Cultural Anthropology

Italy's going through weird times.
Politics turning definitely to a media-controlling populist right wing, persuing the interests of the few. A center-left wing opposition that is totally non-existent, loosing touch with the people for absence of stamina, of effective programs and in the general mindset aimed at the preservation of small(to enormous) private domains.
Tendency to racism, to the unacceptance of the "other".
A surreal and heavy_as_stone diffused perception of reality as filtered by mass-media proposed concepts for success, health, beauty, family, sex, identity, future.
An ex showgirl as the minister for equal opportunities (not_a_joke).
The pope and the catholic church insinuating ever more in the definition of cultural, moral, political values.
And, in the background, continuous malpractices in public and private finance, inflation, debt, social policies….
And I could go on for hours, describing a picture of a nation that is falling apart in more than one way.

Some days ago Rome's University "La Sapienza" announced the new structures for the courses of the Communication Sciences faculty.

In the new setup, Cultural Anthropology was gone, replaced by minor subjects placed during the third year of the courses. Other changes were made, creating courses that further enact the current trend found in italian universities to loosen the critical aspects of knowledge and culture, in favor to those skills that are required to produce the "professionals" that will be the perfect chainworkers of tomorrow's journalism, enterpreneurship, politics….

It is a further small hint of what is going on over here.

I have been embracing practices aiming at the maximisation of my level of independence from the concepts of nation, governments, location, using temporarily autonomous zones, nomadism, globalized practices, socially/politically hacking whenever/whatever is in my power, and enacting DIY, open and gift based strategies.

I am just starting to feel the need to explicitly communicate what is happening in the country where i was born.

http://www.artisopensource.net/AC/