Introduction

For many anthropologists Naples would be unproblematically located within the Mediterranean ethnographic area. The concept of 'subaltern groups' is derived from Gramsci's work and recognizes the complex relationship that exists between dominant and dominated, whereby the dominated exercise a degree of cultural autonomy while at the same time undergoing the shaping influence of the culture of the dominant groups. In Gramsci's work the question of power and inequality was not restricted to classes or groups. He also stressed the importance of gender for the creation of a new civil order. Women's movements in Italy have a much longer history of course, as do interventions regarding 'the woman question' in Italian political culture. But these tended to focus on the emancipatory aspects of the question, fighting for equality in the law and at work.