The Department of Ethnology and Anthropology was established in 2003. It concentrates on cultural anthropology, but it offers courses in other subfields as well. Faculty research interests span a wide range of topics including the questions of the everyday and affective spaces, language and identity, heritage sites and cultural landscapes, cultural memory, pilgrimage and tourism, popular culture and visual culture, performance and performativity, migrant community formations, race and ethnicity and public health issues.
The Departments promotes inter-departmental collaboration, as well as multiple and interdisciplinary approaches. It has established partnership with various universities around the world including Karl-Franzens University in Graz (Austria), University Ca’Foscari from Venice and University of Padua (Italy), University of Cork (Ireland), Universities of Ioannina and Thessalonica (Greece), University of Bratislava (Slovakia), University of Istanbul (Turkey) and Florida Gulf Coast University (USA). Our faculty has spent time visiting and doing research at universities in Ljubljana, Graz, Padua, Venice, Jerusalem, Malta, Benares (India), Philadelphia, Cork, Ioannina, Auckland and Melbourne. We have hosted international faculty and students from various parts of the world. In short, our Department is a vibrant and diverse community of scholars and students.
The undergraduate and graduate study programme in Ethnology and Anthropology offers students the opportunity to explore the complexities of human culture and society. Ethnographic fieldwork is one of the major components of our study programme and therefore we especially highlight the need to conduct research during undergraduate and graduate study of ethnology and anthropology. Furthermore, in our study programmes we emphasize the need for students to be engaged in local communities through trainships in various institutions (National parks, museums, heritage centers, educational institutions, government and non-government organizations, etc.). We encourage our students to reflect on their findings, both theoretically and methodologically, and to present the results of their research on student conferences, public events and workshops. Upon completion of their studies, students are able to critically reflect on the cultural diversity of our globalized world, its interconnectedness, as well as on the complexities of cultural phenomena. The undergraduate and graduate study programme of ethnology and anthropology at the University of Zadar offers wide range of topics which are problematized in diverse courses.
THE LEARNING OUTCOMES
Undergraduate study of ethnology and anthropology
KNOWLEDGE, UNDERSTANDING, AND THE APPLICATION OF KNOWLEDGE
Upon the completion of the undergraduate study programme students will acquire knowledge that will enable them to:
- understand core concepts and theories from ethnology, anthropology and folkloristics, including their focuses of inquiry and interrelationships
- recognize and understand contexts and specificities of various cultural practices, both locally and globally
- understand the history and development of anthropology, ethnology and folkloristics
- recognise and understand cultural diversity, both locally and globally
- identify and understand the regional cultural significance and specificities
- utilize basic qualitative research methods , particularly ethnography
- describe and compare differernt aspects of culture
THE ABILITY TO SOLVE PROBLEMS
Upon the completion of the undergraduate study programme students will gain abilities that will enable them to:
- recognise cultural differences and simillarities and develop critical thinking in
- crosscultural comparasion
- observe the cultural processes that shape human reality
- critically interpret ethnographic texts
- recognize the relationshio between cultural beliefs and notions of identity, understanding how they vary across differernt places and over time
- appreciate cultural diversity and cultivate a critical stance towards any form of cultural stereotyping
PRACTICAL COMPETENCIES AND SKILLS
Upon the completion of the undergraduate study programme students will acquire competences and skills that will enable them to:
- describe heritage processes to various audiences
- collaborate effectively within team structures and adapt to the specific needs of local communities
- identify cultural and social forces in everyday life issues
THE LEARNING OUTCOMES
Graduate study of ethnology and anthropology
KNOWLEDGE OF:
- a broad array of anthropological theories and approaches
- research, methods and outcomes developed to understand cultural diversity, including its continuity and change, both locally and globally and the importance of intercultural dialogue
- research, methods and outcomes developed to understand regional cultural specificities and the social and historical contexts that shaped them
- research, methods and outcomes developed to analyze cultural complexity and its links to identity issues
- research, methods and outcomes developed to understand various forms of cultural practices, such as texts, language, visual media, sound, oral traditions, oral histories, life stories
CRITICAL THINKING:
- analytical thinking about issues and intellectual debates within the discipline
- evaluation of various sociocultural concepts of 'difference', such as language, ethnicity, gender, race, class, and understanding of how different practices related to these concepts inscribe social relations and subjectivities
- the ability to critically assess the role of cultural heritage, and it usage, in expressing and producing local, regional and national identity
RESEARCH SKILLS AND PRESENTATIONS:
- ability to initiate, plan, and carry out small ethnographic projects
- ability to develop project presentations and reports and communicate clearly project results to various audiences
- ability to initiate and plan projects on the management of cultural heritage through participation in the internship program
- ability to evaluate issues related to protected natural and cultural areas and design ways of working with local communities
SKILLS LEARNED
- independent use and valorization of professional literature in Croatian and foreign languages
- independent use of contemporary communication technologies
- applying professional ethical guidelines in individual and group research and fieldwork
- informed participation in intercultural and interdisciplinary considerations of cultural issues and projects related to them
- applying anthropological skills in evaluation and problem solving of present-day concerns