Read more
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.
List of 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 gender identities in 19th century Naples
About the author
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.
