ABSTRACT
The first chapter is devoted to an examination of the historical subjects: who were the bearers of the “popular culture” in premodern Europe? Who were the people? Who represented the “popular” in the enactment of popular carnivals? In order to answer these questions, the text relies on a now rich and stratified tradition of studies, which will be summarised and discussed critically. This chapter questions existing assumptions about what popular culture is, but can also be considered an introduction and systematisation in the English language of a theory of popular culture “from the South” (from southern Europe), that is, as it was developed, mostly in Italy and secondarily in France, during the second half of the last century, and adopted and adapted even up until very recent years
