Venti anni prima di Malinowski: la ricerca sul campo di Lamberto Loria in Nuova Guinea britannica (1888-1897)

The essay presents the first outputs of the research carried out over the period of about seven years Lamberto Loria spent in British New Guinea in close contact with the natives between the end of 1888 and April 1897. Arrived in Papua mainly to explore the island, gather natural history specimens and collect ethnographic artefacts, Loria soon becomes interested in carefully and thoroughly studying their cultures. Following the Notes and Queries on Anthropology (1874) and thanks to his prolonged permanence, Loria develops an ethnographic approach to field study unique in late-nineteenth Italy and forerunner of the twenty years following the Torres Strait Expedition in British anthropology, which culminated in Bronislaw Malinowski revolution.