Land and Family in Pisticci

Book excerpt: The study of family and inheritance systems is a traditionally anthropological one. Dr Davis has examined a South Italian town with records from 1814 and concludes that the present 'typical' European system is of recent adoption, a response to the gradual and peculiar integration of Pisticci into a nation-state and national economy. The account of landholding distinguishes carefully between legal rights and informal cessions of land, and agriculture is put into the context of other economic activities. Dr Davis emphasises the structural importance of kin, family and neighbourhood relationships as bases for the creation of more ephemeral ties of friendship, clientage and network.