| Description: | "Mafia" is one of a long list of words - like "pizza", '"paghetti" and "opera" - that Italian has given to many other languages across the world. It is commonly applied to criminals far beyond Sicily and the United States, places where the Mafia in the strict sense is based. "Mafia" has become an umbrella label for a whole panoply of gangs - Chinese, Japanese, Russian, Chechen, Albanian, Turkish, and so on - that have little or nothing to do with the Sicilian original. This course is a history of the Mafia in Sicily. Some of the most famous American mafiosi, such as Lucky Luciano and Al Capone, will also be taken into consideration because the history of the Sicilian Mafia cannot be understood without telling the story of the American Mafia to which it gave birth. The course analyses the Sicilian Mafia through a historical, social and cultural perspective, tracing its progression from the Unification of Italy to the present day. An analysis of the sociological aspects of the Mafia will be considered, including "the language of the mafioso", "the code of silence", the ways of violence, the social relationships within the organization, messages and messengers, structures of power, profits and losses, and the relationships between Mafia, politics, and religion. |