Abstract
This article surveys and discusses the international circulation of theory by Italian ethnologist Ernesto de Martino (1908–1965), a leading figure in the history of Italian anthropology and folkloristics. Although there are some translations of his works in different languages, and he has been the subject of three intellectual biographies in English and French (Ferrari 2012; Charuty 2009; Geissheusler 2021), de Martino’s thinking has not received due recognition outside of Italy. De Martino himself was a cosmopolitan scholar who read widely in several languages and across many disciplines. His work began to circulate abroad as early as the 1960s, mainly in France (Fabre 1997, 1999), but his first real entry into English-speaking anthropology only took place in the 1980s (Saunders 1984). From the author’s position as a translator of de Martino’s works (de Martino 2005, 2015a, 2023), and thus an agent in making him travel, this paper will consider various reasons for this lack of attention. Some are internal to de Martino’s work, but others are related to the academic political economy of anthropology. The author argues, however, that the present moment is propitious for finally seeing an international impact of de Martino’s thought, in anthropology as well as in other disciplines.