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I would like to reflect on the ways in which gendered lives factor in the socio-material

configuration and recent re-configuration of the tonnara. The idea of treating gender as a

practice/performance connects well with an attention to labour changes (Brandth & Haugen

2005, p. 15).

I do not want to make any grand statements here; such as the loss of the mattanza is a

loss of masculinity. Rather, I begin from a very simple point: with the loss of the mattanza

comes a transformation of forms of life and labour that involves gendered lives. In addition,

changes are differently embodied depending on one’s role and emotional investment in the

tonnara. My experience in the field was that of a non-Italian woman in a male dominated

environment, observing and listening and often feeling at odds in certain contexts because of

my gender, which was pointed out to me regularly. For instance, on my first day at sea some

of the tonnarotti joked that women are bad luck at sea. However, as well as such awkward

moments, my being a woman and doing fieldwork – listening to fishermen, attending dinners

and drinks – offered me insights into the lives of men doing fishing in southern Italy.

There are four areas I concentrate on in considering the ontological transformations in the

tonnara: the types of activities and meaningful work; knowledge production and expertise;

type of work available; and changes to the purpose of the tonnara and of work.

For many of the tonnarotti and rais who had worked on the tonnara for a long time or

had specialist roles and consequently emotional investment in their work, the tonnara is not

only a livelihood, it is also a way of life through which they are moved by a variety of

emotions. As the following quotes suggest, fishermen express diverse and sometimes

unexpected emotions. Rather than simply displaying strength and dominance over nature,

many of the fishermen point to passion, care and nurturing as motivations to fish for tuna. As

Luigi (2013 pers. comm. 18 June) says ‘It’s a way of life. After doing it for a number of years

it becomes a way of life. The tonnarotti we are a group’. Clemente tells me that:

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