Banishing the Abject: Constituting Oppositional Relationships in a Maltese Harbour Town
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Banishing the Abject: Constituting Oppositional Relationships in a Maltese Harbour Town A thesis submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy By Sharon Attard School of Social Sciences Brunel University December 2013 Abstract This thesis explores abjection as it comes to be socially reproduced across generations, and contested in moments of cultural resistance. It does so by examining how children from the rough inner harbour town of Marsa, Malta, responded to the presence of Sub- Saharan African migrants within their social space. The children seemed implicitly aware of how their working class town had historically been constituted as a socially marginal space, dubbed ‘low status’ by virtue of the social transgressions and vices which were considered to occur within it. The subsequent state of being symbolically cast off, or socially marginalized, is considered in terms of ‘abjection’. I explore how some people come to be devalued according to predominant symbolic systems of classification and value, and I examine how these peripheral social positions often come to be reproduced and resisted. The introduction of an open centre for sub-Saharan African migrant men in 2005 saw a sudden shift in the demographic population of Marsa, as hundreds of socially marginalized men were relocated within a dilapidated trade school on the outskirts of the town, whilst others sought to take advantage of cheap rent in the area. This thesis explores how my child informants came to constitute oppositional relationships with the migrants and with the Maltese bourgeoisie in turn, by appropriating concepts of dirt and social pollution as a symbolic boundary. In so doing, children subconsciously resisted the states of abjection conferred upon them, effectively and performatively shifting the abject in another direction whilst constructing a vision of their own alterity. In making this argument, my thesis brings together existing literature on social reproduction and abjection, whilst addressing a lacuna in anthropological literature by considering how politicized processes of abjection are undertaken by those who are socially marginalized themselves. It also marks a significant contribution to child-focused anthropology, in understanding ways in which children engage with processes of abjection. Operational Programme II – Cohesion Policy 2007-2013 Empowering People for More Jobs and a Better Quality of Life European Social Fund For Mum & Dad, and Nanna Dow In Loving Memory of Nanna Marlene & Nannu Maurice, and Nannu Sonny A Note on Maltese Orthography Maltese is a Semitic language, descended from a Siculo-Arabic dialect, and integrating vocabulary from both the Italian and English languages. In order to assist the reader with the Maltese names and words which appear in this text, the following is given as a short guide to correct pronunciation. Whilst vowels often retain the same pronunciation as in Italian, Maltese consonants are pronounced as indicated: ċ : chair ġ : giant g : gate h : [Remains silent] ħ : house għ : [Remains silent, but entails a slight prolonging of the vowel which precedes or succeeds it] j : year q : [Glottal stop] x : sh are ż : zebra z: boo ts Table of Contents Chapter 1: Introduction .................................................................................................................. 1 Aims and Scope of Research ....................................................................................................... 5 Anthropology of Childhood and Youth ....................................................................................... 6 Anthropology of Education and Schooling ................................................................................. 8 What is the Abject? .................................................................................................................... 9 Class Distinction and Dirt ......................................................................................................... 15 Abjection and Social Reproduction ........................................................................................... 17 Thesis Structure ........................................................................................................................ 25 Part I - The Social Reproduction of the Abject ................................................................................. 27 Chapter 2: Background to Fieldwork & Methodology ................................................................. 28 An Introduction to Malta .......................................................................................................... 28 A Brief History of the Islands .................................................................................................... 30 The Socio-Political Language Issue ........................................................................................... 33 The Mintoff Years ..................................................................................................................... 35 Malta on the Fringes of Europe and Africa .............................................................................. 38 The New “Invaders” .................................................................................................................. 40 A Brief History of Marsa ........................................................................................................... 43 Fieldwork and Methodology .................................................................................................... 49 Chapter 3: Ideas of Social Class .................................................................................................... 69 The Worker’s Movement .......................................................................................................... 69 Some Theoretical Approaches to Class ..................................................................................... 74 Bourdieu and Class Reproduction ............................................................................................. 76 Social Demarcations of Distinction in Malta ............................................................................ 79 Valued ‘Roughness’ .................................................................................................................. 85 Ideas of Social Mobility ............................................................................................................ 88 Chapter 4: Education & Schooling ................................................................................................ 97 What are the Aims of Education in Malta? ............................................................................ 100 Absenteeism ........................................................................................................................... 103 Challenging the School Authorities ........................................................................................ 112 Having a ‘Good Brain’ ............................................................................................................ 119 Ideas of Social Reproduction .................................................................................................. 121 Chapter 5: Opposing the ‘Educated Person’ .............................................................................. 132 Earning cash, Learning Concealment ..................................................................................... 133 Why do some children leave formal schooling early? ............................................................ 136 Engaging with Risk ................................................................................................................. 143 Involvement with ‘Taħwid’ ..................................................................................................... 145 Being ‘Rough’ ......................................................................................................................... 149 “What will you be when you grow up?” ................................................................................. 153 ‘Taħwid’ as a form of social pollution .................................................................................... 158 Part II – Banishing the Abject ......................................................................................................... 160 Chapter 6: Dirt & Pollution ......................................................................................................... 161 ‘Taħwid’ and Disorder ............................................................................................................ 162 Living with Rubbish ................................................................................................................. 164 Marsa Open Centre ................................................................................................................ 166 Class and Dirt .......................................................................................................................... 169 A Clean Person is a Good Person ............................................................................................ 172 School Ideas on Dirt ................................................................................................................ 174 “The blacks smell” .................................................................................................................. 178 Chapter 7: Instances