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of the Histories of Anthropology

Toschi, Paolo (1893-1974)

Coordinated by Maurizio Coppola

CNRS (Cesdip)

The figure of Paolo Toschi (1893-1974) is inextricably linked to the development of folklore studies in Italy. Trained within the Italian philological tradition, he was first interested in the study of folk literature and poetry, with a special focus on their religious dimension, before studying the origins of theatre. Beyond his own researches, he encouraged the institutionalisation of demology in Italy. He was one of the first to hold an official chair in folklore, which he entitled “History of Folk Traditions”. He contributed to the foundation of the Museo nazionale di tradizioni popolari in Rome. At the end of the 1940s, he took over the direction of the journal Lares, which he directed until his death.

Keywords: Folklore | Ialian Anthropology | Demology | Theatre | Italy | Folk poetry | Folk arts | Fascism | Lares

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