This version of the course guide is provisional until the period for editing the new course guides ends.

Logo UAB

Comparative Research

Code: 43149 ECTS Credits: 12
2025/2026
Degree Type Year
Anthropology: Advanced Research and Social Intervention OT 0

Contact

Name:
Jose Luis Molina Gonzalez
Email:
joseluis.molina@uab.cat

Teachers

Anna Maria Piella Vila
Montserrat Ventura Oller
Maria Montserrat Clua Faine
Virginia Fons Renaudon
Jorge Grau Rebollo
Jose Mansilla Lopez
Josep Lluís Mateo Dieste
Alice Marie-Sophie Van Den Bogaert

Teaching groups languages

You can view this information at the end of this document.


Prerequisites

There are no previous requirements.


Objectives and Contextualisation

This module is part of the specialization E1 "Ethnographic and Transcultural Research" and it comprises both semesters.

Goals:

  • To understand the dialectics between particularism and comparison that reflects the development of the history of Anthropology
  • To identify the most relevant theoretical debates concerning the concepts of personhood, body and identity, both from the perspective of a group (collective ethnic identities) as from the person’s viewpoint, in order to apply them to specific ethnographic studies and delimited comparisons.
  • To Identify and to analyse various parenting scenarios in contexts of sociocultural vulnerability within the scope of the Anthropology of Kinship and ethnographic research.
  • To understand how to apply ethnographic research in different research areas.
  • To critically and historicallyanalyze the concept of identity in relation to national belonging within contemporary nation-states.
  • To get relevant knowledge about the field of multi-disciplined ethnography in transnational fields.

Competences

  • Carry out ground-breaking, flexible research in anthropology by applying theories and methodologies and using appropriate data collection and analysis techniques.
  • Communicate and justify conclusions clearly and unambiguously to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
  • Defend arguments clearly, precisely and appropriately within the context, and at the same time value the contributions made by other people.
  • Integrate knowledge and use it to make judgements in complex situations, with incomplete information, while keeping in mind social and ethical responsibilities.
  • Make cross-cultural comparisons using the various procedures in anthropology.
  • Solve problems in new or little-known situations within broader (or multidisciplinary) contexts related to the field of study.
  • Systematically link up concepts, and theories within the discipline so as to analyse specific ethnographic contexts.
  • Use information and communication technologies efficiently to acquire, create and spread knowledge.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Apply the knowledge acquired to problem-solving in particular ethnographic contexts.
  2. Choose comparable units of analysis in cross-cultural research.
  3. Choose the most appropriate form of comparison for the investigation of a social and cultural problem.
  4. Defend arguments clearly, precisely and appropriately within the context, and at the same time value the contributions made by other people.
  5. Identify important elements in institutional documents and/or scientific texts that help to formulate judgments and reflect on social and ethical responsibilities in anthropology.
  6. Identify the forms of cross-cultural comparison used in the formulation and development of anthropological theories.
  7. Integrate primary and secondary ethnographic data from varying sources.
  8. Present conclusions and intervention proposals in the context of research
  9. Show mastery of the dialectic between particularity and universality in the themata that appear in different societies in relation to the concepts of body, person and identity.
  10. Systematically link up concepts, and theories within the discipline that fit in with the specific ethnographic research context.
  11. Understand and use information and communication technologies in accordance with the ethnographic context chosen for study and/or intervention.

Content

The module is divided into 5 blocks.

Block 1. The notion of person in Central Africa, tropical America and India (16h total)

  1. Theoretical introduction of the notion of person in the West.
  2. Notion of person in Central Africa.
  3. Notion of person in tropical America.
  4. Notion of person in India.
  5. Presentation of cases by the students (theoretical area applied to their TFM).

Block 2. Kinship and ethnographic research.

  1. Kinship, parenting and social vulnerabilit.
  2. Extended parental care and support in vulnerable context.
  3. Social support networks for parenting Protection measures for vulnerable childre.
  4. Parenting, vulnerability and educational practices
  5. Sociocultural vulnerability and health: access and use of biomedical health services during pregnancy and parenting.
  6. Role of audiovisual media and social advertising in addressing vulnerable parentin.
  7. Vulnerable children in contexts of multiple crises: family resources and community coping strategies. Presentation of cases and collective discussion.

Block 3. (In)mobilities, tourism and ethnographic approaches.

  1. Section presentation: relationships between anthropology and tourism.
  2. Urbanization, architecture, tourism.
  3. Latest trends in tourism anthropology studies.


Block 4. Identities, nationality and citizenship rights.

  1. Introduction: identity – nationality – citizenship. 
  2. The confusion of concepts Identity, identities, identification.
  3. Limitations of citizenship rights: biology, race and racis.
  4. Limitations of citizenship rights: culture, ethnicity and xenophobi.
  5. Nation, nationality and nationalism: the delimitation of membership in the modern nation-stat.
  6. Identity, racism and xenophobia in Cataloni.
  7. Presentation of cases by students (application of the syllabus to your TFM).

Block 5. Moroccan migrations to Europe: between two shores.

  1. Rethinking migration history: from colonialism to gast-arbeiters
  2. Sung emigration: songs as a source of analysis
  3. Living in Europe, marrying in Morocco. Transnational kinship
  4. Beards, veils and cultural reconstruction
  5. The transnational body: demons on both sides of the Strait of Gibraltar. Conclusions. 

Activities and Methodology

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
Analysis of ethnographic and audiovisual documentation. 7 0.28 6, 11
Lectures and master classes 68 2.72 3, 6, 10
Personal study 60 2.4 6, 7
Type: Supervised      
Analysis of academic articles / reports. 36 1.44 1
Presentation / oral expositions 15 0.6 4, 7
Tutoring 24 0.96 5
Type: Autonomous      
Essay preparation and writing 40 1.6 1, 7
Reading and analysis of academic articles / reports 50 2 3, 6, 2

  • Lectures and master classes
  • Reading and analysis of academic articles / reports.
  • Analysis of ethnographic and audiovisual documentation.
  • Presentation / oral expositions
  • Personal study
  • Tutoring
  • Essay preparation and writing.

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.


Assessment

Continous Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Attendance and active participation in the classroom 20% 0 0 9, 3, 6
Essay writing 50% 0 0 1, 8, 7, 11, 2
Submission of reports / short essays 30% 0 0 1, 4, 5, 7, 10

This section of the Study Guide contains all information related to the process of evaluation of the module.

Assessment of the module:

In order to pass the module, the following aspects must be considered:

  • Regular assistance and participation: First, to ensure that the expected learning results are obtained, we consider it fundamental that students regularly attend lectures and participate actively in them. For this reason, students are required to assist at least 80% of each course ("block"). Furthermore, the extent to which they participate in presentations, discussions, training sessions is evaluated. This participation is considered in the final grade for each course.
  • Continued assessment of the blocks: Second, each course or block proposes one or multiple activities that allow a continued assessment of the learning process. The activities can vary from a written test to a presentation in class, computer lab assignments, a review of a few articles or chapters, or a short essay, among others. Jointly, the evaluations for the different courses that make up the module (30%) and the participation in these courses (20%) constitute 50% of the final grade of the module. The deadlines for these activities are indicated by the lecturers.
  • Evaluation of the final paper for the module: Last, the grade obtained on a final paper constitutes the remaining 50% of the final grade for the module. In addition, each student selects the course that is of major interest for his or her master thesis, from the set of courses that make up the module. The evaluation will be based on this course. The evaluation can consist of a larger essay of approximately 3,000 / 4,000 words, possibly in the format of an article, a review of a state of the art of aspecific theme, or a paper that addresses a specific issue in the discipline on the basis of readings recommended by the lecturer of the course that the student has chosen for evaluation. The deadline for the submission of the final paper will be advertised at the module's Moodle. 
  • On carrying out each evaluation activity, lecturers will inform students (on Moodle) of the procedures to be followed for reviewing all grades awarded, and the date on which such a review will take place

It is essential to respect the deadlines.

Each lecturer determines the way in which papers are to be submitted (through the Campus Virtual, by e-mail or in printed form, in the mailbox of the lecturer). The lecturers communicate the results of the evaluation through the established ways and establish a period of consultation before they communicate the grades to the coordinator of the module.

Students will obtain a Not assessed/Not submitted course grade unless they have submitted more than 30% of the assessment items. In general, not submitting the documents that are to be evaluated results in the qualification "Not assessable". In exceptional, well justified cases, the Committee of the Master Program may propose an alternative procedure for the evaluation.

General criteria

Assessment is understood as a continued process throughout the term.

The qualifications are made on a scale from 0-10 with one decimal. To pass the subject, a minimum final grade of 5.0 is needed, as a result of the assessment procedure explained above. Once the subject is passed, it cannot be subjected to a new evaluation.

The programming of assessment activities cannot be modified unless an exceptional and well justified reason exists for this, in which case a new program is proposed during the term.

The qualification "not assessable" in the final records of evaluation implies the exhaustion of rights inherent in theenrolment to the module, although the "not assessable" module will not figure in the academic transcript.

Plagiarism:

In the event that the student commits any irregularity or academic fraud (plagiarism, unauthorized / declared use of Artificial Intelligence tools, etc.) that could lead to a significant variation in the grade of an assessment act, this assessment act will be graded with 0, regardless of the disciplinary process that may be instructed. In the event of several irregularities in the evaluation acts of the same module, the final grade for this subject will be 0. 

The AI teahing model is 2, which requires transparency and agreed, critical and limited use. When there is suspicion that students have used AI to generate assessable documents illegally, the teacher reserves the right to assess this knowledge through an alternative route (for example, oral test).

In the event that the evaluation activities cannot be done in situ, their format will be adapted (maintaining their weighting) to the possibilities offered by the UAB’s virtual tools. Homework, activities and participation in class will be done through forums, wikis and / or discussions of exercises through Teams, ensuring that all students have access to it.

This subject/module does not incorporate single assessment. 


Bibliography

Broad list of references. Detailed listings will be available at the module's Moodle.

AADD (2006). Qu’est-ce qu’un corps?. Afrique de l’Ouest / Europe Occidentale / Nouvelle Guinée / Amazonie, Paris: Musée du Quai Branly / Flammarion.

BARTH Fredrick.  (1976 [1969]). “Introducción” in F. Barth (ed) Los grupos étnicos y sus fronteras, México: F.C.E., pp.9-49.

BASTIDE Roger. (1993 [1971]). “Le principe d’individuation (contribution à une philosophie africaine)”. En: Dieterlen G. (ed.) La notion de personne en Afrique noire. Paris: Éditions L’Harmattan: 34-43.

BRUBAKER, Rogers & COOPER, Frederick (2000). Beyond “identity”. Theory and Society. 29 (1-47)

CARRITHERS Michael.; COLLINS Steven.; LUKES Ssteven. (eds) (1985). The Category of the Person. Anthropology, Philosophy, History, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

CAGIAO, Jorge. Micronacionalismos ¿No seremos todos nacionalistas?. Madrid: Libros La Catarata, 2018.

CLUA i FAINÉ, Montserrat. “Las mezclas no caben en el nacionalismo: el caso catalán”, en Ventura Oller (ed.), Fronteras y mestizajes. Sistemas de clasificación social en Europa, América y África, Servei de Publicacions de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Publicacions d'Antropologia Cultural, nº26, 2010:41-56.

CLUA i FAINÉ, Montserrat. (2018). "Los límites de la humanidad compartida: colonialismo, esclavitud y racismo en Cataluña", en Montserrat Ventura i Oller, Josep Lluís Mateo, Montserrat Clua i Fainé (eds.), Humanidad: categoría o condición: un viaje antropológico, pp. 287-311.

COHEN, Erik, COHEN, Scott A. (2012). Current sociological theories and issues in tourism. Annals of Tourism Research, (39) 4: 2177-2202.

CONNOR, Walker. “El caos terminológico (“una nación es una nación, es un Estado, es un grupo étnico, es…”), en Etnonacionalismo, Madrid: Trama editorial, 1998: 85-111.

DESCOLA Phillipe. (2004).“Las cosmologías indígenas de la Amazonía” in A. Surrallés y P. García Hierro (eds) Tierra adentro. Territorio indígena y percepción del entorno, Copenhague: IWGIA, doc.Nº39, pp.25-35.

DUMONT Louis. (1975). Introducción a dos teorías de antropologia social. Barcelona: Anagrama. Parte 3 (p 91-139).

ERIKSEN, Thomas Hylland (2002 [1993]). Ethnicity and Nationalism. London: Pluto Press.

ERIKSEN, Thomas Hylland. (2020) “Ideological overheating. Openness and closure, fear and loathing in the 21st century world”, Revista d’Etnologia de Catalunya, Nº45: pp. 18-29 (versió en català). https://cultura.gencat.cat/ca/departament/estructura_i_adreces/organismes/dgcpt/07_publicacions/rec/  

ESTEBAN Mari Luz (2004). Antropología del cuerpo. Género, itinerarios corporales, identidad y cambio, Barcelona: Ediciones Bellaterra.

FONS Virgínia. (2005). “Concepto de persona en África central”. Oráfrica. Revista de Oralidad Africana. Ceiba (Laboratorio de Recursos Orales), 1, pp. 21-38.

FONSECA Claudia. (2004). "Pautas de maternidad compartida en grupos populares de Brasil", en Diana Marre y Joan Bestard (eds.), La adopción y el acogimiento. Presente y perspectivas. Estudis d'Antropologia Social i Cultural, 13. Universidad de Barcelona, pp: 91-116.

GODELIER Maurice & PANOFF Michel (1998). « Introduction ». En: La production du corps. Paris: Editions des Archives Contemporaines, pp.xi-xxv.

GONZÁLEZ ECHEVARRÍA, Aurora; GRAU REBOLLO, Jorge; VALDÉS GÁZQUEZ, María (Eds). (2020). Cultura, Parentesco y Parentalidad. GRAFO, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB). 326 páginas.

GONZÁLEZ ECHEVARRÍA, Aurora et al. (2010). “Sobre la definición de los dominios transculturales. La Antropología del Parentesco como teoría sociocultural de la procreación”, Alteridades, 20 (39), pp. 93-106.

HALL, Stuart. (2019.)El triángulo funesto. Raza, etnia, nación. Madrid: Traficantes de sueños. https://www.traficantes.net/sites/default/files/pdfs/TDS_map55_El%20triangulo%20funesto_final_interior.pdf

HÉRITIER Françoise. (1996). “La vinculación a la estirpe. Reflexiones sobre losnuevos modos de procreación”, en F. Héritier, Masculino / Femenino. El pensamiento de la diferencia. Barcelona: Ariel, pp: 249-272.

KOSELLECK, Reinhart (1993 [1979]) “Sobre la semántica histórico-política de los conceptos contrarios asimétricos”, Futuro pasado. Para una semántica de los tiempos históricos, Barcelona: Paidós: 205-250.

LA FONTAINE Jean. (1985). "Person and individual: some anthropological reflections" in M. Carrithers et al. (eds) The category of the person, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 123-140.

LATOUR, Bruno: “Crisis”, Nunca fuimos modernos, Buenos Aires: Editorial Siglo XXI, 2007 (1991):1-12.

LEWIS Oscar. (1965). The children of Sanchez. Harmondworth: Penguin Books.

LÓPEZ GARCÍA, Bernabé; BERRIANE, Mohamed (dir.) (2004). Atlas de la emigración marroquí en España, Madrid: Taller de Estudios Internacionales Mediterráneos - Ministerio de Trabajo y Asuntos Sociales - UAM Ediciones.

MARTÍNEZ MAURI Mònica. (2015). "Navegantes, autoridades indígenas y turistas en Panamá. Los efectos del turismo sobre elcontrol territorial de las áreas marítimas del pueblo guna". Letras Verdes, 18: 4-26

MATEO DIESTE, Josep Lluís (2013). “Estrategias matrimoniales y parentesco entre las clases populares del norte de Marruecos y la emigración a Cataluña”, Revista Internacional de Sociología, vol. 71, nº 2, pp. 415-439

MATEO DIESTE, Josep Lluís (2021). “Ruqya and the olive branch: A bricoleur healer between Catalonia and Morocco”, Annabelle Böttcher, Birgit Krawietz (eds.), Islam, Migration and Jinn. Spiritual Medicine in MuslimHealth Management. Cham: Palgrave-MacMillan, pp. 99-120.

MELHUUS Merit. (2010). “Hijos sin madres, padres desconocidos y otros problemas de filiación. Hechos reprouctivos e imaginaciones procreativas en Noruega. La historia oficial – y algo más”, en V. Fons, A. Piella y M. Valdés (eds.) Procreación, crianza y género. Aproximaciones antropológicas a la parentalidad. Barcelona: PPU, pp: 27-42.

MULLINGS, Leith. «Interrogando El Racismo. Hacia Una Antropología Antirracista». Revista CS, n.º 12 (diciembre 2013), 325-75. https://www.icesi.edu.co/revistas/index.php/revista_cs/article/view/1683

PIELLA VILA, Anna y URIBE, José M. Coord. (2019) Escenarios de Parentalidad. AIBR, Revista de Antropología Iberoamericana. Volumen 14, Núm. 3, Septiembre - Diciembre, 2019. ISSN: 1695-9752. EISSN: 1578-9705. https://www.aibr.org/antropologia/netesp/1403.php

REIG, Alejandro; NORUM, Roger (2018). Migrantes. Barcelona: Ediciones Ekaré.

ROSS C., MIROWSKY J. & RAJULTON S. (2010). “Powerlessness and the Amplification of Thread: Neighboorhood Disadvantage, Disorder and Mistrust”. AmericanSociological Review, 66: 568-91.

ROY, Oliver. (2003). El islam mundializado. Los musulmanes en la era de la globalización. Barcelona: Edicions Bellaterra.

SALAZAR, Noel B. (2006). Antropología del turismo en países en desarrollo: análisis crítico de las culturas, poderes e identidades generados por el turismo. Tabula Rasa, (5): 99-128.

SALAZAR, Noel. B. (2010). Towards an anthropology of cultural mobilities. Crossings: Journal of Migration & Culture, 1(1): 53-68.

SHELLER, Mimi, and URRY, John. (2006). The new mobilities paradigm. Environment and planning A, 38(2): 207-226.

SAYAD, Abdelmalek. (2010). La doble ausencia. De las ilusiones del emigrado a los padecimientos del inmigrado. Barcelona: Anthropos.

STORM, Eric, AL TUMA, Ali (eds.). (2016). Colonial Soldiers in Europe, 1914-1945: “Aliens in Uniform” in Wartime Societies. Routledge.

STRONZA, Amanda (2001). Anthropology of tourism: Forging new ground for ecotourism and other alternatives. Annual Review of Anthropology, 30(1): 261-283.

VAN DEN BOGAERT, Alice 2018 “Continuidad interior, discontinuidad corporal: la humanidad fragmentada en el Himalaya indio”, in Ventura, M., Mateo Dieste, J.L., Clua, M. (eds.) La humanidad como categoría. Un viaje antropológico, Barcelona: Bellaterra, pp.147-163.

VENTURA I OLLER, Montserrat. (2006). “El cuerpo, marcador de la condición humana. El caso Tsachila del Ecuador” in MuñozGonzalez, B. y J. López García (eds) Cuerpo y medicina. Textos y contextos culturales, Cáceres: Cicon Ediciones : 257-268.

VENTURA I OLLER,Montserrat. (ed) (2010). Fronteras y mestizajes, Bellaterra: Publicacions d’Antropologia Cultural, UAB.

VIVEIROS DE CASTRO, Eduardo (2004). “Perspectivismo y multinaturalismo en la América indígena”. En: A. Surrallés y P.García Hierro (eds) Tierra adentro. Territorio indígena y percepción del entorno, Copenhague: IWGIA, doc.Nº39, pp.37-80.

 


Software

Students should be familiar with an office suite software (word processor, slide show, spreadsheets, etc.) as well as areference manager (as Mendeley).


Groups and Languages

Please note that this information is provisional until 30 November 2025. You can check it through this link. To consult the language you will need to enter the CODE of the subject.

Name Group Language Semester Turn
(TEm) Theory (master) 1 Spanish annual afternoon