Where Saints Show Respect

Mafia, Modernity, and Rituals of Power

Berardino Palumbo (Autor)

Buch | Hardcover

280 Seiten

2026
Berghahn Books (Verlag)
978-1-83695-336-4 (ISBN)

Noch nicht erschienen (ca. Februar 2026)
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This book draws on three decades of ethnographic research to explore the penetration of mafia values in Sicilian society. By exploring rituals through which local society learns deep respect for those values, this study aims to offer a critical perspective on Sicilian modernity.

Where Saints Show Respect reveals the penetration of mafia values in Sicilian society. Instead of focusing on sensational criminality, this study considers rituals through which local society learns deep respect – sometimes fearful, but often playful or pious – for those values and their enforcers. State and Church misconstrue these values as vestiges of a society morally damned and left behind in a pagan past. This study draws on three decades of ethnographic research to explore a strikingly different Sicily from the self-congratulatory version of government and religious leaders, where a seemingly obscure set of rural practices offers a critical perspective on modernity itself.

Berardino Palumbo is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Messina. In addition to co-editing two series of anthropological monographs, he is the author of several books and articles on the anthropology of Italy, and Sicily in particular.

Acknowledgements

Foreword

Michael Herzfeld

Chapter 1. Thirty Years Later

Chapter 2. Bowing to Power

Chapter 3. Fireworks

Chapter 4. Biopolitics the Sicilian Way

Conclusion

Afterword

Jane Schneider and Peter Schneider

References

Index

Erscheint lt. Verlag	1.2.2026
Reihe/Serie	New Anthropologies of Europe: Perspectives and Provocations ; 14
Zusatzinfo	Bibliography; Index
Verlagsort	Oxford
Sprache	englisch
Themenwelt	Recht / Steuern ► Strafrecht ► Kriminologie
	Sozialwissenschaften ► Ethnologie
	Sozialwissenschaften ► Soziologie ► Mikrosoziologie
ISBN-10	1-83695-336-4 / 1836953364
ISBN-13	978-1-83695-336-4 / 9781836953364
Zustand	Neuware