Booth - Reconstructing Sexual Geography

7/26/2019 Booth - Reconstructing Sexual Geography

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-5

Reconstructing Sexual Geography

Gender and Space in

Changing Sicilian Settlements

,

Sally

S

Booth

v, , ,1_

. J < ~ ~ _ f ~i ~ v , .

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y ,I

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To talk about the family and the house in Sicily is to talk of men and women and

changing patterns

of

sexual geography. In the past, women were generally restricted

to domestic space of the home and the adjacent courtyard, while men were free to

enter the public space ofthe street and the cafe, the center of local economics and c

politics. The reconstruction of western Sicilian towns damaged by the 1968

earthquake precipitated significant transformations in domestic architectureand

s e t t f ~ ; n e n t Changes in the design of houses and towns have been accompanied in

turn by changing ideas about men and women and the spaces they inhabit. In the

past twenty years, the traditional sexual geography of the Mediterranean agrotown

has been both reinforced and challenged. In this chapter, I treat transformations in

r h i ~

in the reconstructed settlements and the inhabitants' reactions to these

changes as a vantage point on contested ideas concerning gender, morality, and

s p ~

Urban geographers have incorporated issues of power and stratification into

analyses

of

the built environment, producing important and theoretically valuable

research. While there has been great emphasis on class as a dynamic aspect

of

urban process, investigation of how ~ x n d ~ i n . ~ ~ r ~ t i J ) . J , b . e . . t r , i ~ I J l l . 1 t i . o n

.,.;J

, 1

ofspace has been minimal. Thus, here I treat the relationship between changing

domestic spa'C e-and women's experience in bothwaged and

. u ' . \ \ ' ~ ~ ~ < i w o r k .

After discussing patterns of gender segregation in traditional dwellings and

agrotowns of the western Sicilian interior, I focus on new housing forms built ,, It

after the earthquake. Reconstruction following the 1968 earthquake coincided with , , < ' ~ .

emerging feminist ideas regarding women's work and role in the public realm, as cJ

well as changing ideals

of

privacy. Planners of the new towns disregarded the

different ways men and women traditionally inhabited public and private space. ; ' o ~ 1 .

Furthermore, they overlooked some important social functions of different types : .-'\'\'

of spaces in the old settlements. : .\.

In the dramatically transformed architectural context

of

the new towns, men

and women find themselves m O E ~ J ~ 9 . ~ ' : . . d , both from each other in the home and

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---------

Houses and the Construction

of

Family Life

from other men and women outside the home. While the architectural design of

the old towns emphasized the contrasts between the community of men and the

community of women, in the new towns the focus shifted to the nuclear family.

Notwithstanding class variation in housing, the barriers between male and female

spatial domains and, subsequently, between different families have in fact increased

in post-earthquake housing built by the state. It is from this perspective that I

examine the reactions of inhabitants - particularly women - to the constraints

associated with new housing, as they

c h a l l e n g ~ . - h _ e _ g e n d e r e d B ? ~ t i a l

arrangements

designed by architects and planners hired by the Italian state.

In general, women find the new housing designs

of

the

2 Q s J : ~ l I : t . J q u a . ~ e

reconstructed settlements restrictive and inconvenient. The majority of Sicilian

. r - - - . ~ .

women are inclined to use the dwelling space for production offoodstu ffs and for

domestic chores associated with child care and family maintenance. To facilitate

these tasks many invest a sizable portion offamily income and great effort to alter

the new dwellings. There are

t w ~ ~ . ~ ~ _ ~ e ~ ~ . _ ? . altera 9. .: (I)

poorer families

with women involved in home production redesign the space of the new house to

mirror house design prior to reconstruction - that is, they reposition the kitchen

work space to adjoin.semi-public areas

such a s . t h e _ ~ ( ) u ~ ~ . : ~ ( ) r E : r ~ - ~ t ; a r J . d

(2)

r t i : : l i e r ~ , often professionals working outside thehome, are beginning to

reject altogether the urban row housing

of

the agglomerated settlement in favor

of

r t : : ~ t : : t t l e m e _ n L i l l d ~ J g ~ _ h ~ Q s u b m : Q a n . y i l l a s

in the surrounding countryside. These

two different responses reflect new ideas regarding domesticity and changing

patterns of housework as influenced by economic necessity and status considerations.

Different responses to housing change in Sicily indicate new residential alterna

tives sure to affect future settlement patterns significantly. While the question of .

domestic space in contemporary Europe is often phrased in the dichotomous terms

oftraditional versus modem housing, the Sicilian material forces us to reconceptualize

-J

the model and recognize the linkages between gender ideals, work requirements .

and class expectations. The dynamics of changing domestic space reflect w o m e n ~ .'

needs and aspirations as much as the intentions of architects and planners.Recog-j

2..

nition of this dynamic hal> t h e Q I ~ J i f i .n_c .Q91icyjmplicationsrelevant to planned \

housing projects generally.

The Traditional grotown

Before the earthquake, the settlement pattern in the Belice \ f ~ _ l ~ y _ o f ~ B i c i L y

b ~ r L U

, i

was relatively uniform and stable. In the two major historical periods

of

settlement

L < - , ~ u h , r..

e d l ~ ~

formation - the medieval Arab colonization of the twelfth century and the feudal

~ ~ \ k

expansions

of

the 1600s conducted under the aegis

of

the Spanish crown

towns were built as agglomerated settlements with

smallnarrow

streets lined with

contiguous housing, broken.up.only by courty ardentr ances, churches, and small

--- -- ---

...

.

34-

Gender and Space in Changing Sicilian Settlements

shops. Like the settlement architecture of Mediterranean villages throughout North

Africa and Europe, western Sicilian towns give the feeling

of enclosure; long

expanses

of

walls with few openings character izeresl aentiar streets TOliver 1987:

119,202; Valussi 1968: 38). In western Sicily, the agrotown remained the dominant

settlement type until the investment of emigrant remittances in housing in the 1960s

and the state reconstruction projects of the 1970s and 1980s. The traditional house

type of the agrotown was establ ished in the 1600s and 1700s, and some suggest

the only change in Sicilian housing between then and the postwar period was

a continuing decline and impoverishment

of

the original form (see e.g. Renna

1979: 59).

Several factors account for the extraordinary stability of settlement type and

housing design from the seventeenth to the twentieth century. Agglomerated

settlements on hilltops had ecological implications, since inhabitants feared the

malaria associated with the lowland countryside. The crowded settlements had

political ramifications as well. Landowners found it easier to mobilize and control (

the peasant labor force in a relatively confined urban area, while peasants were

less likely to lay claim to the land they worked while living distant from it (Smith

1976: 248). Banditry in the countryside and the absence of infras tructure and public

services outside of towns also impeded dispersal and settlement (Blok 1969;

Schneider and Schneider 1976: 34-6). In short, the long duration

of

feudal condi

tions in western Sicily assured the

.c.o.u1.inuitv

of the agrotoWl1 until the latter part

of the twentieth century (Valussi 1968: 183).

The typical Sicilian settlement was organized around a

~ l t b e

town

~ t : J 1 e r .

This was surrounded by rings of older, then newer housing. Cultivated

f1eI(fs and the rocky, uncultivated countryside lay beyond. The traditional agrotown

was traversed by a central corridor or boulevard, the

corso.

Shops, offices,

-

- . . - - . ; . ; . . . - - ~ ~

municipal buildings, bars, men's clubs, and piazze were located along this axis.

This area was considered the

ce. ,ter

of male public

~ c e , . . l h e

area where men

L."v.."'.'

\

c-ci

could and were expected to move freely to work, shop, and socialize. As such, it c.. \

was the site of much

b u s i n e _ ~ ~ a n d - P Q l i i c a l

activity, both formal and informal, and . , ~ , \ , \ , , _

thus the

c e n t r a l l o c a l ~ f ~ x p r e s s i o n s

of civic culture (see also Silverman 1975). ",

.....

Yet the public character of this central zone was never absolute; instead its

; : r : - ; , , ~

publ ic-priv ate patter ning varied by time and function (Scia ma 1993: 88). For \ . )

instance, the public nature

of

coffee bars was variable. Theoretically open to all,

they were nevertheless informally segregated by class and occupational groupings,

well as by gender.'

public functions

o f t ~ e corso

a.lsoshifted according

to

'.....

: ~ '

time and context. While normally the exclusive domam

of

men,

o ...SJlwmer

' .

weekends and

d u r i n g . r . e ~ _ f e s i l i ' a l s J h e . e . Y e n i n g p a u e g g i Q t o

(promenade) was --< \

\-,.. t

enlivened by women. All dressed up and accompanied by their families, they

i .

V ~ ; < \

paraded up and down the corso. At other times women would d e ~ d - ora \

h.

the d o w ~ o w n area. During the ordinary business day, for instance, they avoided

' t J , ~ . - 1

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1 < P ~

Gender

nd

Space in Changing Sicilian Settlements

ouses

nd

the Construction ofFamily Life

). ,

(\..1; the circoli. Membershiplrilliese store-front clubs was formally divided

b y - ~ I a s s

to the passing publi c (Valussi 1968: 44). c" ,. ,e \ . . c, . : ,

nd occupational group. Each town in western Sicily had a number

of circoli;

e.g.

a club for the civili (or bourgeois) class, a

f i ~ ~ ~ r J l ~ . : E u n t e r s '

club, a leftist w9rkers'

club, and a sports fans' club. The

circoli

were, by definition, restricted. Women

Houses in the Traditional grotown

were not welcome-its"members, nor were they comfortable en tering these club s to

communicate with their menfolk. Young boys, employed by the nearby bars, acted The divisions

of

town space into continua

of

male-female

and public-private were

as go-betweens, delivering coffee, drinks, and messages to the

men

in the circoli.

reiterated in the divisions

of

house interiors. And, as in town space, class differences

Despite

the

varying

public-private quality

of town

space,

the geographic

complicated the patterns of gender segregation of household space.

distribution

of

different areas in a town can be viewed as a continuum of public

Great regularity characterized housing form for poor and middle-income peasants

~ \ ' . ~ . and private zones of male and female activities. While the corso was used by the

in the traditional agrotown. Made of the same materials (tufaeous rock), they varied

..t ~

outside visitors and the male population of the town, the adjoining neighborhoods

in size, structure (number of rooms), and number of stories.

The

typical, single

: ~ ' . . J were more exclusively the domain

of

residents. Both men and women frequented

story, one-room house

of

a poor landless peasant family had four separate areas

the neig!Worhood streets, which were lined with entrances to houses and courtyards

for storage, stall and hayloft, a kitchen at the entrance, and an elevated alcove for

and interspersed with small shops. W o ~ ~ n used these streets to work! socialize, sleeping in the back of the unit (see Figure 5.1). The common two-story house of

i , , ' and 1 1 1 ( ) ~ ~ . t . ~ E ~ l l g ~ the town. When visiting kin or friends across town, women

a poor peasant family had areas for storage, stall and hay on the ground floor, and

-;' Iwould often take

i I ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ r o u t . : ~ ~ o u ~ h s i d ~ ~ . 1 > j n

order g ~ ~ . 3

sleeping space upstairs. The kitchen area of this home was often part of an outside

P

"'''Jwomen

used the side streets as work space during the weekdays. There, with

alcove in the courtyard or on the street (e.g. Valussi 1968: 37; Salomo ne-Mari no

... better light and, more importantly, the company

of

neighborhood women, they

1981: 51). The typical, two-story, two-room house

of

a richer landowning peasant

watched children, cooked, sewed, and socialized outside their doorways. Occa

family burgisi or civili) was composed of a ground-floor entry hall, a kitchen-dining

sionally men helped with domestic tasks in this semi-public area, usually with area, stall and hay room, and a storage area for transport vehicles and goods. The

special projects associate d with harvesting and food processing. upper floor was divided into bedrooms, a dining room, a living room, a kitchen, and

The m o ~ t s i g n i f i c a n t semi-public snaee wr women in the traditieRaI agrotown

a storage area (see Figure 5.2). More often than not the

burgisi

house had two kitchens

fIt


4/13

Houses and the Construction

of

Family Life

: ; r - ~ F r ; < : : ; : ' : : : : ; : ; ; : : \ ~ : . : : : : : ~ / ~ : : ) ' : : : : ~ ~ : . J : . ~ : . ' ~

: , ~ , . : : . : ; : ~

' : i c ; i ; : ' : : : ~ p

' :.

"

c : . ~

ELEVATED

,',

,'

' . :

I

I

SLEEPING ALCOVE

I (ALCOVA)

1

'.:.

,

STORAGE

I CURTAIN

I

(DEPOSITO)

. (TENDA)

1 _ ._ .- _ ._ .

",

\

\ ~ ~ ;

.

';

r--------

-------

PARTITION WALL

(TRAMEZZO)

t l \ ; ~

..

:;

: ; ~ . :

:.(:

,\.:

;;

:

KITCHEN I

STALL

~ . : ~

I

,:,

:)

(CUCINA)

I

(STALLA.)

\'.

I

:\:

HEARTH :

..

(FORNO) k .

; ~ { j

U

J

:.:

HAYLOFT (FIENILE)

}):.

~ ( : ' : ' ; ; ; l I

I 3\::::;-",:,:::

: ~ : , i : ; ; , :';'j',:,j.-: ';:::i.:.J.\::;"it: ;.,;::r: ::.

4 ) ' J . - ' ; ; ' : ; ; ' ~ ; ' S : ' : ; ' 2

o

1 2 3 4

I I I I I METERS

Figure

5.1 Typical house oflan dle ss peasant family (Drawn by Brian Stadler),

\

....,:

T2.. summarize, then, the a r c ~ i ~ ~ t ~ . r e of gender in t ~ t :

..

t r a d i t i o ~ o t o w n

operated on two ditTerent11wsical and c o : W : i i 1 ~ r s f w a s the town space

e x t e m ~ r t

t h ~ . ~ . x . a r . i I a 1 ..JllQSlsigpificantlx ,gender and

secondarily by class and occupation. All men, local and outsider, rich and poor,

had-free'''accesstothe pubiic c ~ i r t e r , the corso where they socialized, conducted

business, or negotiated employment. Moving between the public, semi-public,

and private spaces of the town, men were able to act as "mediators" for women,

transferring information between the outsI de world alleCtiie" domestic one

(Schneider and Schneider 1976: I02).

. Y . l ~ i g h b o r t ' . ~

men had

~ ~ n t

in the semi-public side streets, where they stored agricultural goods and tools and

occasionally assTstea'wlth'domestic work. Most i g i d J y ~ i r c . U I ] 1 s c r i b e d . . o f J l l l . e A t e m a l

areas

w ~ s t h ~ c ~ ~ r t i l e ;

only men from the surrounding houses had full access to

Gender

nd

Space in Changing Sicilian Settlements

I ~ f . , - : :


5/13

----

---

,

1 ; \

. ~ r -

.

;v1ttontracts mediated, exchanges arranged, jobs secured, and prices negotiated.

.. :l' ~ , t

work space, of the poorer classes was by necessity used by men to pass

t h r o u ~ h ,

f

to. ' .

to store their goods and tools, and to work." In short, poorer women had occasion _ \/

to share information both among themselves and with men; they had greater access

I

.:

",}I

to and more control over social information than was available to their middle- .

class c o u n t e ~ a ~ s . This potential imbalance. e t w e e ~ classes: with

p ~ o r e r

.I

women

exercising a degree of

power over

information maccesslble to

ncher

. /

women, was mitigated by the ~ e o l o g i e s of Q g 9 ~ d sbame{ , /

Because their houses afforded rich women work

s ~ i m a l

exposure and' ,, )

visibility, these women enjoyed a higher status; they were socially compensated


6/13

--

Houses and the Construction Family Life

icilian ociety Transformed

The social and economic convulsions associated with the "economic miracle" of

the 1950s and 1960s formed the backdrop for the massive physical upheaval caused

by the destructive tfarthquake

of

1968 in the Belice Valley. In fact, the earthquake

often serves as a

h i s t q x i c . . ~ t ~ l e d j l 1 - 2 9 ~ 1 ~ . - ~ _ ~ g h t ,

marking the irrevocable

,transformation

of o n s ~ r v a t i v e ~ o c i e t y . ~ o n

the

e c o n 9 ~ ~ d

cultural integration into national society, and particularly the feminist movement,

. . ... /

f

\I

would dramatically and peiTItanentty"impact

Sicily,"

This changing society inhaiJltea

'new forms of domestic and public space in the towns reconstructed by the state

after the earthquake.

i.

\

Italy of the 1960s and 1970s was characterized by an "extrao rdinary period

I

of

social ferment" (Ginsborg 1990: 298). Emerging out of the student uprisings

.:l of

the universities and the militant labor organization

of

northern factories, collec

tive movements associated with the progressive Left affected all segments ofItalian

society. Routines and expectations of daily life in western Sicily were profoundly

transformed by these trends. Even more than the mobilizations

of

students and

workers, the feminist movement had explosive consequence s in Sicily, where male

female relations were extremely conservative and strongly patriarchal.

The economic miracle refers to the linked processes

of

dramatically declining

agriculture in the South and rapidly developing industry in the North. In Sicily,

the greatexodus

fJ3lm

the-I d flight to the

North 6fffie------

force

meant that towns were "feminized.v'They ecame women's colonies," populated

_ . ~ ~ . ~

overw e rmng y y women, I dren, and the elderly (Birnbaum 1986: 241).

Despite the great number offemale-headed households, feminism itselffaced many

\

major

obstacles in the South, especially in

Sicily."

The formidable barriers confronting the feminist movement in southern Italy

1

. ~ e r e

linked to the conservative social and political climate. Women were legally

. --.l

o

a ~ c f - e ~ 6 r n t i c a l l y

subordinate to

men

(Birnbaum 1986: 13) and

imprisoned

by

J traditional family structures (Schneider and Schneider 1976: 93). The dominant

institutional powers in Sicily - the

~ ~ ~ i < l 1 1 J ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ a . r t Y ,

the c ; ~ t l 1 2 U c Church,

r

a _ : . ~

Mafia

- a l L r e s i s l e d _ R I Q g r ~ . ~ s i v e

s o c i ~ c h ~ ~ r o m o t e d

by

the feminists

(HellmaI11987: 183, 167). In Italy, politics was almost exclusively the domain

of

men until the 1970s (Ginsborg 1990: 366). The political climate for women's

-t

participation was particularly "brutal," with political parties from both the Right

and Left reacting to the mobilization

of

women with "obstruction, isolation, and

(;'C.&-

.....

ostracism" (Hellman 1987: 168, 169). Significantly, the absence

of

public space

)

for democratic participatory politics, especially the politics of women, further

hindered the feminist movement in the South (Hellman 1987: 126).

8

Despite these impediments to

women's

mobilization, the feminist

movement


.

( ,

. refer enda (legaliz ing divorce in,1974_' .l}g_, poi}i.9- i Ll281), the well-or gani zed

resistance t o ~ u c l e a r base at.C.omiso, and the ongoing ~ t r u g g l e to, esta,b,lish?,.

women's service centers and clinics demonstrate the c o n t I E . ~ ~ l ) K r e l . ~ v l l n ~ ~ , . 2 f ]

~

feminism in the South. More significant has been the changing consciousness

of

I . _

r

s o u t h e r n ~ o m e n ; women

have attained the "skills that gave [them] the confidence

to"

to act in the public sphere and to redefine 'women's personal

problems'

as public

issues" (Hel lman 1987: 206). Consequently, wom en have entered the public sphere

,loc"A-

"

in ways unimagina ble in the past in the traditional agrotown. ,

The most striking change has occurred in the realm

f e d 6 c ~

Co-education

Y-

'-.. '

for elementary grades has signalled the end of sex segre'g-afion of children.

/ ' ,.) /

Traditionally, women's education was cursory and brief in Sicily. But during the\ \ _

watershed years since 1968 more inclusive rules of access have greatly affected

r : }

women's opportunities for university training. By 1968, a full third of all university \

students were

women

(Lumley 1990: 55). Middle-class

women

received higher

education, and many trained for professions outside the home." These are the

"

women who spearheaded the feminist movement in the South. They now work as

. \ .

,I

clerks and professionals outside the home, entering previously restricted spaces -".

of work

such as offices, schools, clinics, and town halls. In fact,

many

jobs

i t h ~

i.,

the bureaucra cy set up for earthquake reconstructi on (e.g. building depart men s ,.

and housing offices) were set aside specifically for educated women.

Although poorer, less educated women have been less directly influenced by

the feminist movement, they too have been more active in the market economy

since the earthquake. The Sicilian economy is characterized by underdevelopment,

where emigrant remittances and state entitlements subsidize a consumer economy

that lacks a significant productive base (Schneider and Schneider 1976: 207).

As a

result

of

this

lopsided economy, many Sicilians work in unregulated

illegal jobs. Lavoro nero (literally black work," or unregistered employment)

taps the reserve

ofthe

unemployed, or more specifically, the working unemployed,

who are often women engaged in housework. While factory work is still rare in

western Sicily, there has been a marked increase in lavoro nero among poorer

Sicilian women since the

nation-wide recession of

the 1970s.

Lavoro nero

frequently

depends

on local resources and seasonal variations; in different ,

.. '

towns of western

Sicily it includes jobs in embroidery,

sewing of clothes

or

,.,;

rugs, flower-tying, and fish processing (Birnbaum 1986: 242). Domestic space is \_

utilized for

lavoro nero

at no cost to the merchant or middleman, for the piecework {

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7/13

Houses and the Construction of Family Life

piecework

of lavoro nero

is added to the unpaid routines

of

housework and child

c a r ~ : _ _ ,\

/1n shor.u the feminist movement and the recent economic changes have had

5'1.{

,>

,

.>

' - -=--- '

____ ' varying consequences for the different classes of western Sicilian women,Middle

class women with college educations and professional jobs have challenged the

genaer-segregated patterns of the traditional agrotown by entering the pub lic space

of

formerly male workplaces, By c o n t r a s t - P 9 . 2 ~ n have been forced by

economic necessity to retreat further into the private zone of the house, combining

,.domestic

work

with m a r K e t : b ~ ~ ~ d ~ ~ d ~ c t i ~ ~ , ' \ V h i T e > a n r ; ; - c r e ; s i n g number of

; . '.

...

.........'..' .... '.r

J

. , v c ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' , . ' ' - ~ ' - : , ' ' ' : r ' ,

.".,._ ",

, i > ~ women (21 percent in 1973 to 8 ' p ~ e ' r c e n t in 1983) are working as domestics for

J ~ families of professional women (Hellman 1987: 207), most women are responsible

for the double

d ~ t y

ofunpa.id housework

.child care in addition to their paid

\-5' work as professionals or pieceworkers, It IS III these contexts that women and

their families have reacted to the new structures of domestic space provided by

the state in the course of reconstruction after the earthquake,

ew Housingin Reconstructed Towns

A powerful earthquake str uck the Belice Valley on January 14, 1968, It registered

eight on the Richter scale and was followed by nearly a hundred aftershocks.

Fourteen communities were destroyed or badly damaged, affecting a population

of almost 97,000 (for population figures of the 1961 census, see Renna 1979). In

terms of physical damage, initial assessment showed that 32 percent

of

the total

real estate ho ldings were leveled and anoth er 24 percent were rend ered uninhabit

able without extensive repairs (Caldo 1974: 53-7). These figures are now known

to be underestimates, As reconstruction proceeded, many more inhabitants claimed

house damage and applied to the state for financial assistance. Reconstruction of

well over half of all real estate brought about significant changes inthe expectations

and

experiences of settlement and housing for the inhabitants of the Belice

Valley towns.

The

new

form of settlement does little to reiterate the overall form of the

cJ '

v..)C

traditional

agrotown econstructed

towns and neighborhoods instead recall

E ~ . ~ E : ~ : ~ ~ ~ > ~ ~ J l n d ~ . 1 } ~ f J c a . p i i 2 ~ ~ r s ~ ~ u . i b a n d e v e l o p ' ~ e n t s , b'ecause'they

were planneawith these models in mind (for Italy see Gregotti 1968: 80; for the

Belice see Renna 1979: 104 and De Bonis 1979: 121, 137). While the basic

functional components of the old towns - churches, schools, shopping districts,

government buildings, infrastructure, and housing - are found in the new, the

" reconstructed towns are ~ a n g e d ~ i . t h Q J J , L : e K e r e ~ ~ e to t h ~ J r a d i t i o n a L p a t t e m s of

(\R.w j(( ~ < - { , p u b l i c - p r i Y a s : i i l . w L m . l l . t ~ = f i m J l l h : space gf9t6WJl.

Dramatically altered are

,:, ,-',,;. the arrangements of social space, such as main streets and piazze, where men

~

exchange news, network for jobs, and pass the time. Furthermore, the neighborhood

-144


streets and cortili in which women work, pass along information, and watch

children, are unrecognizably changed or absent altogether,

In the reconstructed settlements the architecture of gender is influenced by the

new arrangements of.public ingitutional buildings. Once dispersed up and

down;

the corso, the youth clubs, party headquarters, museums, and civic organizations)

are now centralized in or m : a r n u w j l ; ; . j p a l l J ~ s . M ~ 6 @ b s

w ~ ~ _ : - c = - o _ m _ m _ o , : - r i

in the reconstructed areas, are no longer located in the shop ping areas of the main

corso

of

the new towns, no longer integrated into the public space

of

men s

experience. ,

Patterns of gender-segregated shopping areas of the old towns have not been ' , , , , , : ~ :

r

reproduced in the new commercial districts. The new commercial zones are set

r

apart from the residential areas and favor access by automobile. These business I,

,'-,

areas are closed in on themselves, more like the strip-m alls

of

suburban America / - :

than the agrotown's

corso,

with its continual floworpeoesfiTIifJ.ana'car-i;;ffic.

\ ' f \ ~ ,

While the shoppingareaofthecozso many

func.t.ions,.

the commercial centers\'\ J , < / f ; ~

of

the new towns are solely commercial; they only

~ ~ ~ t I ~ ~ a: ~ : ~ ; ~ L ~ ~ r n ~ k e t 1\' ,0;

manufactured.goods..._ { ; W ~ ' A \ e",,"-'"

$

- c - - - - ~

..

\

This singularity of purpose.is expressed architecturally. Structural design and _

stylistic

d e t a i l s o I t l ' i e n e w z ~ ~ e s

act as barriers that inhibit easy movement a n c f ~ ~ : ; ~ ~ v ,

social interaction. In the commercial center

of

Montevago, for instance, the closedv-v ,, :)I.t..

cement walls surroundi ng the center are perforated only by an occasional window,

,,'-1'--

tiny and high over one's head (for photographs, see Renna, De Bonis and Gangemi

1979:297-8). Withinthe block is a dense forest of reinforced concrete pillars, topped

by a low, imposing, checkerboard ceiling

of

concrete. Needless to say, this area is

rarely used, and then only for shopping. Men spend little time in these shopping

blocks, perhaps because the defining activity - consuming - is so spatially

circumscribed. It is thus difficult to combine shopping with socializing, networking, V

and seeing I l d , b e i n g s ~ ~ n , a-swell-; ; ; ; t h p ~ ~ - ; i I ' l g ' t h r o u g h t ~ ' - ; t h ~ ; ~ a s ~ ' f u r t h e r 1 ''.

0

complicating the uses of the commercial zone is the accessibility afforded by the '

automobile. As wom en are considered more protected and freer

of

movement in a

car, they more easily can and do enter the new public space to consume. Like men,

they enter and leave again immediately, after completing the given task.

10

These towns were each planned as a total unit, as ensembles, so to sp eak, with

little room for individual variation. They all had standardized housing projects

made of reinforced concrete, which were more similar to housing estates on the

peripheries of cities of the Italian North than to those Sicilian towns they were

built to replace. While these towns were long anticipated by those affected by the

earthquake, the i n ~ l a d J l . 1 l e J n p . u U Q . ~ ~ i L ~ c t u r e or design. It is therefore r-, : '

-

not surprising that it was this form of integration into the national-eeesaecniral ' f';l


8/13

Houses and the Construction of Family Life


'.

,'

The extent of reconstruction varied according to the degree of devastation and

I

BALCONY

_.:' the political will and power

of

the local officials. While some towns were rebuilt

(TERRAZZO)

KITCHEN

completely, in others only certain neighborhoods were reconstructed. New housing

(CUCINA)

\,I

was

of

three basic types, roughly differentiated by financing arrangements, archi

CLOSET

(RIPOSTO)

tectural styles, and locations within the reconstructed areas. Highly uniform housing

I

~ I I I .

I

I r

/

'

I

/

1

II

I I I I I

I '

t:::::

t=

LIVING-DINING

ROOM

(SALA-SALOnO)

projects were planned and built entirely at state expense for the poorest residents.

i),

, These tenants had no say whatsoever regarding the design or location

of

their

/ l .

t

new houses. (See Figure 5.3 for a typical casa popolare or public housing unit.) A

second type

of

housing is the state-subsidized cooperative, entered into by middle-

ENTRY

(I

' , : , ' class clerks and professionals. Different architects were hired to design these housing

(INGRESSO)

-" \ ,) projects, and there is more architectural variation among them. Residents can usually

,; \ decide their own configuration of a standardized set of architectural components.

'


9/13

.; ' 0\ 5 , ; - l J ~ ~ ; s ~ ; ~ n d the Construction ofFamily Life

. .

I

LC.'l,\'I{'J>

(, -,

between kitchen and courtyard or street, but of crossing horizontal

a n d ' : : ~ I i c a l

\ \\

obstacles of gate, yard, entryway, stairs, and parking area.

l a S K s l n a r w e r e ' o n c e d O l l e - c o o p e r a t i ' ~ ~ l y - i ~ t h e s e m i - p u b l i c areas adjoining the

house can no longer be achieved communally in the new towns and neighborhoods.

The balcony, formerly a kind of elevated courtyard, is now placed at odd angles

facing away from other balconies, making simple conversation between households

all but impossible. Kitchens in the new housing projects are very small, aptly called

"cooking corners." These are placed at the back of the house, remote from the

public activity

of

the street. As a result

of

hese architectural changes, women in

..J

the new settlements find it difficult to use semi-public space and find themselves

\ ~ ' }

more confined to the private interiors of the house.

The reconstructed settlements were not designed with the customs and traditions

tJ

of the earthquake victims in mind. I would argue that the planners hired by the

/

state did not intentionally subvert the patterns

of

male-female space

of

the tradi

tional agrotown. In fact, in most cases, they did little to understand or acquaint

...1 themselves with the socioeconomic conditions and settlement patterns of the

i : ' ~ f inhabitants of the damaged towns (De Bonis 1979: 139). Instead, the planners,

ic:

mostly men from northern Italy,

~ ' J . ~ l e

experience with the Mediterranean codes

o .

(

of gender segregation and honor and shame. They overlooKed thehiStorical spatial

r ' , l . v - \ , ~

patterns s s o ~ i ; ; ; d wIth gender segregation, with social interaction, and with men's

and women's employment (or lack

of

it) inside and outside the house. They used

models designed for bourgeois inhabitants in northern Europe and the United States.

The f a m o u ~ ; ; ~ h i t ~ ~ t ~ ~ V i t t m : l o ' T j i e g o t t i n 9 ( ; 8 ) ' arguestnaCpfilnners everywhere

in Italy had as their overarching goals to stlD.f ardizehouse form, improve "taste,"

and increase consumption by the masses

G r ~ 9 6 8 : 79). The r a d i c a l t r ~ n ' s

formation

of

the dimensions and arrangements

of

public, semi-public, and private

space in the new Belice settlements appears to be an unintended consequence of

these goals.

..,.VV\

In the new towns the public space

of

business is no longer open to the back

and-forth traffic of daily routines so important to men's politics and social life.

Instead, business space has become exclusivelycommercial, with physical bound

aries decisively marki;g

i t ~ n m i i s . i i k ~ w i ~ ~ ,

the semi-public spaces of women's

work and social exchang e are absent or inaccessi ble in the new towns. The new

houses were in fact d ~ ~ Q . f u L e m . . E I 2 X ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ e n who would fulfill domestic

requirements on the market, consuming manufactured household products, clothes,

linens, and processed foodstuffs. In all respects, the new towns have been planned

for s;naQJ'llDilies in which both parents work outside the home, but neither in

agriculture. T h e ~ w housing was designed for a small, urban, middle-class family

as a place to consume, retreat from work and relax from the pressures associated

with secure, daily employment.

-148

Gender nd Space in Changing Sicilian Settlements

Women's Different Reactions to New Housing

The housing

of

the reconstructed towns and neighborhoods was problematic

for the inhabitants, especially the women, of the agrotowns of western Sicily.

Both housewives and professional women found it.

u n _ s ~ ~ i ~ f a s ~ ~ r y ,

although for

6t.

different r e a s o ~ ; ' i t ~ - d e ' s l g n p - i e c f u d ~ d 'horr;e production for housewives and its f

uniformIty" and rules prohibi ting modific ations failed to fulfill the goals of pro- tJ '--.

fessional women for housing that was simultaneously a place of privacy, leisure, i

and display

of

class status.

W : t i ~ r ~ . f r ~ t g r o u p _ of Vome : fC un.d

i t , l ~ ~ ~ s . s . 1 : 1 . . l y t o

);;4"

rr'

modify the s t a t e - p r o v i d ~ c h ~ r . o f e s s i Q n a l women tooktse.more.dramatic

6'; '1

Documents

Booth - Reconstructing Sexual Geography