LFU:online

The examination of selected societies, culture areas, or social institutions, or theoretical topics to illustrate the anthropological perspectives to problems of applied anthropology, culture process, change, and development. Topic will vary from semester to semester. May be repeated once for credit.

This course on the Roma/Traveler/Sinti people will engage students, who encounter people vilified as “gypsies” in their travels across Europe, in a critical examination and deconstruction of cultural stereotypes. The course materials will move students through and beyond a discussion of the social and economic marginalization of “gypsies” in Europe to a deep ethnographic understanding of their history and culture, (e.g. purity beliefs, the importance of family), without romanticizing or essentializing them. The class will include ethnographic works on the various “gypsy” populations in Europe from Spain and France (including the annual pilgrimage to Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer) to Romania, the Travelers in UK and the US, as well as their migration from India to Egypt to Europe. I previously included the Roma in my UNO Cultural Anthropology class in Summer 2012 and also have a segment on them in my UGA Anthropology of Religion classes. This prior experience of teaching in this area, the connection to the “gypsy” population at my fieldsite in India, and research in religion, specifically pilgrimages, constitute the basis of my interest in this topic.

The University of New Orleans International Summer School program has a mandatory class attendance policy. All students are required to attend class for all morning classes and any required afternoon and/or weekend fields trips and lectures. No unexcused absences are allowed. However, LFU students who have to miss a UNO class due to LFU examinations in the first two weeks of our program, can receive one excused absence for this. Any further unexcused absences will result in an academic penalty. Each faculty member determines the penalty for missed classes. Most professors deduct a letter grade for each additional missed class day. For details, please refer to your course syllabi, which will be distributed on the first day of class. Mail: Center-New-Orleans@uibk.ac.at

Die Anrechnung der Kurse der UNO-IBK International Summer School muss von den Studierenden selbst vorab mit den zuständigen StudiendekanInnen geklärt werden. Diese allein entscheiden über die Anerkennung der belegten Kurse für das jeweilige Studienfach. Es wird empfohlen, sich einen Vorabbescheid über die Anerkennung der Kurse ausstellen zu lassen.