Duello d'onore versus delitto d'onore in the 19th century: diverse questions and various answers

Giovedì 21 maggio alle 10, nell’aula magna di Villa Cerami, seminario dello storico Steve Hughes dal titolo "Duello d'onore versus delitto d'onore in the 19th century: diverse questions and various answers".

Steven C. Hughes è professore di Storia alla Loyola University Maryland di Baltimora (Usa). È autore di "Crime, Disorder, and the Risorgimento: the Politics of Policing in Bologna" (Cambridge, 1994) e "Politics of the Sword: Dueling, Honor, and Masculinity in Modern Italy" (Ohio State, 2007), così come di una serie di articoli e saggi, tra cui alcuni sul nazionalismo italiano e svizzero.

Abstract. Following unification, the ruling elites of Italy punctiliously and aggressively defended their honor through the ritual of dueling. They also strenuously rejected any notion that lower classrisse- often carried out with knives - should be granted any parallel sense of honor or any corresponding mitigation of penalties that might arise from the conflicts. Yet the same elites provided legal mitigations for certain crimes of honor, including murder of one's cheating spouse, that would seem to apply to all classes of society. In this case gender would seem to trump class. Current research would indicate a continuity of mentality and legislation regarding this most personal and familial of crimes, with antecedents reaching deep into antiquity. However, the case is not so simple. For all its supposed force within Italian society, thedelitto d'onorewas not an uncontested category, and this study seeks to draw out some of the discussions both before and after unity that suggest its power may have had as much to do with new social and political arrangements as with past "prejudices". 

(21 maggio 2015)