Festivals, Affect and Identity

Description

A dynamic approach to continental philosophy through the ethnographic study of community festivals of the Siena Province in central Italy.

Via an ethnographic study of the community festivals of Siena Province in central Italy, ‘Festivals, Affect and Identity’ investigates the affective and fluid aspects of reality to establish an integrated perspective on issues of continuity and rupture, tradition and modernity, and nature and culture. Offering an illustration of the explanatory power of continental philosophy, this text demonstrates the accessibility of highly abstract critical theory when examined in relation to specific events and their detailed analysis.

List of Figures; Acknowledgements; Chapter 1. Introduction; Chapter 2. Learning, Identity, Duration and the Virtual; Chapter 3. Siena and its Province – An Overview; Chapter 4. Siena and the Palio – War and State Machine – Identity and Becoming; Chapter 5. Montepulciano’s Bruscello Theatre – Rupture, Continuity and the ‘Refrain’; Chapter 6. The ‘Problem/Idea’ of Montepulciano – How to be Autonomous in the Face of Overwhelming Force; Chapter 7. Montepulciano’s Bravio Delle Botti – A Festival in the Making; Chapter 8. Sharecropping and Modernity; Chapter 9. Monticchiello – A Community Under Siege; Chapter 10. A Tree with its Roots in the Air – Monticchiello’s Theatre of the ‘Virtual’; Chapter 11. Conclusion; Bibliography; Index

Subjects

• Books
• Savoirs
• Humanities and social sciences
• Sociology

Informations

• Published by: Anthem Press
• Published: 15 October 2011
• Reads: 0
• EAN13: 9780857288097
• Language: English
• Document size: 1 MB

Exrait

Festivals, Affect and Identity

Festivals, Affect and Identity

A Deleuzian Apprenticeship in Central Italian Communities

Lita CrocianiWindland

Anthem Press An imprint of Wimbledon Publishing Company www.anthempress.com

This edition first published in UK and USA 2011 by ANTHEM PRESS 7576 Blackfriars Road, London SE1 8HA, UK or PO Box 9779, London SW19 7ZG, UK and 244 Madison Ave. #116, New York, NY 10016, USA

Copyright © Lita CrocianiWindland 2011

The author asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

Chapter heading image ‘3 Cypress’ (1998) © 2011 David Nash

All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

British Library CataloguinginPublication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data CrocianiWindland, Lita. Festivals, affect, and identity : a Deleuzian apprenticeship in central Italian communities / Lita CrocianiWindland.  p. cm. Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. ISBN 9780857289988 (hardback : alk. paper) 1. Festivals–Italy, Central. 2. National characteristics, Italian. 3. Italians–Ethnic identity. 4. Ethnicity–Italy, Central. 5. Ethnology–Italy, Central. 6. Deleuze, Gilles, 1925–1995–Criticism and interpretation. 7. Italy, Central–Social life and customs. I. Title. GT4852.A2C76 2011 394.269456–dc23 2011033940

ISBN13: 978 0 85728 998 8 (Hbk) ISBN10: 0 85728 998 5 (Hbk)

This title is also available as an eBook.

List of Figures Acknowledgements

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

Learning, Identity, Duration and the Virtual

Siena and its Province – An Overview

Siena and the Palio – War and State Machine – Identity and Becoming

Montepulciano’s Bruscello Theatre – Rupture, Continuity and the ‘Refrain’

The ‘Problem/Idea’ of Montepulciano – How to be Autonomous in the Face of Overwhelming Force

Montepulciano’s Bravio Delle Botti – A Festival in the Making

Chapter 8 Sharecropping and Modernity Chapter 9 Monticchiello – A Community Under Siege Chapter 10 A Tree with its Roots in the Air – Monticchiello’s Theatre of the ‘Virtual’ Chapter 11 Conclusion

Bibliography Index

vii ix

1 17 33

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67

91

99 127 145

163 179

187 201

LIST OF FIGURES

Front cover Palio flags. Photograph by the author.

Figure 2.1

DavidNash,Wooden Boulder(2002). Printed by permission of the artist.

Figure 3.1 Map of Siena Province.

Figure 3.2 Montepulciano vineyards. Photograph by the author.

Figure 4.1La terra in piazza, or the earth in the square – every year the same earth is stored and relaid in readiness for the Palio. Photograph by the author.

Figure 4.2 Palio, the tricky San Martino bend. Photograph by the author.

Figure 5.1

TheBruscelloinitsagrarianitinerantdays. Photograph courtesy of Mario Morganti from the archives of the Compagnia Popolare del Bruscello.

Figure 5.2 A late 1960s play. Photograph courtesy of Mario Morganti from the archives of the Compagnia Popolare del Bruscello.

Figure 5.3 Stefano Bernardini has grown up from being part of the children’s group in the previous picture to protagonist roles in most of the recent performances. Photograph courtesy of the Compagnia Popolare del Bruscello.

Figure 6.1 A panoramic view of Montepulciano. Photograph by Mario Morganti.

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33

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93

viii

Figure 7.2

Figure 8.1

Figure 10.1

FESTIVALS, AFFECT AND IDENTITY

NikoCrocianidrummingforthecontrada of Le Coste. Photograph by Luli Crociani.

Cypressesandapoderenear Monticchiello. Photograph by Nigel Williams.

AscenefromFola 2004: swindled merchants and magic pot. Photograph courtesy of the Compagnia Popolare del Teatro Povero di Monticchiello.

Figure 11.1 The Istricecontradawinning horse, July 2002. Postcard issued by Istricecontradaand kindly donated by Albano Borgogni.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

My thanks go to many both in England and in Italy, whose invaluable contributions are part of this book: Dr Sean Watson and Peter Jowers, for the support, knowledge, interest and questioning offered over the whole process of research and writing; the Crociani family: my parents, Idro and Florencia, and Luli, Marina, Giuliano, Nico and Riccardo, whose help has been invaluable in innumerable ways; my partner, Nigel, for supporting me in my work and my son, Ridley, for inspiring me to start such a project in the first place. I hope it will give him a better sense of his own roots. Like the themes I speak about, I wish to honour the past, while hoping that some of its wisdom may light the way for the generations ahead. Thanks also to David Nash for providing images and inspiration. Many people in Siena, Montepulciano and Monticchiello offered time, knowledge and experience in response to my enquiries. My thanks go to all of them, too many to mention by name. I would like to give special thanks nonetheless to two outstanding older people, whose wisdom enriched my work and who have now passed away: Aldo Nisi, one of the founders and many years president of the Monticchiello theatre, and Corrado Marcocci, who spent all his life on the land, managing the passage from sharecropping to modernity that this work charts – among other themes – and who recounted his experiences with the remarkable cogency and equanimity that had pervaded his life. Two remarkable women have also passed away since the journey of this research began: Maria Rosa Ceselin and my mother, whose powers of observation I hope I am living up to.