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Paper short abstract

The paper aims at presenting different narratives on Calabria what leads to a more general discussion on the process of construction of ‘peripheral landscapes’.

Paper long abstract

The idea of this paper arose thanks to a project carried out in 2005 in a Calabrian town. The research was thought as a comparison of varied narratives on the Southern Italy. Contrasting everyday life stories with scientific and mass media discourses, I aimed at exploring different ways in which people create representations of certain social realities.

Building on this research experience, I would like to contribute to the workshop with a paper composed of two parts. In the first one I would like to present different accounts about Calabrian landscape I encountered in course of my fieldwork, putting a special attention to the comparison between 'locals' and 'outsiders' perspective. Then I am going to say a few words about the influence of the media on both social imaginary of Italian South as well as on self-representation of the inhabitants of the Southern regions. Finally, I would like to briefly comment on some scientific depictions of the South European landscapes.

All those reflections will constitute an exemplification of the issues I intend to talk about in the second part of my presentation. Considering variety of understandings of the very word landscape - its social, economic, cultural, and physic dimensions - I would like to follow with a discussion on contemporary ways of construction of 'peripheral landscapes'. This process will be analyzed with a focus on: various strategies of creation of 'the Others'; conceptions of 'orientalism' and 'etno-orientalism'; moral and mythical components of the narratives on landscape.