Toni de Bromhead
Ethnographic films about the social anti-mafia in Western Sicily



It is my hope that this project may be introducing a new way of thinking about and using ethnographic films, while also bringing ethnographic film closer to mainstream anthropology. When we read an anthropological paper or book, we are introduced to concepts and we learn. When we view a classic ethnographic film, we live through an experience and we come to know — but what we learn from viewing an ethnographic film is narrow, restricted by the requirements of the narrative structure. To treat these two ways of learning about a people and their societies as though they were quite distinct and independent of each other is to impoverish them both, as well as ourselves.


Together all the films on this site offer a body of visual ethnography on the social anti-mafia in Western Sicily. While each film has its own specific theme, this theme also comes up in other films, so enlarging and enriching the ethnography, offering it in different contexts from different points of view. As such viewers are invited to make their own journey through the films, following whatever particularly interests them. Examples of these alternative ‘journeys’ are being produced in the form of film-essays, which can be seen on the film-essay page. These film essays are still being worked on.


Notes on content

Other than the Calabrian 'ndranghata, Cosa Nostra — the Sicilian mafia — is considered to be the most socially embedded of all the mafias, either in Italy or elsewhere,  which makes it both distinctive as well as more difficult to eradicate. It is not only a question of omertà, the Sicilian convention of silence, but the sharing of a code of behaviour that originated centuries ago, as well as now including some more contemporary values which are more in tune with today's aspirations and economy.  

This website enables visitors to view all the films completed so far for the project Blurred Boundaries, the social anti-mafia in Western Sicily, together with a paper - or film-essay - which provides the necessary context for these films, and refers to them while also including links to scenes that are discussed.

Some films require a password

Toni de Bromhead filming Ismail, a Nigerian who is the carer of a migrant workers camp in Sicily.

Toni de Bromhead filming Ismail, a Nigerian who is the carer of a migrant workers camp in Sicily.