“Lettera internazionale”, 113, 2012

This small forest which has been an environmental, political, economic, cultural and sentimental landmark for the community of Pescocostanzo, in Abruzzo for centuries, has inspired and continues to inspire great passions and extraordinary battles for its care. It has also inspired this collective work of “Lettera Internazionale” 113, where many and diverse viewpoints tackle the topic of the forest which, on the border between nature and culture, cannot survive without man while man cannot survive without it. A great metaphor, posing a series of crucial issues: Biodiversity and Common Assets and their management, with the awareness that in order to safeguard himself, mankind must safeguard nature and rebuild a shared horizon, an archipelago of communities engaged in dialogue – between humans, plants and animals. A political choice, which means recognising in the other – human, animal or plant –, paraphrasing Wilhelm von Humboldt, the “foreign from oneself” and not the “stranger”, because the foreigner elicits curiosity and sympathy, a stranger elicits fear and estranges.
Since the old juxtaposition between Nature and Culture has become meaningless, we must realise that the only real chance we have, as inhabitants of this planet, is to build a serious “anthropology of nature.” This is not an oxymoron, but a provocative way of saying that it is necessary to establish a new alliance between nature and culture, because at this point we can only view nature as an element of culture.