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Draft:Raffaele Corso

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Raffaele Corso (8 February 1885 – 29 July 1965) was an Italian ethnographer, folklorist and anthropologist. He was a major figure in the development and institutionalization of the study of Italian folklore and ethnography during the first half of the 20th century. He taught ethnography at the University of Rome and later at the University of Naples "L'Orientale", and founded and edited the journal Il Folklore Italiano.[1]

Early life and education

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Corso was born in Nicotera, then in the province of Catanzaro, on 8 February 1885. His father, Diego Corso, was a physician who also pursued historical and archaeological studies. His father introduced him to archaeology and popular traditions at an early age.[1][2]

He completed his early education in Nicotera and attended the classical lyceum in Vibo Valentia (then Monteleone). He subsequently moved to Naples to study law. During his university years he came into contact with Benedetto Croce and the folklorist Giuseppe Pitrè, who became an important influence on his intellectual development.[1][2]

In 1906 Corso graduated in jurisprudence with a thesis entitled Proverbi giuridici italiani ("Italian Legal Proverbs"). The study examined popular legal traditions and the relationship between proverbs, customary practices and legal institutions.[1][2]

Acadamic career

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Early ethnographic research

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Following his legal studies, Corso increasingly devoted himself to ethnography and the study of popular traditions. His early research concentrated particularly on marriage customs and rituals. In Gli sponsali popolari (1908), he examined the ritual significance of gift-giving in marriage customs, challenging interpretations that treated such exchanges primarily as economic transactions.[1]

He continued this research in subsequent studies, including Per lo studio dei riti nuziali, presented at the First Italian Congress of Ethnography in Rome in 1911, and in the book Patti d'amore e pegni di promesse, published in 1924.[1][2]

Corso also collaborated with the ethnologist Lamberto Loria, helping to collect and catalogue ethnographic material for the establishment of national ethnographic collections. He catalogued the ethnographic collection at the Villa d'Este in Tivoli.[1]

From 1914 to 1921, he taught ethnography at the Institute of Anthropology of the University of Rome, becoming one of the first university teachers in Italy to hold a teaching position specifically devoted to ethnography.[1]

Academic career in Naples

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In 1922, Corso was appointed professor of ethnography at the University of Naples "L'Orientale". He held the position until reaching retirement age in 1953.[1][2]

His academic work sought to establish folklore as a systematic field of study related to ethnography. His principal theoretical work, Folklore: Storia, obietto, metodo, bibliografia (1923), attempted to define the subject matter, historical development and methodology of folklore studies.[1][3]

Corso regarded folklore as a branch of ethnography concerned with the traditions and cultural survivals of popular society. He emphasized the collection, classification and comparative analysis of folkloric material. His approach was influenced by the concept of cultural "survivals" associated with Edward Burnett Tylor and by the Italian tradition of demopsychology associated with Pitrè.[1][2] His definition of folklore was subsequently criticized by Antonio Gramsci, who considered Corso's conception of folklore as a study of a "contemporary prehistory" too restrictive to account for the complexity and mobility of popular culture.[1]

Folklore scholarship and publishing

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In 1925, Corso founded the journal Il Folklore Italiano, which became an important venue for the study and documentation of Italian popular traditions. Under Fascist cultural policy the journal was renamed Archivio per la raccolta e lo studio delle tradizioni popolari italiane. Publication was interrupted in 1941 and resumed after the Second World War under the title Folklore.[1][3]

Corso published extensively on Italian popular traditions, including marriage rituals, proverbs, pastoral culture, popular beliefs, festivals, legends and customary law. His publications include L'arte dei pastori (1920), Folklore. Storia, obietto, metodo, bibliografia (1923), Reviviscenze (1927), Etnologia giuridica (1938), Etnografia. Prolegomeni (1941/1942), Aspetti di vita africana (1943), I popoli dell'Europa. Usi e costumi (1948), Studi africani (1950), and Problemi di etnografia (1956).[2][3]

African ethnography

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Corso also developed an interest in African ethnography. During the Italian colonial period he travelled in East Africa and conducted research into the customs and social life of African populations. In 1935 the Italian Geographical Society commissioned him to conduct research in the Fezzan region of Libya.[2]

His African research included studies of the peoples and customs of Ethiopia, Somalia and other parts of Africa. His publications in this field included Africa Italiana. Genti e costumi (1940), Africa. Cenni razziali (1941), Aspetti di vita africana (1943) and Studi africani (1950).[2] His ethnographic work on Africa was closely connected with the intellectual and institutional environment of Italian colonialism.

Fascism and racial theories

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Corso's career has been examined in the context of the relationship between Italian folklore studies and Fascism. During the Fascist period he explicitly supported the regime and its colonial policy and argued that colonial expansion had contributed to the development of ethnographic and folkloristic studies in Italy.[1]

In 1938, Corso was one of the scholars who signed the Manifesto degli scienziati razzisti ("Manifesto of the Racist Scientists"), a document that contributed to the intellectual justification of the Italian Fascist regime's racial legislation.[4][5]

His involvement with Fascist cultural and racial policies has subsequently become an important part of the historiography of Italian folklore studies. The relationship between Corso's scholarly work and his political position has also been interpreted with some caution by later scholars, particularly concerning the extent to which professional and institutional considerations influenced the political alignment of Italian folklorists.[2]

International activities

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Corso participated in numerous national and international ethnographic and anthropological congresses. He chaired the African Ethnography section at an international congress of anthropological and ethnographical sciences in London and was associated with the International African Institute.[2]

He also maintained extensive contacts with Italian and foreign scholars and contributed to numerous ethnographic and folkloristic journals.[1]

Later life and death

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After the Second World War, Corso's scholarly activity declined considerably. He was appointed professor emeritus after his retirement and continued to be associated with ethnographic and folkloristic scholarship.[2]

Corso died in Naples on 29 July 1965, aged 80.[1]

Selected works

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  • L'arte dei pastori (1920)
  • Folklore. Storia, obietto, metodo, bibliografia (1923)
  • Patti d'amore e pegni di promesse (1924)
  • Reviviscenze. Studi di tradizioni popolari italiane (1927)
  • Etnologia giuridica (1938)
  • Africa Italiana. Genti e costumi (1940)
  • Africa. Cenni razziali (1941)
  • Etnografia. Prolegomeni (1941/1942)
  • Aspetti di vita africana (1943)
  • I popoli dell'Europa. Usi e costumi (1948)
  • Studi africani (1950)
  • Problemi di etnografia (1956)

References

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  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Santucci, Marina (1983). "Corso, Raffaele". Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (in Italian). Vol. 29. Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 "Corso, Raffaele". Dizionario Biografico della Calabria Contemporanea (in Italian). Istituto Calabrese per la Storia dell'Antifascismo e dell'Italia Contemporanea. Retrieved 17 August 2026.
  3. 1 2 3 "Corso, Raffaele". Enciclopedia Italiana (in Italian). Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana. 1961.
  4. ↑ Dei, Fabio. "Folklore e senso comune: una critica storico-politica". Laboratoire italien (in Italian).
  5. ↑ Dei, Fabio; De Simonis, Paolo (2012). "Folklore di guerra: L'antropologia italiana e il primo conflitto mondiale" (PDF). Fares (in Italian). 78 (3).

Further reading

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  • Onciulescu, Teodor (1952). L'opera scientifica del prof. Raffaele Corso (in Italian). Naples.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  • Lombardi Satriani, Luigi; Annabella Rossi (1973). Calabria 1908-10: la ricerca etnografica di Raffaele Corso (in Italian). Rome: De Luca.
  • Mileto, Ricciotti (1985). Etnografia e folklore nelle opere di Raffaele Corso (in Italian). Soveria Mannelli: Rubbettino.
  • Gallo, Aldo (1987). "Raffaele Corso antropologo". Calabria (in Italian). XV (26).
  • Galasso, Carmela (2009). "Corso Raffaele". Biografie di personaggi noti e meno noti della Calabria (in Italian). Cosenza: Pellegrini.
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Bibliography

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Category:Italian anthropologists Category:Italian ethnographers Category:1885 births Category:1965 deaths Category:Academic staff of the University of Naples "L'Orientale"

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