Logo UAB
2022/2023

Seminar on Applications of Anthropology and Analysis of Policies of Social Intervention

Code: 101255 ECTS Credits: 6
Degree Type Year Semester
2500256 Social and Cultural Anthropology OT 3 1
2500256 Social and Cultural Anthropology OT 4 1

Contact

Name:
Laia Narciso Pedro
Email:
laia.narciso@uab.cat

Use of Languages

Principal working language:
catalan (cat)
Some groups entirely in English:
No
Some groups entirely in Catalan:
Yes
Some groups entirely in Spanish:
No

Other comments on languages

This course will include texts and audiovisual material in English, in addiction to Spanish and Catalan.

Teachers

Gabriela Poblet Denti
Laia Narciso Pedro

Prerequisites

There is no prior requirement but enrolling in this seminar is recommended after Anthropological Analysis of the Contemporary World.

Objectives and Contextualisation

Contextualization:

This seminar is devoted to analyse social intervention of public policies and different approaches developed by social and cultural anthropology. It focuses on policies aimed at social problems and those social groups and areas affected by them at both global and local levels.

Training goals:

Learning how to elaborate and carry out project proposals related to social problems by applying the knowledge and methods of social and cultural anthropology to the diagnosis, design, implementation and assessment of public policies in different areas.

Understanding the theoretical and methodological debates on the relationship between social and cultural anthropology and public policies based on readings, audio-visual material and case studies through a PBL methodology.

Competences

    Social and Cultural Anthropology
  • Act with ethical responsibility and respect for fundamental rights and duties, diversity and democratic values.
  • Assessing in theoretical, methodological and ethical terms the anthropology investigations aimed to basic objectives or oriented to intervention.
  • Assessing the effects of the implementation of expert social intervention models in the target groups.
  • Carry out effective written work or oral presentations adapted to the appropriate register in different languages.
  • Demonstrate skills for working autonomously or in teams to achieve the planned objectives including in multicultural and interdisciplinary contexts.
  • Designing a project adapted to the petitioner's request and to the characteristics and needs of the targeted populations.
  • Intervening in different contexts and areas of implementation of Anthropology (intercultural relations, development and cooperation, kinship, health, education, social use of space and other intervention areas).
  • Introduce changes in the methods and processes of the field of knowledge to provide innovative responses to the needs and demands of society.
  • Students must be capable of applying their knowledge to their work or vocation in a professional way and they should have building arguments and problem resolution skills within their area of study.
  • Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
  • Students must develop the necessary learning skills to undertake further training with a high degree of autonomy.
  • Take sex- or gender-based inequalities into consideration when operating within one's own area of knowledge.
  • Use digital tools and critically interpret specific documentary sources.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Ability to maintain an appropriate conversation.
  2. Applying the knowledge of cultural variability and its genesis to avoid ethnocentric projections.
  3. Assess the reliability of sources, select important data and cross-check information.
  4. Assessing the sociocultural adjustment of the survey questionnaires in small and large-scale investigations.
  5. Being capable of carrying out ethnographic designs corresponding to planned changes, and intermediate and final evaluation designs.
  6. Carry out ethical use of the information especially when it is of a personal nature.
  7. Carrying out an individual work that specifies the work plan and timing of activities.
  8. Carrying out oral presentations using appropriate academic vocabulary and style.
  9. Differentiating specific methodological aspects of applied researches.
  10. Effectively expressing themselves and applying the argumentative and textual processes of formal and scientific texts.
  11. Explain the explicit or implicit code of practice of one's own area of knowledge.
  12. Express ideas with a specific vocabulary appropriate to the discipline.
  13. Identify situations that require improvement or change.
  14. Identifying the ethical aspects of an intervention.
  15. Knowing and distinguishing the intervention design types, their potentiality, limitations and biases.
  16. Knowing and implementing the professional involvement in interventions into different contexts and areas of implementation of Anthropology within the field between culture and society.
  17. Knowing and understanding the foundations for the implementation of Anthropology into social and environmental interventions.
  18. Knowing some practical intervention cases.
  19. Plan work effectively, individually or in groups, in order to fulfil the planned objectives.
  20. Proponer proyectos y acciones que estén de acuerdo con los principios de responsabilidad ética y de respeto por los derechos y deberes fundamentales, la diversidad y los valores democráticos.
  21. Propose projects and actions that incorporate the gender perspective.
  22. Recognising the ethical implications of the ethnological relationships established during the fieldwork internship.
  23. Recognising the ethical implications of the investigations aimed at intervention.
  24. Recognising the importance of the internal inequality systems in the intervention processes.
  25. Reconciling the Administration demands and those from the affected populations in the intervention projects.
  26. Reconciling the targeted population's demands and needs.
  27. Solving problems autonomously.
  28. Submitting works in accordance with both individual and small group demands and personal styles.
  29. Summarizing the acquired knowledge about the relationship between nature, culture and society.

Content

The seminar has two cross-cutting modules and three thematic modules:

1. From the study of social problems to the application of anthropology to public policies: diversity, inequality and social justice. Theories of practice.

2. Methodologies of intervention and theory of change: diagnosis, design, implementation and evaluation.

3. Migration, mobility and integration policies. Challenges for social cohesion and belonging in plural societies.

4. Inter-group conflict, mediation and conflict resolution. Challenges and experiences at global and local levels.

5. Gender regimes and equality policies. General and specific challenges to the struggle against discrimination and violence against women in contemporary societies.

 

Methodology

Teaching and training activities:

Lectures and seminars conducted by the teacher based on academic readings, media and press analysis, reports and legislation, as well as audio-visual materials related to the module themes.

Small group work responding to fictional commissioned projects and periodical presentations to the rest of the group from weeks 3 through 12.

Real life projects analysed with the participation of professional anthropologists.

Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.

Activities

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
Master class and invited talks 30 1.2 2, 4, 25, 26, 18, 17, 15, 16, 9, 14, 24, 23, 22, 29
Viewing of documentaries and other in class activities 20 0.8 2, 4, 25, 26, 18, 17, 15, 16, 9, 14, 24, 23, 22, 5, 29
Type: Supervised      
Monitoring preparation of written test, individual and group monitoring 2 0.08 2, 4, 25, 26, 18, 17, 15, 16, 9, 7, 10, 8, 14, 1, 28, 24, 23, 22, 27, 5, 29
Type: Autonomous      
Study materials, preparation of written test 16 0.64 2, 4, 25, 26, 18, 17, 15, 16, 9, 14, 24, 23, 22, 27, 5, 29
Study materials, preparation of written test 18 0.72 2, 4, 25, 26, 18, 17, 15, 16, 9, 7, 14, 24, 23, 22, 27, 5, 29

Assessment

The evaluation system consists of three types of activities:

1) Individual essays: three individual essays, one per each thematic module. Value: 40% of the final grade.

2) Team project focused on diagnosis, exploration and proposal of intervention in one of the subjects proposed by the professor and oral presentation of the work. Value: 40% of the final grade.

3) Five classroom exercises in couples. Reading and analysis of media texts related to thematic modules and oral presentation of the results. Value: 20% of the final grade.

Attendance is essential to fully participate in this seminar since it is based on continuous assessment. 

 

RE-ASSESMENT

If the evaluation activities  are not passed, individuals essays and team project may be submitted for re-assessment following the directions of the correction.

PLAGIARISM

In the event of a student committing any irregularity that may lead to a significant variation in the grade awarded to an assessment activity, the student will be given a zero for this activity, regardless of any disciplinary process that may take place. In the event of several irregularities in assessment activities of the same subject, the student will be given a zero as the final grade for this subject.

 

Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Participation in group discussion. Debate Forum 20% 14 0.56 2, 4, 25, 26, 18, 17, 15, 16, 9, 11, 12, 10, 8, 14, 1, 19, 24, 23, 22, 5, 29, 3
Submission of essays 40% 25 1 2, 4, 25, 26, 18, 17, 15, 16, 9, 7, 12, 10, 8, 6, 14, 28, 20, 21, 24, 23, 22, 27, 5, 29
Written test and text analysis 40% 25 1 2, 4, 25, 26, 18, 17, 15, 16, 9, 7, 12, 10, 14, 13, 19, 28, 24, 23, 22, 27, 5, 29

Bibliography

GENERAL REFERENCIES (common to the syllabus of Social Intervention: specific readings will be provided for each section)

Alvermann, D. E. 2002. Narrative approaches. Handbook of Reading Research, 3 (January 2000), 123–140. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315210223-11Aguilar Villanueva, L.F. 2007 La implementación de las políticas. Mexico: Miguel Angel Pórrua.

Biglia, Barbara. 2014. Avances, dilemas y retos de las epistemologías feministes en la investigación social. En “Otras formes de (re)concocer: reflexiones, herramientas y aplicacions desde la investigación feminsita”, p. 21-44.

Borofsky, R. 2011. Why a public anthropology? USA. Center for a Public Anthropology. Hawaii Pacific University

Canals Sala, Josep. 1999. La antropología en los estudios de trabajo social: del exótico externo a la alteridad interna, en Antropología más allá de la academia: Aplicaciones, Contribuciones, Prácticas e Intervención Social. Santiago de Compostela: FAAEE.

Checker M. 2009. Anthropology in the Public Sphere: Emerging Trends and Significant Impacts. American Anthropologist, 111(2), 162–169.

Cruz, Isabel. 2002. Introducción a La Antropología para la Intervención Social. Valencia: Tirant lo Blanch.

Dattatreyan, E. Gabriel, and Isaac Marrero-Guillamón. 2019.  "Introduction: Multimodal anthropology and the politics of invention." American Anthropologist 121.1 (2019): 220-228.

Durão S and Shore C. 2010. From a political anthropology to an anthropology of policy: interview with Cris Shore. etnográfica, 14(3), 595–614.

Ervin, A. M. 2000. Appied Anthropology. Tools and perspectives for contemporary practice. Allyn& Bacon.

Franzé, A. 2013. Presentación del monográfico Antropología y Políticas públicas. Revista de Antropología Social, 22, 9-23.

Fraser, Nancy & Lamas, Marta. 1991. La lucha por las necesidades: esbozo de una teoría crítica socialista-feminista de la cultura política del capitalismo tardío. Debate feminista, 3, 3-40.

Gimeno Martín JC. 2008. Antropología(s)de orientación pública: “asomarse unos centímetros mllá del borde, ahí donde la perspectiva se amplía ligeramente.”In: Jabardo M, Monreal P, and Palenzuela P (eds), Antropología de orientación pública: visibilización y compromiso de la antropología. XI Congreso de Antropología de la FAAEE, Donostia: Ankulegi Antropologia Elkartea.

Hamann ET, Anderson KS, Levinson BAU, et al. .2007. Educational Policy as a Matter for Anthropologists’ Scholarly and Applied Engagement. American Anthropological Association, Council on Anthropology of Education.

Hannerz, Ulf. "Diversity is our business." American Anthropologist 112.4(2010): 539-551.

Hannerz, Ulf. "Studying down, up, sideways, through, backwards, forwards, away and at home: Reflections on the field worries of an expansive discipline." Locating the Field. Routledge, 2020. 23-41.

Jabardo, Mercedes. 2008. Introducción: Preguntas y reflexiones en torno a una antropología de orientación pública. In: Jabardo M, Monreal P, and Palenzuela P (eds), Antropología de orientación pública: visibilización y compromiso de la antropología. XI Congreso de Antropología de la FAAEE, Donostia: Ankulegi Antropologia Elkartea.

Lamphere L .2004. The Convergence ofApplied, Practicing, and Public Anthropology in the 21st Century. Human Organization, 63(4), 431–443.

Lassiter LE. 2005. Collaborative Ethnography and Public Anthropology. Current Anthropology, 46(1), 83–106.

Lassiter LE. 2008. Moving Past Public Anthropology and Doing Collaborative Research. Napa Bulletin, 29, 70–86.

Okongwu, A. F. &  Mencher, J.P. 2000 The anthropology of public policy: shifting terrains. En: Annual Review of Anthropology. Vol.29: 107-124.

Osburn, J., Caruso, G., & Wolfensberger, W. 2011. The concept of ‘best practice’: A brief overview of its meanings, scope, uses, and shortcomings. International Journal of Disability, Development and Education, 58(3), 213–222

Podjed, Dan, Meta Gorup, and Alenka BezjakMlakar. 2016. "Applied anthropology in Europe: Historical obstacles, current situation, future challenges." Anthropology in Action 23.2 (2016): 53-63.

Rogers, Patricia. 2004. "La teoría del cambio." Síntesis metodológicas: evaluación de impacto 2 (2014): 1-14.Pink, Sarah. 2004. "Guest editor's introduction: Applied visual anthropology social intervention, visual methodologies and anthropology theory." Visual Anthropology Review 20.1 (2004): 3-16.

Romaní Alfonso, Oriol. 2006. “Barcelona desde la Academia (o los avatares de una antropología implicada)”, a: Feixa C. (dir.); Porzio L.; RecioC. (coords.). Jóvenes latinos enBarcelona. Espacio público y cultura urbana, Barcelona.

Ruiz Ballesteros, Esteban. 2005. Intervención social: cultura, discursos y poder: aportaciones desde la Antropología. Madrid:Talasa.

Schwegler T and Powell MG. 2008. Unruly Experts: Methods and Forms of Collaboration in the Anthropology of Public Policy. Anthropology in Action, 15(2), 1–9.

Shore, Cris. 2010. La antropología y el estudio de la política pública: Reflexiones sobre la “formulación” de las políticas. Antípoda, 10(Junio), 21–49.

Stull, Donald D. 2019. Collaborative research and social change: Applied anthropology in action. Routledge.

Tello, Claudia Beatriz. 2017. Antropología e intervención social. Libros de Cátedra.

Van Willigen, John. 1986. Applied Anthropology: An Introduction. Massachusetts: Bergin and Garvey.

Vargas‐Cetina, Gabriela. "Do Locals Need OurHelp? On Participatory Research in Anthropology." Annals of Anthropological Practice 44.2 (2020): 202-207.

Vindrola-Padros, Cecilia, and Ginger A. Johnson. 2020. "Rapid techniques in qualitative research: a critical review of the literature." Qualitative Health Research 30.10 (2020): 1596-1604.

Wedel JR, Shore C, Feldman G, et al. 2005. Towards an Anthropology of Public Policy. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 600(July), 30–51.

 

Software

No required.