Ambivalent Europeans: Ritual, Memory and the Public Sphere in Malta

by Mitchell,Jon P.

• ISBN13: 9780415271530
• ISBN10: 0415271533
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2001-11-07
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Ambivalent Europeansexamines 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 "modernization." He traces this tendency through a number of key areas of social life - gender, the family, community, politics, religion and ritual.

Table of Contents

Figures	ix
Preface	xi
Maps	xv
Malta on the Margins of Europe -- A History of Ambivalence	1	(34)
Valletta -- Glory, Decline, Rehabilitation	35	(28)
Gendered Lives -- Women and Men in Valletta	63	(30)
Respectability and Consumption	93	(28)
Nostalgia and Modernisation	121	(26)
All Politicians are Bastards	147	(30)
`Because We're Pawlini, We're Maltese' -- A Contested Commemoration	177	(34)
Viva San Pawl!	211	(30)
Epilogue	241	(4)
Bibliography	245	(20)
Index	265