Religion, Politics, and Art: Pier Paolo Pasolini and 1968

My dissertation singles out the religious theory of knowledge that lies at the core of Pasolini’s social and political critique, as well as of his poetics of 1968. Deeply (although not exclusively) influenced by his Catholic formation, Pasolini constructed his religious theory of knowledge around the two key notions of religiosità (religiousness) and ierofania (hierophany, literally “the manifestation of God”). Based on his phenomenology of human experience, Pasolini conceived of religiosità as an absolute, inner drive, which was irreducible to any human power, and of ierofania as the miraculous essence of the existence of reality. My dissertation demonstrates that, in the face of the consumerist and secular society of the late sixties, Pasolini saw in the recovery of the religious dimensions of both inner life and reality the necessary condition of the political, as well as artistic renewal of Western societies. According to Pasolini, once the individual restores religion (or the sacred) as the overarching and founding value of his or her existence, he or she becomes an esempio (witness)––whether a poet, politician, or ordinary citizen. By bearing witness to the possibility of an actual otherness within homogeneous secular society––an otherness which is religious in nature––the esempi are the foundation of artistic and political change.

Second, my dissertation sheds new light on the influence of American culture on Pasolini’s Christian-socialist views of democracy which, during the second half of the sixties and, more specifically, in 1968, were centered around the notions of “democracy” and “charity.” By providing some of the sources through which Pasolini became acquainted with the American political and cultural situation, I demonstrate how Pasolini regarded certain American political realities as revolutionary, including the student movement SNCC (Social Non-violent Coordinating Committee). In keeping with his religious views, Pasolini saw the religiosità of some members of the SNCC, as well as their idea of anti-community––understood as the locus of authentic and real exchange between individuals of different races and education levels––as conducive to authentic democracy.