OUR MOTHER OF THE WOODS. A CONTRIBUTION TO THE STUDY OF THE "MADONNAS OF THE TREES" IN THE EURO-MEDITERRANEAN AREA

Abstract

Looking at the Madonnas of the trees, we see how an anthropologist disregarding historical depth renounces an integral vision of reality by which it can be measured and interpreted, giving rise «to sometimes narrow, sometimes even grotesque results; with an unexpected resurrection, however, of a banally sociological perspective, in many cases hidden under the false pretences of social anthropology». The effects of such a surrender are particularly evident when we explore the symbolic dimension. In fact, a purely synchronic approach proves to be totally inadequate: «research can be restored its critical depth and substance by paying attention to the processes of construction of meaning and to the layers which have undergone a process of sedimentation on a specific contemporary event from a more or less distant past, considering how "history forcefully plays its part" [Buttitta 1996, p. 118] in the articulation of the symbolic dimension, questioning a set of heterogeneous sources with an open mind: understanding the profound nature of what often appears as an impromptu manifestation; thus approaching the complexity of the background that substantiates contemporary political practices» (2005, pp. 171 and ff.).