La tensione dell'immagine: postille sulla "questione visuale" in Ernesto de Martino

Abstract

Within the context of visual anthropology studies - which over the years has evolved into diverse scientific forms and expressions - this research aims to provide some clarifications and critical annotations that focus on certain aspects of what could be defined as a genuine visual issue in Ernesto de Martino's thought and work. Therefore, this research is conducted by a focus on the Italian scholar's major ethnographic production, in which his research on funeral lamentation reveals considerable depth, especially in light of the Figurative Atlas of Weeping, an addition that has not escaped the scrutiny of critics, naturally prompted by the comparison it has with Aby Warburg's celebrated work, Mnemosyne, the Atlas of Memory. This very comparison opens up the further problematic of the image-word nexus in de Martino which - ultimately - is here linked to the approach that the Neapolitan anthropologist has developed in the artistic-architectural field - as evidenced by some publications - and which constitute a further basis for clarifying - in differential terms—the relationship with Aby Warburg.