Full Description
This book introduces the Neapolitan 'femminielli', their customs and practices through a series of essays originally published in Italian and newly translated into English. Historically present in the city of Naples, Italy and surrounding provinces, femminielli express their social identity in a form that is neither masculine nor feminine but contains both, and has liminal characteristics. Contributors weave historical, socio-cultural, literary, iconographic, and artistic traces to explore different facets of this human experience and demonstrate the extreme complexity of what they observed. Their efforts show the femminielli to be a very articulated and at the same time fluid reality, multifaceted and dynamic, in relation to its contextual dimensions.
Scholars and university students of Cultural Anthropology, Psychology, Gender Studies, History, Performance, and Literature will all find something engaging and timely in this collection.
Contents
1. And I came across an [effeminate] one in Naples: Femminielli, traces in history and mythography 2. Femminielli: The history of a term, from jargon to anthropological communication 3. The Neapolitan femminielli: Some anthropological considerations 4. Gender crossings and new paths in identity 5. Neapolitanness and post-modern identities: New cultural shapes for the femminiello in Naples 6. A wedding in the Bay of Naples? 7. I/WE; masculine, feminine/transgender: On the revival of the juta ritual 8. Femminielli, rivals in seduction: Feelings, identity, and sexuality in Naples and in Campania. 9. Femminielli: A singular sociocultural limbo of fortune and death 10. Text and context of the femminielli: Socio-anthropological considerations on a gender related study 11. In nomine femminielli: Ethnographic research on gender variant people living in contemporary Naples 12. The femminiello is dead! Long live the femminiello! Patrimonialization and rebirth of Naples' own social figure 13. In my dream I was always opening a massive doorway: Self-narration and construction of gender variant identity in Naples 14. Traces on Cybele's path: Historical antecedents and ethnographic findings 15. A photograph, a case, and an alley named Femminelle: Searching for third-gender identities in 19th century Naples
