Magic - A Theory from the South

"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, naive 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"