Course: Introduction to Anthropology I
Brief overview of two social
anthropology “traditions”:
Italy and Brazil
18/11/2021; Paride Bollettin; paride_bollettin@msn.com
Course: Introduction to Anthropology I
Topics:
1) Italian social anthropology
1.1) emergence and consolidation
1.2) some past and present discussions
2) Brazilian social anthropology
2.1) emergence and consolidation
2.2) some past and resent discussions
3) some possible comparisons (again!)
An invite to search for complementary similarities and differences and to
compare with Czech anthropology...
Picture: http://www.etesta.it/didattica/2017_18_DEA4_deMartinoMagia.html
Ailton Krenak at the Brazilian Congress. Source:
https://revistaesquinas.casperlibero.edu.br/edicoes
/63/de-qual-humanidade-voce-e/
Course: Introduction to Anthropology I
Once upon a time in Italy…
- Interconnection between
“biological” and “social”
anthropology (Paolo Mantegazza,
etc.)
- Before that studies on “folklore”:
- 1809-1811, napoleonic
enquiries for understanding local
“superstitions”
- 1826, Alberto La Marmora
Voyage en Sardaigne on Sardinian
traditions in relation with classic
writings and “scientific spirit”
Sardinian daily life. Source: https://www.sunuraghe.it/pubblicazioni/calendariu1998
Course: Introduction to Anthropology I
Stornello fiorentino. Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTg2CorbFr4
The “linguistic turn” during the
romanticism (middle-late 1800)
- Italy characterized by numerous “dialects”
- contrast between “popular” and literary poetics
- “spirit of the nation” in the popular expressions
- from musical expression to folktales
- relations between folklorist studies and political
claims of Italy unification
- scholars from diversified origins: literature,
philology, history, etc.)
Course: Introduction to Anthropology I
Giuseppe Pitrè. Source:
https://www.liberliber.it/online/au
tori/autori-p/giuseppe-pitre/
Sicilian chariot. Source:
https://palermo.italiani.it/scopricitta/i-tesori-di-
giuseppe-pitre/
Pitrè book. Source:
https://www.palermoweb.com/citta
delsole/monumenti/museo_pitre.ht
m
Giuseppe Pitrè
- Sicilian doctor and physician (1841-1916)
- participation in Garibaldi’s army for Italy
unification
- 1871-1913: Biblioteca delle tradizioni
siciliane (25 volumes)
- 1880: Journal Archivio per lo studio delle
tradizioni popolari
- 1909: funder of the Palermo’s
Ethnographic Museum
- 1910: Professor of Demopsychology at
Palermo
Course: Introduction to Anthropology I
Demopsychology
- The study of popular traditions as an
holistic effort and not
- Toward “remaining” to contemporary
expressions
- Inclusion of folktales and songs, but
also habitations, religion, tools, etc.
- people-social and people-nation
(problem of idealization)
Chapel. Source:
https://www.palermoweb.co
m/cittadelsole/monumenti/m
useo_pitre.htm
Pitrè in the Museum. Source:
https://gds.it/foto/tempo-libero/2
011/12/22/arte-foto-rivive-a-
palermo-la-memoria-di-
giuseppe-pitre--182279-
f4c4f247-d7c9-4972-9ca8-
5b5306855c7d/
Course: Introduction to Anthropology I
Lamberto Loria
- Born in Egypt (1855-1913)
- graduate as a mathematician
- Traveller (back soon…) and collector
- 1906: funder of the Italian Ethnography
Museum
- 1910: funder of the Italian Ethnographic
Society
- no academic but memeber of several
scientific associations (anthropology,
Lamberto Loria. Source:
https://www.abbanews.eu/gusti-e-
cultura/loria/
Museo nazionale delle arti e tradizioni
popolari Lamberto Loria. Source:
https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museo_nazionale
_delle_arti_e_tradizioni_popolari_Lamberto_
Loria
Course: Introduction to Anthropology I
Loria’s travels
- Instructions fro travels by Paolo Mantegazza:
anthropometry, artefacts, description of “traditions”
- 1883-1884: Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Russia, and
Turkmenistan
- 1885-1886: Egypt and Nile river
- 1886: India
- 1888-1890: Papua New Guinea (I)
- 1891-1897: Papua New Guinea (II)
- 1905: Eritrea
Papua boat. Source:
http://www.censimento.fotografia.italia.it/fond
i/fondo-lamberto-loria-1855-1913/
Course: Introduction to Anthropology I
Notes from the field
“Since I place scrupulous care on ascertaining the
truth of the things I wish to find out and confronting
them frequently; and since whenever possible I try
not to satisfy myself with what I hear, but try to
verify it with my own eyes; I dare flatter myself that
the notes I collect, even if they turn out to be
inexact or even erroneous in the finer details, are
essentially true”
“it is the restrictedness of time, the wanderlust that
prevents him from patiently awaiting the
development of the observations and of the
narration”
“some facts and notes were subject to the
inevitable alterations made to the original
discourse when translated by an intermediary”
Papua men. Source:
https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/26233612
Course: Introduction to Anthropology I
Loria discovers Italy
- 1899, member of the Italian Photographic
Association: photos should be “vowed to ensure
that this means of investigation would be used in
the study of the indigenous Italic races”
- 1905, travel to Sannio (southern Italy): “ At
Circello I was deeply impressed by the difference
in the habits, customs and psyche of those
southern populations […] I asked myself if it
wouldn’t be more convenient to collect documents
and manufactured items in Italy than elsewhere”
- 1912, his last article on Italian colonial policy:
“This must give us our ethnography. Our studies
will thus not only be useful to the scholar, but will
be a source of national wellbeing”
Baptism in Italy. Source: https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/26233612
Course: Introduction to Anthropology I
The year 1911
- Prelude: 1910, foundation of the Italian
Ethnographic Association
- First Congress of Italian Ethnography
- Exhibition of Italian Ethnography
- Foundation of the journal Lares
Core influences:
- Paolo Mantegazza
- Lamberto Loria
Manifest of the Exhibition of
Italian Ethnography. Source:
https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307
/26233612
The exhibition. Source:
https://www.jstor.org/stable/26233611
Biosocial
studies
Course: Introduction to Anthropology I
The fascist decades
- Racist politics influenced anthropological
studies
- Closure to external debates
Some debates on the opposite direction:
- Raffaele Pettazzoni: against original
monotheism and comparative study of religions
- Benedetto Croce: historical idealism and the
history as the evolution of the “human spirit”
- Antonio Gramsci: opposition between
subalternity and hegemony
Raffaele Pettazzoni. Source:
https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raffa
ele_Pettazzoni
Benedetto Croce. Source:
https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bene
detto_Croce
Antonio Gramsci. Source:
https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/A
ntonio_Gramsci
Course: Introduction to Anthropology I
Ernesto de Martino
- 1908-1965
- Graduate in History of Religions
- Political activism in the Italian Socialist
Party and in the Italian Communist Party
- Collaborator of the Roman School of
History of Religion
- Professor of History of Religions and
Ethnology at Cagliari
- Interdisciplinary research groups
- Interest in southern Italy popular traditions
Ernesto de Martino. Source:
https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernesto_de
_Martino
Course: Introduction to Anthropology I
The Martino’s main works:
- 1941: Naturalismo e storicismo
nell'etnologia
- 1948: Il mondo magico: prolegomeni a
una storia del magismo
- 1949: Intorno a una storia del mondo
popolare subalterno
- 1958: Morte e pianto rituale nel mondo
antico
- 1959: Sud e magia
- 1961: La terra del rimorso
- 1961: Furore, simbolo, valore
Naturalismo e
storicismo. Source:
https://www.ebay.it/itm
/361106522429
Il mondo magico.
Source:
https://www.antrodithoth.
com
La terra del rimorso.
Source:
http://lnx.vincenzosant
oro.it/
Course: Introduction to Anthropology I
Magic and presence
- Inclusion in the Croce’s historicism of rural people of
south Italy
- from the general structure of “human spirit” to
internal logics of “magic” as its expression
- “presence”: the effort of claiming the human
presence in the history facing challenges
- magic as the expression of this effort of claiming the
“presence” in the history
- from ancient to modern forms, magic as the
realization of this claim
- magic as an expression of “subaltern cultures” (from
Gramsci’s subaltern classes)
Tarantata. Source:
https://axismundi.blog/2019/11/27/
Tarantata: Source:
https://sonosololibri.it/recensioni/
Woman from south Italy. Source:
https://www.goticoabruzzese.it/
Course: Introduction to Anthropology I
Critical ethnocentrism
- Subaltern cultures claiming for their
place in history
- not neutral relation between
“observer” and “observed”
- Observer as owner of conceptual
categories: comparison with
“observed” ones
- Revision of conceptual categories
- Redefinition of the modern society
People in south Italy. Source:
https://www.orsomarsoblues.it/2019/10/sud-
e-magia-infanzia-e-fascinazione-2/
People in south Italy. Source:
http://potenza.reteluna.it/it/
Course: Introduction to Anthropology I
De Martino’s inheritance
- Vittorio Lanternari (Bari and Rome): magic and
millenarism; comparative medical anthropology;
ecoanthropology
- Diego Carpitella (Chieti and Rome):
ethnomusicology
- Alfonso di Nola (Arezzo, Siena, Napoli and Rome):
medical anthropology and comparative religions
- Clara Gallini (Napoli): popular religion and relation
with the environment
- Piergiorgio Solinas (Siena), Tullio Seppilli (Perugia),
Luigi Lombardi Satriani (Roma), etc. etc.
Lanternari. Source:
https://journals.open
edition.org/assr/2485
7?lang=it
Carpitella. Source:
https://www.blogfoolk.com/
Di Nola. Source:
https://www.newtoncompton.
com/autore/alfonso-m-di-
nola
Gallini. Source:
https://www.fanpage.it/cultura/
Course: Introduction to Anthropology I
Alberto Mario Cirese
- 1921-2011
- Graduate in History of Religion
- Professor of History of Popular
Traditions at Cagliari, Siena and Bari
- Main topics of research:
- oral traditions
- popular literature
- kinship systems
- cultural heritages
- anthropology and museums
Alberto Mario Cirese. Source:
https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alberto_Mario_Cir
ese
Popular dance in south Italy. Source:
https://www.raiplayradio.it/audio/2018/02/
Course: Introduction to Anthropology I
Gerardo Bamonte
- 1939-2008
- Professor of religion of Primitive people at
Rome
- Research experiences in Asia and South
America
- 1960: fieldwork with Maku Amerindians in
Amazon
- Connection between research and politic:
defence of indigenous rights
[Inspired an Italian comics series: Mister No]
Gerardo Bamonte: Source:
http://www.dailyslow.it/tag/gerardo-
bamonte/
Bamonte’s book.
Source:
https://www.amazon.it/Ind
igeni-indigenismo-diritti-
Gerardo-Bamonte/dp/
8883197968
Mister No. Source:
https://magazine.ubcfumetti.com/2019
/06/nuovo-corso-mister-no-sviluppi/
Course: Introduction to Anthropology I
Contemporary panorama
- Genealogies of “descendants from De
Martino”
- Institutionalization of courses in
“Anthropology”
-Gradual internationalization of
anthropology
- Increasing number of anthropological
courses (i.e.: MSc at Palermo, Torino,
Venezia, Siena, Roma, Milano, Firenze,
Modena, Perugia e Bologna)
- Expansion of research areas in both
geographic and thematic dimensions
Italy. Source:
https://www.taccuinigastrosofici.it/ita/news/contempora
nea/antropologia-alimentare/cibo-del-Grand-Tour.html
Course: Introduction to Anthropology I
Once upon a time in Brazil…
- in the 1800, with the emancipation
from Portugal, the first academic
institutions
- close relation between biological and
social differences in the Brazilian
population (i.e. indigenous and black
people)
- influence from foreigner scholars
- Encounter with Amerindians is not a
new debate...
Examples of miscigenation (Source:
https://nacaomestica.org/blog4/?p=2252)
Course: Introduction to Anthropology I
Amerindians in colonizers’
descriptions
- “radical other”
- 1500: Pero Vaz de Caminha, Carta do
Descobrimento do Brasil
- 1557: Hans Staden, Warhaftige Historia und
beschreibung eyner Landtschafft der Wilden
Nacketen, Grimmigen Menschfresser-Leuthen
in der Newenwelt America gelegen
- 1578: Jean de Léry, Histoire d'un voyage faict
en la terre du Brésil
- 1834:Jean Baptiste Debret, Voyage
Pittoresque et Historique au Brésil
Amerindians. Source:
https://www.wdl.org/pt/item/9090/
Amerindians. Source:
https://aventurasnahistoria.uol.com.br/noticias/reportagem/
Course: Introduction to Anthropology I
Brazilian panorama at the end of
1800
- Peter Lund studied Lagoa Santa
- Raimundo Nina Rodrigues studied afrodescendant
people
- Theodor Koch-Grünberg among
Amerindians
Theodor Koch-Grünberg. Source:
https://www.alfabeta2.it/2016/09/30/nella-
foresta-si-sogna-soli/
Institutions
- 1818: Museu Nacional
- 1866: Museu Paraense
- 1895: Museu Paulista
...
- 1934: Escola Livre de
Sociologia e Politica
Museu Nacional. Source:
http://www.revistahcsm.coc.fiocruz.br/
Course: Introduction to Anthropology I
Donald Pierson
- 1900-1995 (Northamerican)
- Graduate in Sociology at Chicago
- 1935-1937: fieldwork at Salvador (Bahia)
- 1939: professor at Free School of Sociology
and Politics
- 1941: funder of the first post-graduate course
in social sciences
- Core focuses:
- racial relations
- small rural communities
- urban studies
- Inspired by the use of same methods for the
study of different groups, in the lens of the
tension between “continuity” and
“transformation”
Book by Pierson. Source:
https://www.estantevirtual.co
m.br/
Pierson. Source:
https://www.sbsociologia.com.br
/project/donald-pierson/
Course: Introduction to Anthropology I
Emilio Willems
- 1905-1997 (German)
- Graduate in Sociology at Berlim
- 1936: professor at Free School of Sociology
and Politics
- 1941: professor of anthropology at São
Paulo University (the first one!)
- fieldwork in the city of Cunha (São Paulo
countryside)
- fieldwork in the city of Buzios (São Paulo
seaside)
- 1949 moved to the Vanderbilth University
(USA)
- Core focuses:
- community studies
- inculturation
- social changes
- economic anthropology
Willems. Source:
https://twitter.com/nimuendaju/st
atus/1293978882824183810
Willems in the field. Source:
https://www.scielo.br/j/ea/a/Qh3dsncVyT
SBrTczDJm8JVM/?lang=pt
Course: Introduction to Anthropology I
Page of Baldus’s book. Source:
https://twitter.com/herbertbaldus
Baldus. Source:
https://jaeinnova.wordpress.
com/tag/herbert-baldus/
Herbert Baldus
- 1899-1970 (German)
- Graduate in philosophy at Berlim
- ‘20: first travel among Amerindians in a
cinematographic troupe
- 1933: moved back to Brazil
- 1939-1960: professor of Brazilian Ethnology at
the Free School of Sociology and Politics
- 1947-1968: director of the ethnologic session
of the Museu Paulista
- 1961: professor of ethnology at Rio Claro
(UNESP)
- Funder of the journal Revista do Museu
Paulista
- numerous fieldworks (see in sequence…)
- interests in anthropology and archaeology
Course: Introduction to Anthropology I
Ethnographic fieldworks of Baldus
- 1926: Xamakoko, Kaskiha and Sanapana (Chaco)
- 1927: Guarani (São Paulo)
- 1933: Kaingang and Xiripa (Parana)
- 1934: Terena and Bororo (Mato Grosso)
- 1935: Bororo,and Karaja (Mato Grosso)
- 1937: Tapirape (Tocantins)
- 1941: Japanese communities in São Paulo
- 1944: archaeology on the Paranapanema river
(Parana)
- 1946: Kaingang (Parana)
- 1947: Kaingang and Terena (São Paulo) and Karaja
(Tocantins)
- 1952: Kaingang and Guarani (Rio grande do Sul)
One of Baldus’s book. Source:
https://www.abebooks.com/Ensaios-Etnologia-
Brasileira-Baldus-Herbert-Companhia/
30622884511/bd
Core interests: social organization, material culture and
social transformations
Course: Introduction to Anthropology I
Heloisa Alberto. Source:
https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helo
%C3%ADsa_Alberto_Torres
Marajo Island ceramics. Source:
Heloisa Alberto. Source:
https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helo
%C3%ADsa_Alberto_Torres
Heloisa Alberto Torres
- 1895-1977
- Graduate in anthropology at Rio de
Janeiro
- Fieldwork at Marajo Island on ceramics
- 1925: first woman professor of
anthropology at National Museum of Rio de
Janeiro
- 1938-1955: director of the National
Museum
- 1946: first survey on conditions and aims
of natural and anthropological sciences in
Brazil (environmental determinism)
- 1953: organizer of the I Brazilian
Anthropological Meeting
Course: Introduction to Anthropology I
Freyre’s masterpiece. Source:
https://enciclopedia.itaucultural.org.
br/obra35531/casa-grande-senzalaGilberto Freyre. Source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilbert
o_Freyre
Gilberto Freyre
- 1900-1987
- Graduate in anthropology at Columbia
University with Franz Boas
- 1930-1932: exile in Portugal (as a
communist)
- 1933: Casa-grande e senzala
(Masters and slaves)
- 1935-1939: Professor of anthropology
at University of Federal District
- Journalist
- 1946: Federal deputy
- 1964: right party politician supporter of
military dictatorship
- 1969: member of the Federal Council
of Culture
Course: Introduction to Anthropology I
Racial democracy
- theory developed since the abolition of slavery
- formalized in the work Casa-grande e senzala
- core concept: in Brazil there is an harmonious
partnership between with, blacks and
indigenous components of the society
- inversion of the concept of “scientific racism”
- valorization of the contribution of each
population to the creation of a “new society”
- colonial fazenda as the prototype of this
partnership
Colonial Brazil. Source:
https://www.facebook.com/pg/Casa-Grande-e-Senzala-
335167357409561/photos/?
ref=page_internal&tab=album&album_id=335167394076224
Strongly criticized in contemporary times
since it obliterates the structural racism
of Brazilian society
Course: Introduction to Anthropology I
Darcy Ribeiro
- 1922- 1997
- Graduate in anthropology at the Free
School of Sociology and Politics
- 1953: Funder of Museu do Indio
- 1961: Funder of the Xingu Indigenous
Park
- 1961-1963: Minister of Education
- 1962: Funder and first rector of the
University of Brasilia
- 1963-1964: Minister of Casa Civil
- 1964-1965: exiled by military dictatorship
- 1983-1987: vice governor of RJ
- 1991-1997: Senator
- 1992: member of the Brazilian Academy
- 1993: funder of the Fluminense
University
Darcy Ribeiro. Source:
https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darcy_Rib
eiro
University of Brasilia. Source:
https://scn.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Campus_Darcy_
Ribeiro_(31398447555).jpg
Course: Introduction to Anthropology I
Darcy Ribeiro core ideas
- Indigenous people as part of the nation:
“indigenism”
- political dimensions of anthropology
- society changes: “development” and
“technology”
- critique to Latin American
dependence from EU and USA
- development as the result of education
- public education
- Brazilian population with a common
reference beyond ethnic differences
Xingu Indigenous Park. Source:
https://peoplespalaceprojects.org.uk/en/just-
announced-artist-selected-1st-b2b-artistic-
residency-brazil/
Darcy Ribeiro’s book. Source:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/povo
-brasileiro-formação-
antropologia-civilização/dp/
8571644519
Course: Introduction to Anthropology I
From ‘80 onward…
- end of military dictatorship and emergence
of social movements: new demands to
anthropologists
- proliferation of universities and courses on
anthropology
- 2012: “cotas”: differentiated access to
universities for afro-descendants,
Amerindians, LGBT
- Municipal, State and Federal University +
private ones
Inclusion in universities. Source:
https://www2.ufjf.br/noticias/2019/11/19/
Brazilian Federal Universities. Source:
http://bancarioslondrina.org.br/
Course: Introduction to Anthropology I
Indigenous anthropology
- First indigenous with academic
formation: José Peixoto Ypiranga dos
Guaranys (1850, Law)
- Appropriation of anthropology as a
political tool for their communities
- Proposals for “moving beyond
colonial epistemology” (Gersem
Baniwa)
- “Symmetric anthropology”,
indigenous doing anthropology of not-
indigenous
Association of Indigenous
anthropologists. Source:
https://www.facebook.com/
João Paulo Barreto. Source:
https://www.bioeconomiaamazo
nica.com.br/palestrante/joao-
paulo-tukano%E2%80%8B/
Indigenous students
https://www.ufba.br/ufba_em_pauta/abril-ind
%C3%ADgena-acontece-com-o-
protagonismo-dos-estudantes-na-ufba
Course: Introduction to Anthropology I
Similarities and
differences
- ? Please appoint...
- ? Please appoint…
- ? Please appoint…
- ...
Matera. Source:
https://viaggi.corriere.it/europa/italia/
matera/
São Paulo. Source:
https://infobrasile.it/citta/sao-paulo/
Course: Introduction to Anthropology I
Toward a global discussion
beyond the “periphery”
- relevance of local specificities in
canonical disciplinary “history”
- contributions of “not-hegemonic”
debates
- multiplication of epistemologies
- attention to political dimensions of
anthropology
What about Czech Republic?
World Anthropologies. Source:
https://www.americananthro.org/ParticipateAnd
Advocate/Content.aspx?ItemNumber=13307