We will examine the relevance of the anthropology of religion in understanding our time. ANT 413 - Cultures and Critical Translations Prof. This seminar draws on anthropology, linguistics, and other disciplines alert to critical theories of translation. This seminar will examine classic and contemporary films made by anthropologists, documentary filmmakers, as well as by peoples who have been their subjects. This course examines the status of film as a form of knowledge and the uses of film as part of the social movements and cultural self-representation.
Many films focus on the U.S. and Latin America.
We begin with a review of social theoretical positions and debates on science, magic, religion, rational-technical power and the human condition. Our social theoretical and historical review will be combined with a close reading of contemporary ethnographies carried out in different technoscientific fields and societies. Reproductive technologies, genomics, organ transplantation in rich and poor countries, PET scanning and psychiatric classifications, new infectious diseases, pharmaceutical markets and development policies, bioethics, diseases, etc. will be considered - their limits, possibilities and implications. We build on the work of the first semester pushing the exploration of the notions of culture, structure, meaning, hermeneutics, interpretation, consensus and conflict. We try to map how these concepts have been applied to non-Western societies as well as western ones and what we can learn from these implementations regarding generation and elaboration of anthropological knowledge.