Suchergebnisse

This essay observes the Italian situation in order to make an "anthropology of the sciences of culture" and in order to highlight the contribution that the sciences of culture could offer for a better understanding of the political processes that are taking place. In fact, some political problems of today could be interpreted through the particular lens of "demology", or study of "popular culture", which was a very important part of the Italian anthropological sciences. The same political problems of today could be interpreted as the cause and effect of the events of the Italian anthropological sciences, and of the attitude of intellectuals towards "non-intellectuals". The essay makes "theory" and does not report the experiences on the ground on which it rests, because it is the sum of the results of a thirty-year ethnography on this field, for which the Author refers to her volumes and articles mentioned in the bibliography. This Italian case is illuminating, and can provide an historical reading key to understand folklore and cultures in general.

Book review of Alessandro Deiana, Effetto folklore: Usi e significati della tradizione nella Sardegna contemporanea, Roma, Aracne, 2017, pp. 256.

Since the late 1900s, new forms of visual entertainment have been invented to simulate the details of the past time. In the Abruzzi, hundreds of historical reenactments have been consolidated in few years as "popular traditions", inspired to the aristocracy of the Middle Age and also to the peasant life of XIX century. The passion in the stake-holders demonstrate that the realism turned into a political and affective dimension. Through a post-colonial approach, the essay explores the new traditions inspired to the peasant life as a ritual way to heal the need of identity in a way that is not passive at all, moving the semiotic pawns into the local culture, mixing the visual expressions with the local powers. In fact, these activities bring into play the old regional inequalities between large cities and small towns, because in the global competition to revitalize traditional rituals, peripheral villages are stripped of their copyright on old festivals. This seems to violate the 2003 Unesco Convention that guarantees the local diversity according to a universalistic conception of the cultural heritage. Through the advice of cultural anthropologists and the ethical use of the region's ethnological archives, it is possible to resolve disputes over cultural rights that are flourishing today in the examined area.

Recensione di Francesco Marano, Fare a occhio. Antropologia della cucina in Basilicata, Matera, Altrimedia Edizioni, 2015, pp. 128.

Book review of Antonello Ciccozzi, 2013, Parola di scienza, Roma, DeriveApprodi, pp. 188.

Abstract
The way in which folklorists study their "scientific subject", that is the creativity and the rich ways people attach meanings to their existence, has often been considered to be static and decontextualized. An interest in popular culture for propaganda purposes is associated with past regimes. Therefore, the notion of "folklore" still carries contradictory meanings and connotations. The author starts from a debate prompted in Italy by Alberto M. Cirese: in recent decades, Italian "native" ethnology has focused on endangered village traditions rather than opening itself up to new instances of cultural change. The main risk was misrepresenting the methodology proposed by Antonio Gramsci in 1929. Today Italian research into folklore places the subject of "folklore" in its broadest context, investigating developments in society associated with the shift from a peasant to an industrial society, and embarking on additional research domains through transnational cultures. This research draws on the growing interest in cultural heritage in the public sphere, and, simultaneously, draws on recent advances in the study of uses of culture and memory. The paper studies two aspects of daily life: pure yarn handmade clothes and ornaments, and long-life tomato sauce. The study concludes that contemporary everyday folklore takes on many free and unofficial forms that call for a renewed approach. To evaluate the multiplicity of folklore meanings and their capacity to integrate interactions between the traditional and the contemporary in specific contexts, the author explores the practicality of a new idea of folklore as sustainable, popular, domestic creativity using material and immaterial goods. This idea implies a rethink of the concept of heritage and of the complexity of its increasingly official, bombastic and rhetorical manifestations