Preliminary communication
APSYRTIDES – FORTIS ON THE PATHS OF THE ARGONAUTS TOWARDS EUROPEAN ETHNOLOGY/ANTHROPOLOGY
Jelka Vince-Pallua
; Institut društvenih znanosti Ivo Pilar, Zagreb, Hrvatska
Abstract
Of all the Adriatic islands, according to the author, Cres and Lošinj had more important and greater impact on the evolution of European ethnology/anthropology, which is why it is so important to reconsider Saggio d'Osservazioni sopra l'isola di Cherso ed Osero d'Alberto Fortis, a book by Fortis not translated as yet, published in Venice in 1771. The paper aims critically to evaluate the position of this book in relation to Fortis' broader work, his beginnings, and also the growth of European ethnology whose foundations were grounded in the "discovery" of Dalmatia, especially of the Kvarner islands, in the middle of the Enlightenment period. It was at that time that the Adriatic transformed itself into a distinct ethnographic entity dividing the Italians from the Slavs and Eastern from Western Europe. Specific examples are analyzed that show how Fortis' original geological, mineralogical and paleontological interests were transformed into an ethnological-anthropological approach. It was this new interest that later led him to the Morlachs, who have been reported on so extensively by Croatian and European scholars The paper shows how, during his research on the islands Cres and Lošinj, Fortis was no longer exclusively a "viagiattore naturalista", a travelling naturalist, as he called himself. His political broadening and development became evident. He was no longer merely a passive observer but instead interested himself in the conditions and way of life of the local population. This article tries analytically to "read" this book by Fortis, which is so important for ethnologists and the creation of European ethnology and anthropology. Fortis anticipates the germs of future ethnological concepts such as "custom", "tradition", "misuse of tradition" and "cultural relativism". Even though his journey to Cres and Lošinj ("Saggio") can be tentatively considered as less interesting and famous than his well known travels in Dalmatia ("Viaggio"), the author attempts to show how the "discovery of the Morlachs" can be anticipated precisely in the "Saggio", predating the famous "Viaggio" by three years. Comparing the two works, the author shows Fortis' "anthropological inversion" where he gradually lessens his impetus to civilize and to "cultivate the whole world", a process that is also mirrored in his gradual transformation from Enlightenment to Romanticism. At that time he was, as was all of Europe, fascinated by the exotic and primitive customs of the Morlachs, who were later recognized as a distinct people precisely on the basis of this ethnological category. The paper shows how the Adriatic was subject to mental cartography based on civilization criteria and those of anthropology, but also shows the importance of the Adriatic as a central point of official geographic cartography and the Adriocentric geographical approach of Coronelli – the official cartographer of the Venetian Republic from which Fortis started off on his journeys.
Keywords
Dalmatia; 18th century; Adriatic; island of Cres; island of Lošinj; travel literature; Alberto Fortis; Morlachs; history of Croatian and European ethnology/anthropology
Hrčak ID:
23272
URI
Publication date:
19.12.2007.
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