Sulla pelle : AntropologIa deI prelImInarI amorosi : Gli antropologi e l’amore: i motivi di una diffdenza

In Cultural Anthropology, love has not been a very debated topic. In this paper, the A. examines the reasons for this lack of attention. During the twentieth century, there is an unexpected convergence between anthropologists and missionaries, who diminish the importance of elaborated local forms of petting. These forms of petting deserve to be placed among the themes of anthropological investigation, through a careful rereading of the classics of the discipline. Finally, the A. stresses a continuity between certain indigenous symbolic signs skin and the idea of Jack Goody concerning the connection between writing and romantic love.