Rocerca situata: neutralità scientifica e impegno politico nell'antropologia culturale

The essay examines the issue of researcher positionality in cultural anthropology, focusing on the tension between scientific neutrality and ethical-political engagement. Tracing the historical evolution of the discipline, Dei shows how early claims of value-free science have been progressively challenged by reflexive, postmodern, and postcolonial approaches that emphasize the situated nature of knowledge. Through key examples—such as Ernesto de Martino’s engaged anthropology and ethnographic studies of violence—the author highlights the complexity and inevitability of researchers’ moral and political involvement. However, he critically addresses contemporary trends that radicalize situated knowledge into dogmatic subjectivism, risking the collapse of scientific inquiry into activism. Dei ultimately argues for a balanced approach that acknowledges positionality while preserving methodological rigor and the possibility of objective knowledge as a necessary safeguard for anthropology.