John Dickie
On March 18th, La Civetta and Bristol University International Affairs Society will be hosting renowned mafia historian Professor John Dickie for a talk on “The Catholic Church and the Mafia”. We spoke to Professor Dickie and asked him all about the past, present and future of the mafia in Italy, as well as about himself and his own research. For each question, we’ve provided the audio link to his answer (each one a minute or two long). To hear more, join us at the event (details of which will be publicised on our Facebook page: La Civetta
So we’ll start with a question just to set basic parameters…. When we talk about the mafia, what are we actually talking about?
And in Italy, who are we talking about specifically_
Talking about you personally, how did you get into this area of research? You’ve written books on other subjects, but it’s the mafia books which you’re known for…
Is it not easy to find yourself, writing about the darker side of Italy, becoming disillusioned?
I think there are reasons for guarded optimism when it comes to the mafia. The long history, particularly of the Sicilian mafia, until the 1980’s, is a history of a country which keeps learning lessons about the mafia, keeps learning what the mafia is, and then keeps forgetting it, and having to start again from scratch. Italy, institutionally, legally, didn’t know what the mafia was until 1992!
The Sicilian mafia is governed by a ruling commission in the province of Palermo. This commission hasn’t managed to meet since 1993. The last two times they tried it, they were bugged, tailed and all arrested. Those inroads make me optimistic, but then of course organised crime isn’t Italy’s only problem.
CULTURA E SOCIETA
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Interview with
Photography: www.johndickie.net