Archeologi e case editrici. Tra divulgazione, ideologia e metodologia: Italia e Germania a confronto

This paper examines some historical queries on the relationship between archaeology and politics. The methodological and scientific outlines of the works of the most prominent archaeologists (1930-1970) are embedded within a specific social milieu; reflecting on this aspect means showing how cultural policies and institutional pressure can influence hermeneutics and methodological debates (i.e. the biases of scientific research). In this sense, when talking about 1950’s Germany and Italy, the importance of publishing houses, as one of the main divulge tools of political parties, becomes indicative of an organized program reflecting and promoting specific cultural and political values. Furthermore, the relationships between archaeologists and publishers can reveal how political intents have conditioned and still condition the transmission of texts, ideas and authors. What I am interrogating is thus the bridge between Academia and the broad public, emphasizing its ideological components. From a methodological point of view, I do not intend to represent a schematization of all occurrences of the relations between archaeologists, political institutions and publicists, but rather I would like to propose an introduction to a new line of research, that will necessarily need to provide for a broader casuistry. The comparative perspective between Italy and Germany is motivated by a desire to denationalize the history of studies and reconstruct a transnational cultural history, with similarities/differences of countries involved in similar extreme caesuras, characterizing the 20th century.