, competition

11. Carnivals

12. Purifications

13. Mask, costume

14. Gesture, dance

15. Fetish, puppet

16 Participation

The class is based on a prior reading of the indicated texts and a joint discussion of them in the room.

Antropologia kultury. Zagadnienia i wybór tekstów, oprac. Grzegorz Godlewski, Leszek Kolankiewicz, Andrzej Mencwel, Paweł Rodak, wstęp i redakcja Andrzej Mencwel, Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego, Warszawa 2005.

Antropologia widowisk. Zagadnienia i wybór tekstów, oprac. Agata Chałupnik, Wojciech Dudzik, Mateusz Kanabrodzki, Leszek Kolankiewicz, wstęp i redakcja Leszek Kolankiewicz, Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego, Warszawa 2010.

Antropologia ciała. Zagadnienia i wybór tekstów, oprac. Agata Chałupnik, Justyna Jaworska, Justyna Kowalska-Leder, Iwona Kurz, Małgorzata Szpakowska, Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego, Warszawa 2008.

At the end of the course the student/student knows the basic concepts of cultural studies. He/she understands and is able to describe the specificity of the anthropological view of culture. He/she has the ability to analyse various phenomena of social life - both contemporary and historical cultural forms - using the tools of cultural anthropology. He/she takes into account the cultural context when interpreting various types of texts. He/she presents an attitude full of openness and tolerance for otherness. He/she is willing/ready to correctly assess the significance of cultural heritage for the understanding of social and cultural events.

Checking attendance, activity, written work (analysis of selected phenomena of contemporary culture).

Two unexcused absences per semester are permitted, further absences must be accounted for during an on-call duty period. Absences exceeding 1/2 of the number of classes are grounds for failing the course.