Being Third Gender, Being Neapolitan Culture, History, and the ‘Femminielli’

JACK DRESCHER

Preface to the English Edition 

PAOLO VALERIO, AMELIA ROSA, TUNDO AND EUGENIO ZITO

Preface [2019]: On the Neapolitan femminielli 

EUGENIO ZITO AND PAOLO VALERIO

Preface [2013]: The Neapolitan femminielli, through historical reality, imagination and memory 

LUIGI MARIA LOMBARDI SATRIANI

Introduction 

EUGENIO ZITO AND PAOLO VALERIO

1. And I came across [an effeminate] one in Naples. Femminielli, traces in history, and mythography 

EUGENIO ZITO, NICOLA SISCI, AND PAOLO VALERIO

2. Femminielli: The history of a term, from jargon to anthropological communication 

PATRICIA BIANCHI

3. The Neapolitan femminielli: Some anthropological considerations 

GABRIELLA D’AGOSTINO

GIANFRANCA RANISIO

5. Neapolitanness and post-modern identities: New cultural shapes for the femminiello in Naples 

ANNALISA DI NUZZO

6. A wedding in the Bay of Naples? 

GENNARO CARRANO AND PINO SIMONELLI

7. I/WE; masculine, feminine/transgender: On the revival of the juta ritual 

FRANCESCA VERDE

8. Femminielli, rivals in seduction: Feelings, identity, and sexuality in Naples and in Campania 

CORINNE FORTIER

9. Femminielli: A singular sociocultural limbo of fortune and death 

MARINELLA MIANO BORRUSO

10. Text and context of the femminielli: Socio-anthropological considerations on a gender-related study 

EUGENIO ZITO

11. In nomine femminielli: Ethnographic research on gender variant people living in contemporary Naples 

MARZIA MAURIELLO

12. The femminiello is dead! long live the femminiello! Patrimonialization and rebirth of Naples’ own social figure 

MARIA CAROLINA VESCE

13. In my dream I was always opening a massive doorway: Self-narration and construction of gender variant identity in Naples

EUGENIO ZITO

14. Traces on Cybele’s path: Historical antecedents and ethnographic findings

NICO STAITI

15. A photograph, a case, and an alley named femminelle: Searching for third-gender identities in 19th-century Naples

AMELIA ROSA TUNDO

Biography

Paolo Valerio, honorary professor of Clinical Psychology at Naples’ Federico II, advanced the wellbeing of transgender and gender diverse persons. As President of the National Observatory on Gender Identity and the Fondazione Genere, Identità, Cultura ETS, he advocates sexual minorities rights. His extensive publications regard gender Identity, homo-bi-transphobia, intersexuality.

Amelia Rosa Tundo is an independent researcher and translator. Her roles in Being Third Gender, Being Neapolitan Culture, History and the ‘Femminielli’ reflect her background in the Humanities (B.A., University of Detroit; M.A., Wayne State University; AbD, Indiana University) and her Neapolitan experience. She is a published translator and co-author.

Eugenio Zito, Gender Studies PhD, is associate professor of Cultural Anthropology at Naples’ Federico II and full member of the European Association of Social Anthropologists, the Italian Society of Cultural Anthropology and the Board of the Italian Society of Medical Anthropology. His extensive publications regard gender, embodiment, subalternity, chronic illness.