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The end, as an anthropological permanent risk, is simply the risk of not being able to be in any possible cultural world. It is losing the possibility to be actively present in the world. It is the shrinking – until annihilation – of any horizon of worldly activity. It is the catastrophe of the meanings of any community project. Human culture in general is the solemn exorcism against such a radical risk.
(de Martino 2002b: 219)Overview
Ernesto de Martino's analyses of culture and religion strictly follow two main paths: (i) the adoption of a reformed historical idealism, particularly one centred on the history of the subaltern and folklore; and (ii) the elevation of ethnology from a naturalistic science to a historical science. While the first part of de Martino's programme will lead him to a dramatic – though (some argue) temporary – rupture with Croceanism and absolute historicism, the second will contribute to the rise of a reflective ethnology, and the critique towards rationalism. In this chapter, although the discussion will be mostly limited to the Italian history of religious tradition, I will discuss how de Martino's methodology and ethnographic research can positively inform the study of religion as an alternative and interdisciplinary academic arena.
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