I riferimenti teorici dell’animazione sociale e culturale

The contribution reconstructs the main theoretical references of social and cultural animation, identifying the historical precursors and defining the key concepts that structure its identity and method. The roots of animation are intertwined with active pedagogy (Dewey), social theatre, popular culture, Latin American popular education (Freire), Don Milani's experience and social psychology (Lewin), outlining a multidisciplinary knowledge based on experience, participation, creativity and collective transformation. Animation is defined as a social, educational and cultural practice that promotes awareness, potential, expression and protagonism of subjects. Italian and French authors (Ellena, Contessa, Gillet, Besnard, Limbos) have progressively specified its functions (production, facilitation, elaboration), tools (playful, cultural, expressive) and spheres (group, community, public). The underlying anthropology is centred on a vision of man as a being in tension, relational and expressive, free but conditioned, capable of project and culture. Animation thus becomes a device for cultural liberation and generation, acting in everyday life through transformative collective practices. Finally, Belletti describes the process of contemporary redefinition of animation initiated by AssociAnimAzione, which has identified five ‘indispensable perspectives’ (active knowledge, imagination, emotion, group, public dimension) and five ‘indispensable methods’, emphasising the importance of creating open, welcoming contexts, capable of bringing out the vitality, speech and participation of subjects in the present.