Identity, Dialogism and Liminality: Bakhtinian Perspectives on the Cialomi

In this work I attempt to formulate a series of hypotheses on the cialomi (the songs that accompany the traditional Sicilian tuna fishing known as mattanza), in light of Bakhtinian philosophy. During the mattanza the fishermen (tunnaroti) perform an initial antiphonal song, based on verses sung by the lead singer (cialumaturi) alternated with a choral response from the rest of the company; later, before the most frenetic phase of the mattanza, the fishermen sing in a very rhythmic fashion. Taking the identarian nature of the fishing practice as a fundamental premise, I attempt at describing the cialomi as rituals of assertive performance of identity: in this context, it could be argued that the dialogic nature of the songs favours the construction and negotiation of a shared identity; it is a shared identity which perhaps, despite being steadily inscribed in a hierarchical system (due to the undisputable leadership of the crew leader, called rais), could nevertheless set the premises for forms of horizontal cooperation. This, in turn, could suggest a specific liminal function of the cialomi in the context of the mattanza: in other words, the songs delimit the passage into a critical and transcendent dimension where hierarchical structures are suspended.