Abstract

The goal of this paper is to analyse the contribution of Jonathan Z. Smith to the study of Indigenous Religions and compare it to the usage in the Italian History of Religions, especially in the work of Dario Sabbatucci. On several occasions, Smith focused on the ways scholars (re)constructed the image of Indigenous Religions and, consequently, on the epistemological agenda of Religious Studies. Smith’s contribution was severely critical. On the one hand, he focused on the epistemological limits of a discipline—esp. phenomenology of religion—which manufactured a fictional image of Indigenous Religions as a foundational ground for a generalization of the Western concept of religion. On the other hand, he paved the way for a critical reassessment of the foundations of the History of Religions. By comparing Smith scholarship with Dario Sabbatucci’s work, I will try to provoke a self-reflective "reaction" in those who still position themselves within the "Roman school" and a "rectification" of the usage of the "taxon" Indigenous Religions.