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 for credit.

This course engages UNO Innsbruck students in a critical examination and deconstruction of the negative and damaging cultural stereotype of “Gypsy.” It invites them to reconceptualize the Roma peoples as the largest ethnic minority of Europe: a group that has its own language, social mores and cultural norms but is also quintessentially European. The course materials move students through and beyond the social and economic marginalization of Roma in Europe to a “thick” ethnographic understanding of their history (e.g. their migration from India, subsequent enslavement in the Balkans and the Roma Holocaust) and culture, (e.g. purity beliefs, music), without romanticizing or essentializing them. The course also allows students to learn about the systemic discrimination faced by the Roma on a daily basis and the work of Roma activists through a Facebook page maintained by the instructor, Project INDROMA.

Fieldtrip: Dachau, Germany:
This fieldtrip is designed to allow the students to learn firsthand about the Roma Holocaust and step into the horrific experiences of Roma internees at Nazi concentration camps, including their role as human subjects in cruel and senseless medical experiments. I lead the tour so that I can draw student’s attention to specific areas in the Museum that focus on the Roma experience at Dachau.

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