ANTROPOLOGIA DEL PATRIMONIO E DEL TURISMO

The course will provide students with the critical conceptual tools useful for interpreting heritage processes and contemporary tourism phenomena from an anthropological perspective. Students will acquire the following skills through an in-depth study of the relevant literature and an examination of the social dynamics activated around the concepts of heritage and tourism through specific ethnographic examples:

- Analyse heritage processes, tourism phenomena, and cultural policies using the theoretical and methodological tools of anthropology;

- Identify and analyze the relationships between local dynamics and global processes regarding tourism and revitalization phenomena;

- Apply the acquired knowledge to the analysis and/or design of heritage enhancement projects;

- Critically discuss the economic, socio-cultural, and political implications of the impact of tourism on local communities and territories;

- Understand the different ways of managing local heritage and tourism resources; 

- Communicative skills acquired by using teaching methods based on active participation and dialogue between students and teachers.

The course aims to introduce participants to the fundamental concepts, theoretical approaches, and methodologies of anthropology. By doing so, the course will equip them with the necessary analytical tools to study the course materials with ease. The course will then shift its focus towards the concepts of heritage and tourism, emphasizing their processual nature and historically constructed character. Additionally, it will highlight how tourism and heritage discourses, practices, and projects are embedded within complex political dynamics and how they relate to the identity, social, and cultural dimensions of people and places. These aspects become relevant anthropological objects for understanding the present. Lastly, the course will critically reflect on the various forms of the relationship between institutional processes and local practices of appropriation and manipulation of tourism phenomena and heritage objects through the analysis of specific ethnographic contexts.

The final grade for this course will be determined through individual oral interviews. The interviews are designed to test the students' skills in critical analysis, synthesis, and exposition of the topics in the syllabus. The grade will be expressed in thirtieths and will take into account the following elements:

1. Accurate and precise use of terminology in the exposition of the course contents and the texts in the syllabus.

2. Ability to analyze the material.

3. Ability to synthesize information.

4. Capacity for critical processing of content and methods.

5. Ability to establish connections between different parts of the program and between programs of other subjects.

6. Ability to develop original reasoning around content and methods.

For students who attend lectures, active participation during class, personal research and readings, and discussions with colleagues and the lecturer will be considered in their assessment.

Additionally, an intermediate test may be offered, and details for this will be announced at the beginning of the course, after an assessment of the basic level of preparation of attending students.