Articles by Gino Satta
Lares, 2018
The article is a review of Ernesto de Martino’s “critical ethnocentrism” and
of the “ethnographic... more The article is a review of Ernesto de Martino’s “critical ethnocentrism” and
of the “ethnographic humanism” perspective that is based upon it. Its aim is to outline the different phases of the reception of that epistemological perspective.
Known from the notes for his work about “cultural apocalypses” published by Clara Gallini 12 years after his death, the perspective of critical ethnocentrism is also discussed in other writings where different aspects and references are drawn.
Particularly interesting is the only writing where the expression appears while the author was alive. Here the perspective is discussed in opposition to the “rude” positions of cultural relativism and to the “confessional” positions in ethnology.
Despite a reference by Cirese in the funeral oration held in memory of de Martino, and the short passages contained in some of his latest essays, critical ethnocentrism escapes the attention of the anthropological community until the posthumous publication of La fine del mondo, where the expression appears as a pivot of reflections on “ethnographic humanism”. In this phase, just over a decade after the death of the author, the reception of his thesis appears rather ambivalent. If on the one hand the anticipatory character and originality within the field of ethnological studies are decisively underlined, on the other hand these theses are considered “insufficient” (Gallini), “not entirely satisfactory” (Lanternari), for certain aspects “outdated” (Lombardi-Satriani) compared to the debate of the late ’70s.
A renewed interest for de Martino’s perspective starts in the early ’80, following the debates about the nature of anthropological knowledge and the diffusion of hermeneutic and “reflexive” perspectives. In this phase de Martino is presented as a pioneer of anti-naturalistic tendencies in anthropology, and its “critical ethnocentrism” as an interesting and heterodox path in anthropological thinking, from which contemporary anthropological debates can usefully borrow. Different reinterpretations aiming at transposing de Martino’s epistemological perspective into contemporary debates have, nonetheless, always found difficult to reconcile its alleged modernity with its root in idealistic historicism.
La ricerca folklorica, 2016
The review aims to highlight some questions arising from the reading of Paini’s and Aria’s edited... more The review aims to highlight some questions arising from the reading of Paini’s and Aria’s edited book La densità delle cose. Following the oceanian détour proposed by the editors, the review focuses on the innovative conception of the Ambassador objects as an alternative to repatriation and a key to the elaboration of a “shared heritization” perspective. Discussing the “theory of cultural creativity” and the conception of the “density of objects”, both based on the oceanian materials presented by the contributors, the review raises some questions about the different meanings of “sharing”, and highlights some practical and theoretical problems of a “shared heritization” perspective.
Parolechiave, 2016
Before invading Ethiopia on oct. 3rd 1935, and during the first months of the war, the fascist re... more Before invading Ethiopia on oct. 3rd 1935, and during the first months of the war, the fascist regime used the slavery issue as a tool of propaganda. Its aim was twofold: to “sell” the war as a “civilising mission”, acceptable by the international public opinion following the standards of colonial “humanitarian imperialism”; and to cause the expulsion of Ethiopia from the League of Nation, where it was admitted in 1923, on the base of “indignity” allegations. Ethiopian slavery was in the 1930s a very hot issue. After the Act of the Bruxelles Conference (1890), which conceived colonisation as a legitimate antislavery measure, the existence of slavery in the only independent African country was a source of diplomatic activism by the colonial powers. Following the guidelines of the Ministry of Press and Propaganda Italian newspapers, journals and publishers made of slavery the symbol of an “abyssinian barbarism”, which called for a humanitarian civilising intervention. British antislavery literature was used as a major source both of data and information about slavery in Ethiopia, and of opinions about the need of foreign intervention. A complete failure from a diplomatic point of view, fascist antislavery propaganda is a very interesting – albeit understudied – topic for the insights it offers on cultural issues of the late colonial era and on the participation of scholars to fascist imperialism.
Parolechiave, 2016
In this introductory essay, the author starts from observing that today slavery not only appears ... more In this introductory essay, the author starts from observing that today slavery not only appears in public discourse as an institution of the past, but even as an “aberration” of history: in this view, the disappearance of slavery corresponds to the birth of modernity, founded on human rights, on the equal dignity of every person and on democracy. However, to understand the obsessive presence on of slavery in media reports around the world, it is necessary to analyse the phenomenon in a broader historical perspective.
Nostos. Laboratiorio di ricerca storica e antropologica, Dec 25, 2016
Il testo riproduce, in modo parziale e introducendovi alcune modifiche, soprattutto bibliografich... more Il testo riproduce, in modo parziale e introducendovi alcune modifiche, soprattutto bibliografiche, gli appunti elaborati in occasione del secondo incontro del Seminario Letture demartiniane, organizzato dall’Associazione Internazionale Ernesto de Martino in collaborazione con la Fondazione Lelio e Lisli Basso. L’incontro, che si è tenuto a Roma, presso la sala conferenze della Fondazione, il 18 febbraio 2016, aveva per oggetto la nuova edizione di Sud e magia curata da Fabio Dei e Antonio Fanelli (Donzelli 2015), e Il tarantismo oggi di Giovanni Pizza (Carocci 2015). Al seminario partecipavano, oltre a chi scrive, Fabio Dei, Antonio Fanelli, Giovanni Pizza.
Nostos. Laboratorio di ricerca storica e antropologica, 2016
editoriale del primo numero della rivista della Associazione Internazionale Ernesto de Martino
aut aut 366/2015, Ernesto De Martino. Un’etnopsichiatria della crisi e del riscatto, a cura di Roberto Beneduce e Simona Taliani, Jun 17, 2015
aut aut 366/2015, Ernesto De Martino. Un’etnopsichiatria della crisi e del riscatto, a cura di Ro... more aut aut 366/2015, Ernesto De Martino. Un’etnopsichiatria della crisi e del riscatto, a cura di Roberto Beneduce e Simona Taliani
Menabò dell'Associazione Etica ed Economia, Nov 16, 2014
Gino Satta analizza Bitcoin dal punto di vista dell’antropologo, prendendo spunto da un articolo ... more Gino Satta analizza Bitcoin dal punto di vista dell’antropologo, prendendo spunto da un articolo dell’Economist che accosta Bitcoin alla moneta di pietra dell’isola di Yap. L’analogia, che ha una lunga e interessante storia, è stimolante ma può essere fuorviante. Secondo Satta l’antropologia economica può contribuire all’analisi delle monete virtuali soprattutto con un approccio etnografico ai contesti sociali che analizzi le credenze, gli usi, le relazioni degli attori coinvolti.
PAROLECHIAVE n. 49: 1-18, Sep 1, 2013
PAROLECHIAVE (ISSN:1122-5300), Vol 49: 69-84, 2013
Canto a tenore, sardinian pastoral songs, is one of the 90 Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangibl... more Canto a tenore, sardinian pastoral songs, is one of the 90 Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity proclaimed by UNESCO between 2001 and 2005. The text which describes the “masterpiece” and explains the rationale for its safeguarding sets a sharp opposition between its “traditional” and its “modern” forms: the first, an authentic version deeply rooted in a timeless pastoral setting, nowadays endangered by socio-economic change; the second, a commodified one, performed on stage for tourists. In this paper I argue that such a sharp opposition, which mirrors common sense assumptions about globalization, conceals the real processes of contemporary tradition making and remaking, to begin with heritization. Following the history of the Pastoralism project – the local «developmentalist» name of canto a tenore’s heritization – the paper focuses on two main issues: the strong links between heritage promotion and touristic development, perceived by the local promoters themselves in the form of a continuity between Park and Pastoralism projects; the cultural logic inherent in the choice and construction of canto a tenore as an heritage “object”. The substantial overlapping between cultural objectification, heritization and touristic commodification, which the analysis points to, suggests the need of a radically different understanding of what the contemporary tradition of canto a tenore is and what its relations with socio-economic processes are.
ANTROPOLOGIA MUSEALE, 2009
PAROLECHIAVE - n. 30: 175-193 , 2004
Note sull'Ipertrofia della Proprietà Intellettuale su Certi …, Jan 1, 2002
Book chapters by Gino Satta
Cultura, potere, genere La ricerca antropologica di Carla Pasquinelli, 2019
L’EREDITÀ RIVISITATA. Storie di un’antropologia in stile italiano, 2019
VITI, F. (a cura di), Variazioni africane. Saggi di antropologia e storia, Il Fiorino, Modena, 2016
La permanenza della schiavitù e della tratta, nonostante gli editti che - dalla fine del XIX seco... more La permanenza della schiavitù e della tratta, nonostante gli editti che - dalla fine del XIX secolo - avrebbero dovuto mettervi termine, ha costituito nella prima metà del XX uno tra i principali elementi della "questione etiopica". Paese indipendente ma oggetto delle mire coloniali britanniche, italiane e, in misura minore, francesi, l'Etiopia ha cercato riparo dalle minacciose pressioni occidentali tramite la richiesta di ammissione alla SDN. Ma proprio la questione della schiavitù ha rappresentato uno dei maggiori ostacoli frapposti dalle potenze coloniali alla sua ammissione. Una campagna di denuncia della schiavitù in Etiopia è stata lanciata da organi di stampa britannici nei primi anni '20, quando l'Etiopia iniziò il percorso che doveva portarla a far parte della società delle nazioni. Qualche anno più tardi, alla vigilia della guerra dichiarata dall'Italia, furono i mezzi d'informazione italiani a riprendere gli argomenti abolizionisti per giustificare, nell'interesse delle popolazioni indigene, l'azione colonizzatrice e civilizzatrice. Il saggio si propone di ricostruire il contesto della "questione etiopica", e di analizzare il modo in cui l'argomento abolizionista è stato utilizzato nella propaganda bellica italiana.
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Articles by Gino Satta
of the “ethnographic humanism” perspective that is based upon it. Its aim is to outline the different phases of the reception of that epistemological perspective.
Known from the notes for his work about “cultural apocalypses” published by Clara Gallini 12 years after his death, the perspective of critical ethnocentrism is also discussed in other writings where different aspects and references are drawn.
Particularly interesting is the only writing where the expression appears while the author was alive. Here the perspective is discussed in opposition to the “rude” positions of cultural relativism and to the “confessional” positions in ethnology.
Despite a reference by Cirese in the funeral oration held in memory of de Martino, and the short passages contained in some of his latest essays, critical ethnocentrism escapes the attention of the anthropological community until the posthumous publication of La fine del mondo, where the expression appears as a pivot of reflections on “ethnographic humanism”. In this phase, just over a decade after the death of the author, the reception of his thesis appears rather ambivalent. If on the one hand the anticipatory character and originality within the field of ethnological studies are decisively underlined, on the other hand these theses are considered “insufficient” (Gallini), “not entirely satisfactory” (Lanternari), for certain aspects “outdated” (Lombardi-Satriani) compared to the debate of the late ’70s.
A renewed interest for de Martino’s perspective starts in the early ’80, following the debates about the nature of anthropological knowledge and the diffusion of hermeneutic and “reflexive” perspectives. In this phase de Martino is presented as a pioneer of anti-naturalistic tendencies in anthropology, and its “critical ethnocentrism” as an interesting and heterodox path in anthropological thinking, from which contemporary anthropological debates can usefully borrow. Different reinterpretations aiming at transposing de Martino’s epistemological perspective into contemporary debates have, nonetheless, always found difficult to reconcile its alleged modernity with its root in idealistic historicism.
Book chapters by Gino Satta
of the “ethnographic humanism” perspective that is based upon it. Its aim is to outline the different phases of the reception of that epistemological perspective.
Known from the notes for his work about “cultural apocalypses” published by Clara Gallini 12 years after his death, the perspective of critical ethnocentrism is also discussed in other writings where different aspects and references are drawn.
Particularly interesting is the only writing where the expression appears while the author was alive. Here the perspective is discussed in opposition to the “rude” positions of cultural relativism and to the “confessional” positions in ethnology.
Despite a reference by Cirese in the funeral oration held in memory of de Martino, and the short passages contained in some of his latest essays, critical ethnocentrism escapes the attention of the anthropological community until the posthumous publication of La fine del mondo, where the expression appears as a pivot of reflections on “ethnographic humanism”. In this phase, just over a decade after the death of the author, the reception of his thesis appears rather ambivalent. If on the one hand the anticipatory character and originality within the field of ethnological studies are decisively underlined, on the other hand these theses are considered “insufficient” (Gallini), “not entirely satisfactory” (Lanternari), for certain aspects “outdated” (Lombardi-Satriani) compared to the debate of the late ’70s.
A renewed interest for de Martino’s perspective starts in the early ’80, following the debates about the nature of anthropological knowledge and the diffusion of hermeneutic and “reflexive” perspectives. In this phase de Martino is presented as a pioneer of anti-naturalistic tendencies in anthropology, and its “critical ethnocentrism” as an interesting and heterodox path in anthropological thinking, from which contemporary anthropological debates can usefully borrow. Different reinterpretations aiming at transposing de Martino’s epistemological perspective into contemporary debates have, nonetheless, always found difficult to reconcile its alleged modernity with its root in idealistic historicism.
Il patrimonio dell’umanità dalla World Heritage List
(1972) all’Intangible Cultural Heritage (2003)
Associazione Internazionale Ernesto de Martino, con la collaborazione della Fondazione Lelio e Lisli Basso
Fabio Dei, Antonio Fanelli, Giovanni Pizza, Gino Satta
dialogano su
E. de Martino, Sud e magia
a cura di F. Dei e A. Fanelli, Donzelli 2015
G. Pizza, Il tarantismo oggi
Carocci 2015
Sala conferenze Fondazione Lelio e Lisli Basso
Via della Dogana Vecchia, 5 - Roma
La crisi e l'oltre
Associazione Internazionale Ernesto de Martino
Bassano Romano 23-24 ottobre 2015
Alors que la référence persistante à un âge fondateur ou à un Éden perdu suggère l’existence d’une oralité primaire radicalement étrangère à l’écriture, de nombreux mythes d’origine sont aujourd’hui des productions textuelles véhiculées et récrées par différents médias. Mais un récit oral peut autant se nourrir de symboles visuels et de livres (ethnologiques, historiques ou religieux) qu’en être la source ou leur servir de modèle ou de traduction, en raison notamment du caractère performatif et de l’efficacité immédiate de la parole.
En faisant appel aux apports de l’anthropologie, de l’histoire, de l’histoire de l’art et de la linguistique, le colloque examinera, à l’échelle locale, nationale et transnationale, l’emprise conjointe de l’écriture, de l’oralité et/ou des images sur la transmission, l’appropriation, la valorisation ou la transformation de savoirs, de symboles, d’enseignements religieux et de pratiques rituelles ou linguistiques. Une telle emprise est bien sûr le résultat d’interactions ou de combinaisons multiples : écrit mimant l’oral ; récits s’inspirant d’inscriptions ou de monuments ; Bible traduite et revivifiée par une parole en acte ; expertises instituant l’oralité en bien culturel ; traditionnistes ou œuvres picturales empruntant aussi bien à l’oral qu’à l’écrit ; auteurs et livres savants célébrant l’oralité ou y puisant leurs informations ; ethnographe-photographe passeur de mémoires ; traditions et emblèmes identitaires suscités par une littérature érudite ; antiquités et figures du passé utilisées à des fins patrimoniales ou racistes... Dans tous les contextes examinés au cours de ce colloque, l’imbrication dynamique de l’oral, de l’écrit et/ou des images est au cœur des processus d’identification collective et de définition de soi ou des Autres, que cette définition soit d’ordre politique, culturel, scientifique.