1st Edition

Ambivalent Europeans Ritual, Memory and the Public Sphere in Malta

By Jon P. Mitchell Copyright 2002
    292 Pages
    by Routledge

    292 Pages
    by Routledge

    Ambivalent Europeans examines the implications of living on the fringes of Europe. In Malta, public debate is dominated by the question of Europe, both at a policy level - whether or not to join the EU - and at the level of national identity - whether or not the Maltese are 'European'. Jon Mitchell identifies a profound ambivalence towards Europe, and also more broadly to the key processes of 'modernisation'. He traces this tendency through a number of key areas of social life - gender, the family, community, politics, religion and ritual.

    1. Malta on the Margins of Europe: A History of Ambivalence 2. Valletta: Glory, Decline, Rehabilitation 3. Gendered Lives: Women and Men in Malta 4. Respectability and Consumption 5. Nostalgia and Modernisation 6. All Politicians are Bastards 7. 'Because We're Pawlini, We're Maltese': A Contested Commemoration 8. Viva San Pawl!

    Biography

    Jon P. Mitchell

    "This is a work to be commended for its complete approach to a festival commemorating Malta's patron saint that also addresses the ways in which ritual can express the ambivalence inherent in "Europeanization" in particular and modernity in general, subjects of interest to Europeanist anthropologist and beyond." - Andrea L. Smith, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute