Italian Women in Basilicata

Victoria Calabrese

doi:10.5771/9781793607799

Summary

This study examines the role of southern Italian women who remained behind when their husbands emigrated in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. By piecing together limited archival source material, the author argues that married women were not voiceless or powerless when their husbands were abroad, but they took on roles beyond their limited legal position. They petitioned local officials, requested passports, received remittances, and handled the family finances, all in the absence of their husbands, the legal head of the family. The study also emphasizes the connection forged between women and the new Italian state at a time when women did not have political rights. Centering on Basilicata—a “forgotten” region of the Italian south and one that has not been a major focus of scholarly investigation—this study challenges stereotypes that the Italian south was backwards, uncivilized, and lagging behind northern Italy. The author argues that large scale emigration greatly impacted the married women left behind in the villages of Basilicata, changing their social, political, and economic role.

Keywords

Search publication

Bibliographic data

Copyright year: 2022
ISBN-Print: 978-1-7936-0778-2
ISBN-Online: 978-1-7936-0779-9
Publisher: Lexington, Lanham
Language: English
Pages: 176
Product type: Book Titles

1. Contents No access
2. Acknowledgments No access
3. 1. A Woman Left Behind No access
  2. 1. Italy in the Liberal Period No access
    2. Emigration No access
    3. Basilicata: “Una Provincia Sconosciuta” (An Unknown Province) No access
    4. Perceptions of Basilicata No access
    5. Life in Basilicata No access
    6. Historiography No access
    7. Sources and Methodology No access
  3. Notes No access
1. 1. Childhood and Youth No access
  2. Other Single Women: Unmarried Women, Nuns, and Widows No access
  3. Marriage No access
2. Changing Gender Roles in Marriage No access
3. Notes No access
1. Motherhood No access
2. 1. Education No access
  2. Providing for Children No access
  3. Emigrating Children No access
  4. Fanciulli Girovaghi No access
  5. Searching for Missing Children No access
3. Notes No access
1. 1. Atto di Procura No access
2. Remittances No access
3. Spending Money No access
4. Notes No access
1. The Migration Decision No access
2. Government Response and Legal Limitations No access
3. Local Interactions with the State No access
4. Requesting Searches No access
5. Language in the Requests No access
6. Notes No access
1. Demographic Effects of Emigration No access
2. Fears of too Much Emigration No access
3. Emigration and the Community No access
4. Role of the Church No access
5. Notes No access
1. Crime and Anxiety about Men Leaving No access
2. Honor and the Law No access
3. Prostitution No access
4. Infidelity No access
5. Unwanted Pregnancy, Abortion, Infant Abandonment No access
6. Infanticide No access
7. Notes No access
1. Men Returning No access
2. Process of Emigration No access
3. Women Requesting Passports No access
4. Women Emigrating No access
5. Abandonment No access
6. Illegal Emigration No access
7. Notes No access
Conclusion No access Pages 153 - 158
Bibliography No access Pages 159 - 168
Index No access Pages 169 - 174
About the Author No access Pages 175 - 176