Ambivalent Europeans Ritual, Memory and the Public Sphere in Malta [Paperback]

Ambivalent Europeansexamines the implications of living on the fringes of Europe. In Malta, public debate is dominated by the question of Europe, both at a policy level - whether or not to join the EU - and at the level of national identity - whether or not the Maltese are 'European'. Jon Mitchell identifies a profound ambivalence towards Europe, and also more broadly to the key processes of 'modernisation'. He traces this tendency through a number of key areas of social life - gender, the family, community, politics, religion and ritual.

This is a work to be commended for its complete approach to a festival commemorating Malta's patron saint that also addresses the ways in which ritual can express the ambivalence inherent in Europeanization in particular and modernity in general, subjects of interest to Europeanist anthropologist and beyond. - Andrea L. Smith, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute