Anthropology Dissertations
B.A. Hons.
2009
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RUNNING: A METAPHOR OF THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD
Francesca Arrigo
2009
Anthropology
SETTING THE NATION STRAIGHT
Malta’s Inquisitorial Experience as an Object of Heritage
Gareth Galea
2009
Anthropology
2008
2008
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IN HER OWN IMAGE?
A Cultural Study of Cosmetic Breast Enhancement
Caroline Tonna
2008
Anthropology
(RE) ORDERING DISORDER?
Analysis of a Rehabilitative Psychiatric Halfway-House
Jeannine Vassallo
2008
Anthropology
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“WE ALL SHARE THE SAME BLOOD”
The Glocalization of the Philippine Diaspora: The Case for Malta
The notion of ‘diaspora’ suggests the idea of a people who have departed from their homeland yet still maintain
links with fellow friends and family back in the migrants’ place of origin. The vast increase in the amount of
migration all throughout the world has proliferated the number of diasporas beyond the original Jewish
Diaspora. Today several types of diaspora exist. In the case of the Philippine diaspora, the majority of the
migrants voyage between various countries mostly for labour purposes. In continuity with the rest of Philippine
migration worldwide, in Malta, most of the migrants are women working as domestic workers or else in the
caring industry. Despite only arriving in Malta in the late 1970s, the Filipinas have made efforts to formally
organize themselves into a community. More significantly, the migrants are continuously creating and
maintaining transnational links with other parts of the diaspora, partly for purposes of bettering their socioeconomic position. A number of migrants choose to return to their homeland after achieving their original goals
for migrating. However, these are not always clear-cut and due to processes such as integration and rediasporization, the migrants end up forging important relationships delaying the eventual return to the
homeland.
Jeffrey Romano
2008
Anthropology
DEFYING SOCIAL GRAVITY
Marie Claire Tonna
2008
Anthropology
INTEGRATION OF MIGRANTS AND DISCOURSE OF ‘SMALLNESS’
Nighat John Urpani
2008
Anthropology
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FROM EXISTENTIAL EXPERTS TO EXPERT EXISTENTIALISTS
Rachel Scicluna
2008
Anthropology
HOME AWAY FROM HOME?
An Imaginary Leisure Community Living on the Edge in St. Thomas Bay
Wilma Plaehn
2008
Anthropology
2007
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NARRATIVE AND SOCIAL MEMORY:
Constructing Identities in a Plural Social System
Aleksander Dimitrovski
2007
Anthropology
SUDANESE MIGRANTS IN A MALTESE CONTEXT:
The Process of Identity Formation
Andre’ Callus
2007
Anthropology
2006
2006
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‘THIS IS NOT AFRICA’
Outlander Landings in Identity Performance
Martin Cassar
2006
Anthropology
RATIONALITY, RISK AND RECKONING
A maritime anthropological study of a pressured way of life in Gozo
Richard Bilocca
2006
Anthropology
2005
2005
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AN INVISIBLE WORLD PASSPORT
Joseph J. Vella
2005
Anthropology
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TAKING RISKS AND COPING WITH THEM
The Role of Risk Negotiation among Homeless Mothers’ Self-identity
Lucy Pace Gouder
2004
Anthropology
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CONSECRATED LIVES AND IDENTITIES WITHIN A RELIGIOUS ORDER
A Study of the Ursuline Order in Malta
Sharon Attard
2004
Anthropology
COOKING AS LEISURE TIME CAPITAL AND GENDER IDENTITY
Victor Fiorini
2004
Anthropology
2003
2003
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“WALKING IN TWO WORLDS”
Processes of Identity Construction on a Native American Reservation
This study aims to analyze the dynamic and political process of identity construction amongst the natives of Port
Madison Reservation. The basic contention of this dissertation is that such processes are at once theatrical and
metallurgical. Identity amongst the natives emerges out of the attempt by the US to cast the native into roles
which it sees fit. These attempts are in turn met by a native that continually strains and cracks the mould in an
attempt to assert oneself for oneself. Whilst ample studies exist dealing with natives of the North-West coast, the
preponderant amount of these works deal with the Natives in Canada. As such the natives of the Puget Sound
have been mostly ignored due to their small size and unglamorous nature. This study attempts to rectify this
oversight and concludes by an attempt to point to new directions which future studies on identity construction
amongst the Suquamish might take.
Jean-Paul Baldacchino
2003
Anthropology
DISPUTED DEVELOPMENT
The Farmer Leaders’ Political Discourse at the Local Level
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As a person with strong interest in environmental politics, I was naturally drawn to the study of a growing
number of conflicts involving mega-project developments and environmentalists, and local communities that
have arisen in Malta in recent years. Boissevain, for instance, shows several examples of such collisions, ranging
from the Front Kontra l-Hilton’s radical protests and hunger strike against the redevelopment of the Hilton
(Boissevain, 2001: 286. Boissevain & Theuma, 1998: 103-111) to the Mdina residents anxiety at the huge volume
of tourist flows into their city (Boissevain, 1996).
I have been and still am an environmental activist myself. Because of this history, before I embarked on this
research project, I thought carefully of picking one such battle in which I had not taken an active role. Later,
however, I followed the suggestions of my tutor, Dr. Paul Clough, to pursue research on the Verdala golf course
development, despite my previous involvement with the Front Against the Golf Course. Moreover, he suggested
that I undertake research on the local farmers’ perspectives, rather than frame the study in terms of the national
environmentalists versus developer battle that I originally had had in mind.
Silvan Agius
2003
Anthropology
ETHNIC ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Turkish Kebab Shop Owners in Malta
Vanessa Calleja
2003
Anthropology
2002
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A REVIEW OF ANTHROPOLOGICAL AND SOCIOLOGICAL WORKS DEALING WITH SECULARISATION
IN MALTA
Andrea Pullicino
2002
Anthropology
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ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVISM IN THE MALTESE CONTEXT:
The Case of Nature Trust
Caroline Gatt
2002
Anthropology
KEEPING UP APPEARANCES OR THE DREAMS WE LIVE BY?
An Ethnography of Hairdressing in the Village of Mellieha
Christine Muscat
2002
Anthropology
MALTESE WEDDINGS AS A SPECTACLE
Claire Mizzi Haber
2002
Anthropology
BIG CITY LIVES, SMALL ISLAND LIVES
Negotiating Returned Migrant Identities in Gozo
Fiona Sciberras
2002
Anthropology
THE ARIZONA COWBOY – A FIGHT FOR SURVIVAL?
Louise Zerafa
2002
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‘KWALITA TAL-HAJJA’
THE POLITICAL DISCOURSE OF ALTERNATTIVA DEMOKRATIKA
THE MALTESE GREEN PARTY
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Matthew Vella
2002
Anthropology
INSTANCES OF MALTESE HOMELESSNESS
A Homeless Shelter in Malta
Michael Deguara
2002
Anthropology
RIVALRY IN MALTESE FOOTBALL:
Taking the Birkirkara – Valletta Rivalry as Prime Example
Sean Vigar
2002
Anthropology
THE TUNA WAR
A Contested Natural Resource
Steven Vella
2002
Anthropology
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MORE THAN JUST A GAME
An Anthropological Interpretation of Valletta’s Football Victory Celebration Rituals
This dissertation is a product of ethnographic research in Valletta, the capital city of Malta. It aims to explore
Valletta Football Club’s celebration rituals following a league championship victory in April 2001. This study
investigates the relationship with football and how public rituals and celebration provides for various identities.
However it will be argued that the ritual and celebrations around football also serve as a means of projection and
preservation of collective identity, both real or imagined.
This ethnography postulates that through football and its concomitant celebrations local social antagonism in
Valletta is neutralised temporarily, and symbolic unity is forged. Essentially the argument will postulate that
football can be seen as functioning to unity and transcend time.
The original intention was to research Valletta as a field of study in itself, considering football as one of the
issues. However, in the course of my research, following Valletta F.C.’s record of successes in the season of
2000/2001, I realised the significance contained within the victory manifestations and celebrations provided
ample anthropological material, saturated as they were in ritual and symbolism. As the research progressed I
found that many of the elements to surface included a perspective of the capital from various social
anthropological or ethno-geographic aspects, as well as a number of football/sport related fields including football
as a quasi-religion; the utilisation and adoption of football’s popular symbols and positive characteristics in other
spheres of society; the relationship between politics and popular sport; the economic implications of
international/national football in today’s world; comparative studies of different clubs.
The following chapters will include the ethnographic description of the manifestations concentrating on the
Victory Parade, and my interpretation of this manifestation which indicates that football in the capital, is more
than just a game. The subsequent chapters deal with football in relation to its societal relevance as shown
through its rituals, spectacles and traditions. This leads to the hypothesis that to some extent, football provides
for many Valletta citizens and the Valletta diaspora, a tenacious link with past identity to which many cling to,
surrounded by what they conceive as being contemporary ‘threats’ to ‘their’ authentic identity – a situation
which has thus generated an invented tradition for the capital’s imagined community.
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The methods that have been utilised in this research are those of ethnographic fieldwork involving participant
observation, unstructured interviews, literature, reviews and broadcast media footage, and demographic
surveys.
Victoria Galea
2002
Anthropology
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MALTESE CONVERTS TO ISLAM
Identity formation and perception of self in relation to Maltese society and the community at the mosque
The present study aims at giving an insight into the lives of Maltese individuals’ reasons and motifs for
converting to Islam together with an understanding of the external influences affecting their conversion and the
social significance of their decision. Malta, being a non-Islamic country introduces certain perceptions and
influences on the concept of Islam. As Muslims residing in Malta, they have had to succumb to these external
forces which have not only contributed to shaping their vision of Islam but also affected their lives as Maltese
Muslims. The study deals mainly with the discourse of four Maltese Muslims who are deeply involved in their
religion.
Thus the study explores the position of Maltese Muslims within the mosque community as well as their social
status in Malta as a whole. The constant shifting social boundaries between ‘Malteseness’ and Muslim are
contradictory issues which emerge in the type of narrative engaged into by the four Maltese converts. This in
return shapes their conceptualisation of self, attributing to them an identity which is distinct yet continuous in
the relation to Maltese society.
Wendy Woolner
2002
Anthropology
2001
2001
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THE MEANINGS OF A POPULAR RITUAL
Examining the Ritual of the Day of the Dead in Las Cruces, New Mexico
Gregory Fraser
2001
Anthropology
THE FIELD OF ART IN MALTA
Philipa Farrugia Randon
2001
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Anthropology
1999
1999
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REFUGEES IN MALTA
Marcia Dale Young
1999
Anthropology
1998
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WITHIN THE HOUSE: BEHAVIOUR AND HOUSE DECORATION IN THE DOMESTIC SPACE
Most anthropological fieldwork in the western world, has been carried out on the interactions of individuals
within particular groups. Much of the focus has been on the behaviour of individuals towards others or towards
society. The relationship between individuals and their creations or constructions has been unnoticed until
relatively recently. The creations and constructions of individuals are physical manifestations of their behaviour.
They are the individual’s response to others and to society.
The house embodies these constructions, because it is sheltered from the rest of society, and to a certain extent
private. The house is in a constant state of flux due to the changes of the developmental cycle of each family unit.
However, there are also certain immutable things which remain thus throughout one’s lifetime. These are the
cultural values that each individual has internalised. These values are expressed through the actions of
individuals. Since the house is the place in which one spends a considerable amount of time throughout a
lifetime, it is the space where apart from work outside the home, the concentration of actions lies.
It is on these actions which I have sought to focus my fieldwork. The house is a framework for various set of
actions taking place simultaneously. Each member of the household shares common values with the rest of the
household, but at the same time is subject to various influences by other bodies with whom each individual
interacts. The house is also a place where each member has particular domains, or none at all. The individuals
who dominate the space of the house are usually those persons whose interactions have become to a certain
extent permanent. In this sense, the actions of the person who chooses what type of furniture should go where,
permeate and influence the actions of the other members of the household.
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Individual actions are in turn influenced by various factors. One of the most dominant factors is perhaps kin
pressure. Most individuals (especially the spouses), feel the need to comply with their relatives. In most
instances in my case studies, kin live in the same town. When this occurs they are usually the persons women
frequent, since many are suspicious of other female friends. Thus, the wife is subject to influences from her
mother, sisters as well as her in-laws who might happen to live there also.
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Other factors influencing the action of individuals within the house are age, socio-economic grouping, and
gender. The decoration of the house depends on the generation with which the dominant persons fell. It also
pertains to the, socio-economic grouping the members of the household feel they belong to, or aspire to belong to
within the walls of their home. The issue of gender in the house reveals the tensions between males and their
affirmation of masculinity against females trying to affirm their femininity. The concepts of masculinity and
femininity are culturally transmitted. Often it is their transmission which entails their affirmation. If the house
is regarded as a female domain, then it is up to the females in the house to exclude males from household chores
(often to the detriment of the females themselves), in order to affirm their femininity.
Maria Cachia
1998
Anthropology
1997
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THE ‘MYTH’ OF A WOMAN FESTA: RITUAL, BELIEF AND DEVOTION
The Development of Religious Rationality in Mellieha
Festa is still a powerful fixture of contemporary religious culture. Drawing on its nature as a ritual episode, festa
with its overtones of play has been described with scenes of exaggerated piety and seemingly mindless
processions, as well as with scenes of merriment focused on band marches and frivolous dancing. Yet here,
within the same exposition, we present alternative representation of the festa as it evolves within an
energetically cultural, religious and economic pattern. This presentation of the festa has the same episodes, but
provokes different meanings from an individual point of view, which depicts popular beliefs, devotion and ritual.
The conveyance of ‘rationality’ is ascribed to ideas and thoughts as a feature of religiosity which is captured in
the sphere of popular religion and modern environment. Religion is reframed and the messages of tourism and
modernity that, unwittingly filtered into the mentality of the villagers, have constructed different schemes of
thought which identified festa as a collective religious representation and a flexible worldview that explains
religion. Religion reinforces cultural identity and tradition, thereby creating ‘myths’ which mediate between the
complex beliefs of individuals and the collective ritual. Festa increasingly engages individual subjects,
particularly those who acknowledge the festa as a mix of sacred and profane episodes. Thus the awareness of
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festa involves the deliberate adoption of the idea of both inside and outside celebrations. Festa-context raises
inevitable paradoxes but in its functional ritual, leads the individual to think about the meaning of sacredness.
However the dislocation of the cultural economy can disorient beliefs and accelerate the commoditisation of
religion itself. While modernism seems to over emphasise religious powerlessness, this ethnographic encounter
attempts to construct a paradigm where individual religious ‘rationality’ allows the individual to construct and
shape his belief system to act either in the commoditisation of religious processes or to adopt an authentic faith.
The collective representation of festa and privatised beliefs reciprocally reinforce each other, and therefore there
appears to be no end to a kind of dynamic liminality. At the same time festa ritual seeks to restructure beliefs in
a more modern way, while reproducing organizational networks of social solidarity, which despite its dual reality
moves individuals and the community to internalise the centrality of religion.
Ray Debono Roberts
1997
Anthropology
1996
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AN ENCOUNTER WITH THE MALTESE-INDIAN COMMUNITY
Mark-Anthony Falzon
1996
Anthropology
1993
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MEMORY, IDENTITY AND COMMUNITY...
A Study of the Greek Community in Malta
Nadia Sammut
1993
Anthropology
M.A. Qualifying
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2001
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ANGLO-MALTESE HYBRIDITY:
Fragments of an Anthropological Autobiography
Angele Ann Andrews
2001
Anthropology
1999
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“HOBZNA TA’ KULJUM”
Qormi Bakeries and the Role of Bread in Society
Rachel Radmilli
1999
Anthropology
M.A.
2002
MEL
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Abstract
“FROTT TA’ L-ART U XOGĦOL IL-BNIEDEM”
Kinship and Cultural Ecology in the Pwales Valley, Malta.
An Anthropological Analysis of Farming, Social Networks and Strategies in an Ecological Niche.
Cultural Ecology integrates the study of human and natural ecosystems through an understanding of
interrelationships of culture and nature. the present study brings forth the analysis of land-use and technology,
kinship, networks and exchange in a farming population in the Pwales valley of Malta, to explore the
interrelationship between nature and culture. Evidence collected through ethnographic fieldwork methods,
shows that kinship, rather than being a fixed cultural category, is practical and flexible and works as a key
organisational principle in labour organisation and production. Moreover, the evidence suggests that kinship is
not the only practical strategy governing the organisation of this population because many conflicts and
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competition arise between various categories of kin, especially in relation to the inheritance of land. Kinship
therefore has its limits and other networks are developed and used with other non-kin social groups. These
networks include long-term and short-term relationships of exchange that serve to promote the survival of a
farming population within given environmental constraints. The use of the term environment is broad and has
been subdivided into the physical or natural environment, the wider social environment and the wider global or
political environment. An analysis of the relationship between the different environments, with particular
reference to the interaction between the physical and the social environment, as well as a discussion of the
changes that are taking place over time, will help us understand the life of the farmers in this study. This will
bring us to an understanding of the human ecology of the farmers in the Pwales valley, both in terms of the
historic analysis of change, as well as continuity, identity, strategy and motivation.
Rachel Radmilli
2002
Anthropology
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
1997
MEL
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Abstract
AN ANTHROPOLOGICAL EXAMINATION OF ASPECTS OF MALTESE CULTURE:
The Maltese in Malta, and The Maltese in New York City
This ethnographic study examines aspects of Maltese culture relating to the Maltese in Malta and the Maltese in
New York City. Four specific aspects of Maltese culture are examined: family, education in the broad sense,
work, and the influences of religion on the lives of the Maltese. The four aspects are examined in Malta and
among Maltese living in New York City.
The research was conducted in Malta and in New York City over a four-year period from January 1992 until
January 1996. Ethnographic data is presented on two groups of Maltese: those who live in Malta and those who
reside in New York City.
It appears that most American Maltese arrive in New York, having left Malta, where one of the two official
languages is English, where there is an economy with few natural resources, but where there is an excellent
school system. The use of the Maltese language, the other official language in Malta besides English, can be used
as a self-identifying characteristic not only in Malta, but among this extremely small population in New York
City. Statistical analysis suggests that the arriving Maltese have greater earning potential as New Yorkers than
their new New York counterparts. Newcomers from Malta arrive as members of the middle-class, and achieve
economic security within one generation.
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Three ideal types, or categories, of Maltese are distinguished as an analytical tool in the ethnographic tradition:
immigrant (those pulled to New York City), emigrant (those pushed from Malta) and migrant (those coming for
specific reasons but intending to return) type. Data are presented describing each. Analysis also show the
fluidity of these types, expanding the possibilities from three types of Maltese who left Malta to come to New
York City to at least six variations. The notion of return migration to Malta is both interesting and possible.
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The findings seem to indicate that the migration patterns of the Maltese people, today, share some similarities
with other Europeans, particularly the Northern Europeans, to the extent that they appear to be assimilating in
New York City rather fast and successfully (in gross economic and self evaluation terms). Differences are also
examined.
Robert J. Lafayette
1997
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.); Columbia University
1996
MEL
Title
Abstract
GENDER, POLITICS AND RITUAL IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF SOCIAL IDENTITIES:
The Case of San Pawl, Valletta, Malta
Based on ethnographic research in St Paul’s parish, Valletta, Malta, this thesis examines the festa (‘feast’) of St
Paul’s Shipwreck. St Paul is both the local patron saint and the national patron; his festa is therefore also both
the local and the national. This thesis investigates the relationship between local, national and personal
identities in the administration and performance of the festa.
It contributes to current arguments in social anthropology concerning the nature of public rituals in
Mediterranean Europe, and their significance in the construction of social identities. Where others have seen the
primary function of such rituals as being the expression of local identity in the face of modernity and
globalisation, it is argued here that as a ritual of identity, festa is more potent than that. Festa does serve as a
symbolic representation of local identity, but in doing so, it also serves as a means of elaborating other types of
identity, based on gender, political party allegiance, social class and nation.
In Maltese society, these identities are hotly contested, because of the rapid social changes that have affected the
country since its Independence from colonial rule in 1964. Anxiety about the future leads to antagonism between
different social groups in the parish, over how to define these identities. The festa involves a fleeting moment of
symbolic resolution that ties together these otherwise antagonistic groups. But the activities that surround it are
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also the primary media for the communication of this antagonism. Festa is therefore simultaneously an
expression of solidarity, and a vehicle for the expression of conflict. It differs from other public rituals in that the
symbols it invokes – of family, community, religion and gender – are fundamental to Maltese conceptions of selfidentity. This is the key to its effectiveness.
Jon P. Mitchell
1996
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.); University of Edinburgh
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