TY - JOUR

T1 - ‘Con il volere di Dio’: Bernardo Provenzano and religious symbolic ritual

AU - Merlino, R.

PY - 2012/3/19

Y1 - 2012/3/19

N2 - This article adopts an interdisciplinary approach to analyse the symbolic religious language utilised by mafia boss Bernardo Provenzano in his social interactions with the lower echelons of the Sicilian mafia. When Provenzano assumed control of Cosa Nostra in the 1990s, he inherited an organisation severely diminished by a decade of internal conflicts, violence and the arrest of numerous leaders. The article argues that religious performative behaviour and language were used by the mafia boss to establish his leadership over Cosa Nostra, reshape its internal structure, and thereby revitalise an organisation in apparent terminal decline.

AB - This article adopts an interdisciplinary approach to analyse the symbolic religious language utilised by mafia boss Bernardo Provenzano in his social interactions with the lower echelons of the Sicilian mafia. When Provenzano assumed control of Cosa Nostra in the 1990s, he inherited an organisation severely diminished by a decade of internal conflicts, violence and the arrest of numerous leaders. The article argues that religious performative behaviour and language were used by the mafia boss to establish his leadership over Cosa Nostra, reshape its internal structure, and thereby revitalise an organisation in apparent terminal decline.

U2 - 10.1080/13532944.2011.611492

DO - 10.1080/13532944.2011.611492

M3 - Article

VL - 17

SP - 365

EP - 381

JO - Modern Italy

JF - Modern Italy

SN - 1353-2944

IS - 3

ER -