Can Participatory Action Research Deal with the Mafia? A Lesson from the Field

Abstract

There are many places in the world where theorizing about planning barely finds fertile ground to grow. Institutional planning, promoted by nepotistic political representatives, is rarely counteracted by bottom-up practices closer to people's needs and dreams. Moreover, the few community organizations and grassroots associations that do exist often find it difficult to increase social consensus, affect decision making, and improve people's lives. In Sicily, Italy, the problems are compounded by the centuries-long history of mafia territorial dominance. Can planning help in such contexts? Can it, in particular, help in weakening the mafia's social consensus and ability to influence every component of society (economics, politics, culture)? If so, what kind of planning is needed? And who should implement it? This paper addresses these questions, telling the story of one “difficult” place—the area of the historical market of Catania (eastern Sicily), where a participatory action-research experience was carried out by the LabPEAT, University of Catania. The paper ends with an optimistic thought: participatory action-research—an approach to action in which a reflective rationality helps practitioners and communities to overcome dilemmas along the way, and to conceive of actions that go beyond the habitual—has shown potential to inform institutional and community planning choices in a way that counteracts Mafia hegemony.

Keywords:

• Participatory Action-Research
• Sicily
• Values conflict
• storytelling
• Mafia

Acknowledgements

The story we have told would not have been possible without all the people we met daily in the market and without the commitment of many other people: the other members of the Lab, Piera Busacca (as scientific director), Patrizia Macaluso, Salvo Messina, Antonio Raciti, Giovanna Regalbuto, Caterina Timpanaro, Carmelo Tomaselli, Anna Ursida; the residents, with special thanks to Elvira, Sara, Arturo and Donatella; the University of Catania, Monica Arcuri, Francesca Condorelli, Valentina Cianci, Alessia Ferrara, Monica Laudani, Maria Elena Mazzaglia, Patrizia Motta, Giusy Pappalardo, Chiara Sottosanti, Rossana Assenza, Roberta Capra, Oriana Cordaro, and Angelo Testa; the city professionals of the PW Dept, Giuseppina Testa, Maria Luisa Areddia e Vincenzo Condorelli. We are also very grateful to Tom Angotti, for his criticism, suggestions and help.

Notes

1. ISTAT data (2008) is available from its official website: http://www.istat.it

2. Here and in what follows, the sentences with quotation marks are selected from the hundreds of conversations that the authors had with Fiera vendors and residents from 2004 to 2008.

3. The birth of the Sicilian anti-Mafia movement dates back to the nineteenth century, when peasants working in the Mafia-controlled large estates occupied the land asking for a more equal distribution of it - 99% of land was at that time owned by 0.1% of the population (Franchetti, 1875). Since then there has been a long history of efforts made by courageous people revolting against the Mafia (Santino, 2000). However, only in the 1990s did public opinion start to assume an anti-Mafia position and only then were the anti-Mafia organizations able to involve a significant number of common citizens.

4. At that time, the local newspaper was starting to publish articles about the financial troubles of the city treasury; however, only in July 2007 did Catania's citizens discover that the debt was so high (more than €800 million), which is what today is causing administrative paralysis.