著者

高橋 友子

出版者

神戸女学院大学

雑誌

女性学評論 (ISSN:09136630)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.21, pp.67-92, 2007-03-31

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The Sicilian Mafia, an organized group of criminals like Japanese "Yakuza", is not fully understood even in its native Italy. Historically, it has developed the cozy relationship with Italian political circles. Recently, it is difficult to observe the activities of the Mafia, because it goes under the disguise of construction companies or industrial waste companies. The secrets of the Sicilian Mafia, originally a male-only group, have been closely kept. However, after the 1980s, the judicial authority has been making a vigorous investigation of the whole picture of the secretive organization. Also, in the 1990s, articles titled, for example, "Women's Lib in the Mafia?" were featured in the Italian press. This paper will be based upon the research done under the Centro siciliano di documentazione "Giuseppe Impastato" which is the first full-fledged reserch center of the Italian Mafia. We would like to review the past and the present of the Mafia, and make a gender-analysis of this male-only organization. Also, this paper will examine the relationship between women and the Mafia, introducing several women who supported the criminal organization or who were to live in a close relationship with the Mafia. Finally, we would like to take a close loot at the activities of Giuseppe Impastato, who were murdered in the late 1970s because of his accusation of the Mafia (featured in an Italian film in 2000). At the same time, the judicial strife for his honour fought by his family and friends over the past 20 years, activities of "The Association of Women fighting against the Mafia, " recent anti-Mafia activites by the young Palermitans will be reviewed. This paper, we would like to hope, will shed new light on the changing society of Sicily and the relationship between women and the Mafia.