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the mattanza was performed as a 'living museum' to revive its history 'roots' may be located in the past, they often continue to produce
and emotions for tourists only. The cooperative organised the event powerful cultura! forms that are important in the arena of identity
twice, o n May 19 an dJ une 5. The rais an d the tonnaroti performed politics (Briggs 1996:440).
the traditional customs in traditional costumes and sang the tradi- The mattanza 'has ancient roots, belongs to our traditions, our
tional cialome songs. Also, earlier plans to transform the tonnara es- history', claims Clemente Ventrone. 36 Indeed, for the Favignanesi
tablishment into a museum would seem to have become more performing the mattanza is an important referent and a marker of lo-
concrete than previously. The cooperative simply cannot afford the ca! identity. Without i t, they will not be the same. They themselves
hundreds of thousands of euros that deploying the tonnara for i ts are acutely aware of this fact and i t is for this reason that they tena-
originai economie purpose would require. The folkloristic feat would ciously attempt to hold on to their tradition against the odds of re-
seem to have turned into a means of survival. Come May, the Favig- source depletion and protest. However, before any real clash between
nanesi will henceforth anxiously await tourists not tuna. the preservers of tradition and the protagonists of animai rights
could occur, the mattanza appears to bave succumbed to the reckless
Conclusions forces of industriai fishing. 'What was once a source of pride (not to
mention income) for entire communities has now turned into a
The ancient ritual of the mattanza is perceived as an act that tourist attraction, providing a few makeshift jobs. The practice is
lends the Favignana islanders authenticity, a singular way of life o n only kept ali ve by the obstinate will of the remaining tonnaroti',
the verge of disappearing. However, since the survival of the tradi- writes Richard EllisY Whether in 'authentic' form or in transformed
tion has become increasingly dependent on extra income furnished guise, the mattanza is ill fated, doomed to be relegated a place in the
by spectators who pay to observe the spectacle, some resistance has realm of museums and folklore as has already happened elsewhere in
been launched against the tonnaroti for putting up a 'show' that has the Mediterranean. The tonnara would then only function as a key
little do with an 'aurhentic' tradition. Bur in the sense that any cul- symbol of a local culture's discontinued tradition. The symbolic
ture, identity or tradition is to some extent constructed, recon- power of blood is quintessential to the ritual, for the tonnaroti,
structed, invented or reinvented, i t is impossible to argue that there tourists and anima! rights campaigners alike, although the meaning
is such a thing as an 'aurhentic' culture, identiry or tradition (Turney they ascribe to i t obviously varies. With its very core- the man-to-
1999:424)- at least if we take aurhenticity to mean something gen- animai struggle and the spilling of animal blood - taken away, the
uine, uncorrupted, pristine, untouched (Handler 1986:2). Such a mattanza would merely be a folklorisric performance no longer an en-
rnistaken perception sees authenticity as fixed essence, persistent actment of a way of existence with deep emotional and existential
over rime. However, 'an authentic experience ... is one in which in- content.
dividuals feel themselves to be in touch both with a "real" world and
with their "real" selves' (Handler and Saxton 1988:243). This is cer-
tainly so in the case of the tuna killing ritual. Enacting i t makes the
36 http://www.mareinitaly.it/ìntervista_v.php?id=85. Last accessed Octo-
tonnaroti aware of w ho they are, regardless of whether i t li ves up in ali
ber4, 2004.
respects to the way in which it has been done previously. The mat-
37 Ellis, R. (2003) 'Mediterranean Massacre', Ecologist Online,
tanza tradition is about economie, social and cultura! continuity,
http://www.theecologist.org/archive_detail.asp?content_id=422, Last acces-
which is not necessarily repetitive but dynamic: 'any community's
sed July 6, 2005. Ecologist Online Ecologist Online, http://www.theecolo-
ability to persist, to innovate, to change on its own terms, is relative
gist.org/ archive_detail.asp ?content_id = 42 2Ecologist Online,
to structural power'. This is a matter 'of politics, not of essence, and
http://www. theecologist.org/arc hive_detail.asp?content_id = 42 2Ecologist
thus subject to contestation and change' (Clifford 2004). Though Online, http://www. theecologist.org/archive_detail.asp ?content_id = 422.
