Abstract
Ernesto De Martino was a central figure in the European panorama of ethnological, philosophical and historical-religious studies in the first half of the 20th century, but he is almost unknown in Portuguese-speaking world. This article aims to introduce his work, which, has been rediscovered in recent years by North American and French anthropology, as an anticipator of contemporary issues and problems. After an analysis of the debate with European schools of thought - not just anthropological - of the first half of the century, I explore some central concepts elaborated from the contributions of philosophy and psychoanalysis. The last part of the article briefly presents De Martino’s ethnographies on the peasant communities of southern Italy, that show the unusual conceptual, political and ethnographic itineraries of a “peripheral” anthropology.
Keywords:
Ernesto De Martino; anthropology of religion; historicism; Italian anthropology