A Crisis of Births Population Politics and Family-Making in Italy

by Krause, Elizabeth L.

• ISBN13: 9780534636937
• ISBN10: 0534636934
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-02-10
• Publisher: Wadsworth Publishing

Summary

When reproduction becomes a political issue, where do you stand? A CRISIS OF BIRTHS: POPULATION POLITICS AND FAMILY MAKING IN ITALY tells the fascinating story of Italian families in the 1990s, when Italy had the lowest birthrate of any nation in the world. You'll gain an in-depth understanding of why Italy's birthrate has fallen so low and what this means for Italians as individuals and Italy as a society and how reproduction has become politicized. Personal dialogues with ordinary people ranging from sweater-makers to counts, and aging bachelors to doting mothers reveal how a silent revolution against patriarchy reshapes social and sexual morality to create new imperatives for family making.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	viii
Foreword	ix
Preface	xi
Chapter 1 Population Politics, Cultural Struggles	1	(20)
A Crisis of Births	2	(4)
Why "Culture"?	6	(4)
Entering the Field	10	(6)
Nicoletta: Sacrifices Unfulfilled	16	(3)
Cultural Politics and the Quiet Revolution	19	(2)
Chapter 2 Family Tree, Revolutionary Roots	21	(24)
A Quiet Revolution	22	(2)
A Peasant Protest	24	(1)
Rags and History	25	(4)
Diffuse Industry and the Family	29	(3)
The Labyrinth of History	32	(3)
Dust and Documents	35	(2)
Weavers and Wet Nurses	37	(4)
A Sold Woman	41	(2)
The Last Laugh	43	(2)
Chapter 3 Fieldwork, Sweater Work	45	(23)
Locating Diffuse Industry	46	(2)
Jealousy and Fieldwork	48	(1)
Sweater Work	49	(3)
Hidden Labor	52	(1)
The Apprenticeship	53	(2)
Family Firms, Family Obligations	55	(1)
Impressions	56	(3)
Buttons and a Family Firm	59	(4)
Rushing to Rush	63	(1)
Searching for Self-Respect	64	(1)
Integrated yet Unending Obligations	65	(3)
Chapter 4 Displaying Class, Consuming Distinction	68	(24)
Order as Morality	75	(2)
Genterella, or Low-Class Folks	77	(2)
Praying for a Sibling	79	(2)
Catholics and Communists	81	(2)
Antidotes to Consumerism	83	(3)
La Cucina Povera	86	(4)
Poverty versus Prosperity	90	(2)
Chapter 5 Labors of Love, Love's Labors	92	(35)
Real Love	93	(1)
Uneasy Love	94	(2)
Rags, Romance, and Negotiated Love	96	(3)
Unmaking and Remaking Love	99	(3)
Sunflowers and an Etruscan Tomb	102	(2)
A Challenge to the Priest	104	(1)
Son Robbery	105	(2)
Mother Robbery	107	(1)
A Hard Move	108	(5)
Public Prying	113	(2)
Nuptial Beds and Virgins	115	(2)
Unrequited Love	117	(2)
Rational Love	119	(2)
Stigma and Family-Making	121	(1)
Love as Risky Business	122	(2)
Hues of Love	124	(3)
Chapter 6 Gendered Myths, Gender Strife	127	(34)
Noble Clues to an Ignoble Myth (Myth #1)	128	(5)
The Journey toward Equality (Myth #2)	133	(1)
Culture of Responsibility	134	(1)
Responsibility and School	135	(5)
The Traitor	140	(4)
The Craft of Motherhood	144	(2)
Responsibility and Food	146	(5)
The Men in the House (Myth #3)	151	(7)
Myth Puncturing	158	(3)
Chapter 7 Demographic Alarms, Racial Reverberations	161	(23)
Demographic Alarms	163	(1)
Racism Clothed as Culture	164	(3)
Panic over Immigrants	167	(2)
A Crisis of Birth	169	(3)
Italy's Strange Race Question	172	(2)
The "Octopus," Criminal Anthropology, and Racial Formation	174	(1)
Demographic Malaise	175	(1)
Irrational Sex	176	(2)
Sneaky Pronatalism as Policy	178	(3)
Challenging Whiteness	181	(1)
Consequences of Alarm	182	(2)
Chapter 8 Globalizing Policy, Policing Populations	184	(12)
Global Fertility and Policy Trends	187	(7)
The Three Pigs: A Local Theory	194	(2)
Epilogue	196	(3)
Bibliography	199	(7)
Index	206