Paper short abstract:

The paper focuses on issues of kinship and self-government as they have been documented among the Greek speaking populations of Reggio Calabria, Italy. Saints and the substance of blood are implemented in order to create kinship links thus bringing together elements of justice and self-perpetuation.

Paper long abstract:

The ethnography of this paper is set up to explore the pivotal role of ancestors in the lives of the Grecanici - Greek speaking populations - in Reggio Calabria, South Italy. Ancestors, it has been argued, act as mnemonic devises that give meaning and continuity between the past and the present. Furthermore, ancestors are implemented by the locals in order to explain their own versions of law and self-government. The substance of blood plays an important role, for it is believed to transmit cultural traits and values. Thus strict forms of endogamy have assisted in the establishment of the mentality of self-government as one which denigrates other forms of government, such as the Italian state. In the life of my informants the 'Devine entities' are believed to be the community's 'living' and 'tangible' ancestors and their worship exceeds religious representation. In this paper I will reveal how my Grecanici informants portray their Saints to be 'acting' as the guarantors of self-government of the Grecanici territories and interests, thus bringing together heterogeneous elements of justice and self-perpetuation. The Calabrian Mafia - known as the 'Ndrangheta and at present the most successful network of political power and representation in Reggio Calabria - draws on both the notions of kinship and saints in order to exercise its claim to self-government and justice. The 'Ndrangheta is presented as a political figure, one who articulates its rhetorical opposition to state politics. Kinship is thus posed as the par-excellence sphere that conditions any possibility to politics.