L’immaginario della natura. “Neotribalismo ecospirituale”, “Geodicea” , “Disneyficazione”

Abstract

The Imagery of Nature. «Ecospiritual Neo-tribalism», «Geodicy», «Disneyfication». The aim of this paper is to analyze some peculiar forms of the contemporary imagery of nature. To this end, I first explain the sociological reasons behind the current questioning of humanism and modernity. Then I briefly try to scrutinize the phenomenon of «re-enchantment», starting from the concept of «disenchantment» as used above all by Max Weber and Marcel Gauchet. Subsequently, I analyze the phenomenon of ecospirituality, understood as the «re-enchantment» - in the words of Michel Maffesoli - of the natural sphere. In this sense, I speak of a sort of «ecospiritual neo-tribalism». Finally, I discuss the American imagery of wilderness and its subsequent spread throughout the West. I conclude with a reflection on the phenomenon of the « disneyfication of nature », applying here to the imagery of nature a concept used by David Lyon.