Overview

Ernesto de Martino has been portrayed by both his supporters and his detractors as a heterodox holistic thinker. His work borrows from ethnology, cultural anthropology, sociology, philosophy, the history of religion, historicism and health sciences. He also engaged with a number of cross-disciplinary fields such as post-colonial studies, gender studies, literary criticism, Marxism and social theory. The focus of his research, however, has always been the study of religion, with particular emphasis on religious performance (ritual) and narrative (myth). Is this sufficient to consider him a religious studies scholar? The question has never been properly investigated or answered. To date, little has been done to promote Ernesto de Martino and his work as integral to the international religious studies tradition.