Ernesto de Martino (1908-65) was a prominent anthropologist and historian of religions in Italy. Dorothy Louise Zinn is associate professor of cultural anthropology at the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Italy.
"The importance of Ernesto de Martino's work for Italian
ethnography can hardly be over-estimated. Trained as a philosopher,
de Martino revolutionised the study of folklore by challenging the
compilative and 'naturalist' approach of the 1940s and
1950s...Zinn's precise translation and annotations infuse new life
into a text published more than half a century ago, but which still
surprises with its modern flavour. Her translation of the book's
original title as Magic: a theory from the South seems to allude to
postcolonial theory: the word 'Sud' for de Martino referred only to
Southern Italy, in the context of the questione meridionale; here
it hints at the multiple 'Souths' to which anthropology directs its
scrutiny, and to the gap between mainstream and alternative
interpretations of social facts."--Stefano Portelli "Association
for the Study of Modern Italy"
"There are three key attributes that the book possesses that to my
thinking make it stand out as especially significant for
contemporary anthropologists that study human relationships with
the sacred. The first is that de Martino very strongly underscores
the cosmological significance of magical ritual, seeing it not
simply as a means to an end but also as signalling broader
parameters of the world enshrined in myths... A second point of
significance is de Martino's characterisation of Lucanian magic as
not a historical 'detritus' or expression of an ancient past
(despite his use of the term 'survival') but rather as something
that is thoroughly conditioned by contemporary circumstances...A
final and broader point is that, as a book focused on the
intersection of magic and Christianity, it forces those of us
working in the Anthropology of Christianity to reconsider the
received historical narrative that typically attributes the
emergence of such studies as having occurred in the 1980s and
1990s. Although de Martino does not explicitly frame his work as an
anthropological study of Christianity... his book fully deserves to
be seen as a rich ethnographic study of Southern Catholicism and
its intermingling with local occult practices."--Fraser Macdonald
"Anthropological Forum"
"A thought-provoking work that questions the shifting boundaries
between south and north, naïve and learned, magic and religion.
Originally published in 1959 in Italian and now available in
Dorothy Zinn's precise translation, the book is part of the trilogy
that makes de Martino (1908-1965) a seminal figure at the
intersection of folklore, ethnology, and the historical and
philosophical study of religion."
-- "American Anthropologist"
"Ernesto de Martino's study of magic, ritual, lament, possession,
the evil eye, fascination, and tarantism in southern Italy draws
innovatively from a range of intellectual sources. Although
ethnology, philosophy, and psychology, as well as literary theory
and sources, make for an original and engaging framework, de
Martino's work is little known outside his native Italy. This is a
shame because his thought has much to offer. However, this new
translation of his 1959 Sud e magia might be a step towards greater
recognition of his work in the Anglophone world."
-- "Journal of the Anthropological Society of Oxford"
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