Urbanities,
Vol. 3
·
No 1
·
May 2013
© 2013
Urbanities
105
come to terms with the complex economics of social exchange. Studying people’s attempts to
expand their personal resources and renegotiate their lives in a complex system, Pardo
identified a ‘strong continuous interaction’ between material and non-material aspects of
existence, in which the relationship between morality and (self-)interest is negotiated. Pardo
valorizes alternative forms of economy, interpreting people’s creative activities beyond
formal employment and formal unemployment as expressions of an entrepreneurial spirit, and
he refuses to classify these activities ‘as colourful examples of an
arte di arrangiarsi
(art of
living by one’s wits)’ (1996: 11).
Interestingly, Pine has chosen just this expression to title his book, but he has given it
a different interpretation from that established in the literature on Naples. The word
arrangiarsi
(to make do) is sometimes used by ordinary residents of the Naples region to
describe economic marginality. Sociologists have fixed and amplified this negative
connotation. For this reason, Pardo regards it as inappropriate to use this expression in
addressing the social reality of Naples and, moreover, considers it absolutely damaging. Pine,
however, applies the expression in the broad sense in which its practitioners, whom he
encountered in Naples, use it; that is, ‘as affective-aesthetic sensibilities, as well as economic
practices, that traverse open fields of potential where there are no essential margins’ (p. 309).
Thus, the ‘art of making do’ refers ‘to the alertness, adaptability, and celerity that are
awakened by a challenge’ (p. 23). Basically, Pine and Pardo see the
popolino
in a similar
way. They just diverge in the interpretation of the expression
arte di arrangiarsi
. Both are
interested in highlighting the element of creativity in people’s attempts to achieve self-
determination and personal fulfillment. Pardo describes their ‘strong motivation to act in
ways that give them reason to feel that they are actively engaged in the negotiated
achievement of […] material
and
spiritual well-being’ (1996: 11). In the difficult context of
Naples, most ‘manage to make a living, achieve an education and stay healthy’ (2012: 60).
Drawing on Deleuze and Guattari, Pine describes their practices as ‘nomadic’, unfolding in
an open space that is not ‘mapped through (state-)regulated circulations and flows’ (p. 310).
Pine began his research on the neo-melodica music scene in 1998. For months he
‘frequented recording studios and TV stations, attended festivals, weddings, and baptisms,
and visited the homes of composers, songwriters, managers, singers, and their fans, but it
seemed [he] learned virtually nothing’ (p. 16). People invited him to these events, because
they were curious to get to know ‘the American with the video camera’; at the same time,
they kept him at a distance and set him on the wrong track by various means. Pine changed
