Erasmus Courses

Undergraduate Courses for International Students

A. Undergraduate courses offered in English by the Department of Social Anthropology

Courses in English (open to international and local students) :

Winter Semester

   Anthropology of Islamic Societies (520199), Prof. Gerasimos Makris (Thursday, Amphitheatre 2, 18.00-21.00)

The course offers a critical discussion of issues related to the emergence and development of Islam in the Middle East, the dogmatic content and ritual practices of Islamic tradition as this is realised at the local level, the inner tension and political character of the process through which Islamic ‘orthodoxy’ is produced, the political and economic dimensions of Islamic discourses, as well as the relationship between Islamic societies and Europe or more generally with the ‘West’. Through the use of ethnographic examples, the course will also focus on the role and significance of the theologian juriconsults, the importance of Islamic modernism, issues related to gender and women, the importance of Islamism and contemporary forms of Islamic activism as well as on the emergence of Islamophobia and negative stereotypes in the wider context of the so-called ‘Arab Spring’.

Spring Semester

   Anthropology of Youth Cultures, Dr. Natalia Koutsougera (Wednesday, A4, 12.00-15.00)

The course provides an overview of the academic literature on youth and youth studies focusing on the analytical concept of youth culture. It offers a historical, cross-cultural and multidisciplinary approach to the notions of youth, young generation, youth subjectivity, youth movements, youth scenes, youthscapes, youth cultures and youth subcultures, through the prism of human, political and social sciences such as sociology, psychology, cultural studies, cultural and political history, social geography, anthropology, gender studies, popular culture studies, ethnomusicology and dance studies. However as it places special emphasis on anthropological perspectives, multi-sited and multi-modal methodologies, it oscillates between local ethnographic examples (or case studies) and translocal youth cultural practices and experiences. The lectures are based on different axes ranging from space, gender, sexuality, authenticity and performativity to ritual, leisure, material culture, consumption, social class, resistance, affect and embodiment. The course revolves around questions which diachronically beset the area of youth studies such as: which are the delineations of youth? Why young people form youth cultures? What is the relationship of youth cultures with subcultures, popular culture, commerciality and consumerism? Are youth cultures/subcultures manifestations of resistance against political regimes, popular/mainstream culture and heteronormativity? Do they subvert or they reproduce established structures and norms? Are ephemeral youth identities and lifestyles shaped or stable, crystallized and diachronic identities? Which are the characteristics of diasporic and multicultural youth identities? What is the role of virtuality in their formation? Which are the intersections of social class, race, ethnicity and gender with youth cultures? And how can anthropology interpret youth performativities?

Each course:

• has 13 lectures
• requires compulsory attendance
• has a student evaluation method based on a final exam
• is worth 7.5 ECTS.

        Tutorials in English (open only to international students):

        Winter Semester

          Identity, Alterity and Multiculturalism (520207), Prof. Andreas Notaras (Thursday, Γ6, 15.00-18.00)

The course is divided into two, internally interrelated, sections. The first section focuses on a critical presentation and analysis of the concepts of 'community' and 'identity'. Community is being discussed both in its historical dimension and in comparison with the concept of "society," as well as in its modern, pluralist conceptualisations. In this first section we also examine 'identity' as a process of social construction and we discuss its inherent polarities, namely 'similarity and difference', 'collective and individual', ascription and self-ascription. Reference is also being made to the constitution of the 'subject' and its multiple facets (gender, ethnic, ideological, class, etc.). The second part of the course focuses on some major aspects of the modern globalization process (mass migration, permeability of national borders, increased role of transnational capital and organizations) and particularly on the proliferation of identities and the politics of identity and difference. We also examine what we could call the "paradox of multiculturalism" and the difficult balance between equality and difference, universalism and particularism, liberalism and communitarianism with some reference to approaches that attempt to creatively overcome these long standing binary oppositions.

          Anthropology of Tourism (520198), Prof. Giorgos Tsimouris (Tuesday, Γ6, 12.00-15.00)

The course is designed to give an overview and critical assessment of the developing field of tourism study in anthropology. It aims to provide a historical understanding of travel and tourism in modernity and to engage the student in the debates of anthropology of tourism concerning the connections of modern travel with the pilgrimages of the past, identity issues, the meeting of hosts and guests, the impacts of tourism on destination societies and the overlapping among tourism and ethnographic practice. We discuss why tourism as other practises of mobility, became so recently a growing field of enquiry in social anthropology. Tourism is explored as one of the world's largest industries in the context of modern developments in communication technologies, the media and the electronic advertising. Tourist activity is investigated as a leisure time (or ‘free time’) closely associated with consumption, issues of style and identity formation. We examine the multiple types of tourism, adventurous, recreational, cultural, religious and environmental. We also explore the transformations of tourism in the post-war period in an environment of intense globalization and we consider issues of tourist policies with a specific focus on sustainable tourism development. A special focus is addressed to issues associated with representation of places and people in tourism industry and we also discuss tourism as a form of neo-colonialization.

Spring Semester

  Critical Discourse Studies (520230), Prof. Salomi Boukala (Tuesday, B6, 18.00-21.00)

This course aims to familiarise students with the range of theories in Critical Discourse Studies by introducing them to fundamental concepts and approaches involved in the study of the links between language and society. It also intends to provide practical analytical skills and methodologies for analysing spoken, written and visual texts of different genres. In particular, this course will focus on different methods and issues in Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and Social Anthropology. CDA is broadly concerned with the way that language and other semiotic modalities reflect, legitimate and instantiate power and inequality in social relations. In this course, students are introduced to various methodological approaches to CDA which draw on and apply a range of theoretical frameworks including social anthropology, argumentation theory, cognitive linguistics, conversational analysis, sociolinguistics, pragmatics and ethnographic approaches. A variety of discourses articulated in talk, text and image and operating across a range of social and political fields of action are considered, including (social) media discourse, nationalist discourse, political discourse. Throughout the course, students will be introduced to and encouraged to engage with a number of theoretical and methodological debates currently ongoing in Critical Discourse Studies.

        Digital Anthropology (520236), Prof. Petros Petridis (Monday, B6, 18.00-21.00)

This course focuses on the anthropological and ethnographic study of digital cultures. Ιt aims to familiarize the students with a wide range of theories, methodologies, and social practices that emerge in the context of various technoscapes. Specifically, the course will explore analytical concepts including virtuality, digital embodiment, construction of communities and social networks, space and time, digital economies, digital labor, internet visual cultures, gamification, and algorithmic cultures. During the seminars, we will discuss ethnographies of digital cultures and will focus on methodological issues, as well as, on new forms of ethnographic representation. Furthermore, we will explore methodologies and theoretical approaches that emerge from the intersection of anthropology and other disciplines, such as philosophy, literary criticism, and new media theory.

Each tutorial:

• is based on individual or group tutoring by a staff member
• has a maximum capacity of 8 students, with priority given to incoming anthropology students
• requires compulsory attendance
• has a final essay requirement or a written/oral exam
• is worth 7.5 ECTS

B. Undergraduate courses offered in Greek by the Department of Social Anthropology

Greek-speaking international students are welcome to attend any compulsory and/or elective course offered by our Department.

Each course:

• has 13 lectures
• has a student evaluation method based on a final written/oral exam or an essay
• is worth 5 or 6 ECTS for elective and compulsory courses, respectively, for undergraduate students.

The list of courses is available at:

http://anthropology.panteion.gr/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=432&Itemid=884&lang=el

C. Courses offered in English and/or French by other Departments at Panteion

In addition, International Students may select courses in English and/or French offered by any other Department at Panteion University. (List of courses and info: https://erasmus.panteion.gr/index.php/courses-selection).