Paper short abstract:

We introduce our research on the Italian Committee for the Study of Population. Founded by Corrado Gini in 1928, it accomplished multidisciplinary expeditions in the 1930s to confirm his Cyclical theory of the nations whereby demographic miscegenation produces populations' revitalization.

Paper long abstract:

In this presentation we introduce our research on archival documents about the Italian Committee for the Study of Population (CISP). This research institution, founded by Italian statistician Corrado Gini in 1928, accomplished ten multidisciplinary scientific expeditions between 1933 and 1938 under his direction and collected a vast documentary material consisting of ethnographic, medical and anthropometric questionnaires, as well as material finds. We analyse three expeditions: the Inchiesta demografica sulle popolazioni della Tripolitania, the Inchiesta demografico-antropologico-sanitaria sui Samaritani and the Inchiesta demografico-antropologico-sanitaria sulle popolazioni indigene e meticce del Messico. Gini defined the latter as "the largest expedition carried out by the Committee" and it took place in a post-revolutionary Mexico committed intellectually and politically in the construction of a national identity.

CISP expeditions served to confirm one of Gini's theories - the cyclical theory of the nations - whereby demographic isolation favors population decadency while miscegenation produces their "revitalization". We first focus on Gini's cultural relativism which, though grounded on a paternalistic racism of positivistic matrix, dramatically diverges from official anthropological theories during Fascism. We then reflect on methodological paths defined by CISP expeditions vis-à-vis former European traditions. Finally, we stress Gini's participation in the interconnected Atlantic world during the 1920s and 1930s, with its network of scientific practices and thoughts. In this regard, particularly the Mexican expedition highlights how miscegenation, one of the central points of his theory, becomes an ideological, political and scientific bridge between post-revolutionary Mexico and CISP.