Bounding the mafia: Think local, act global (and set aside the nation-state for a minute)
What are the boundaries of the field when we think organized crime and its interrelation with civil society? Where does organized crime begin and where does it end? If mafias are about controllo di territorio, would not a return to land as a symbol, as a ballast, as a map offering mafiosi a performative lexicon give us a good sense of where we should be focusing? In my work I suggest two things in this regard: first, thinking with land is not anachronistic, but productive, as a metaphor for the sociological field, when it comes to analyzing organized crime. Second, with territory and map come boundaries – and thinking beyond strict lines of enmity between antimafia and mafia is equally productive, not least analytically.
