One Hundred Towers

Romanucci-Ross takes reflexive ethnography one step further. In Ascoli Piceno she is not only anthropological researcher but niece and aunt, cousin and daughter. Her study sheds new light on the parallax error inherent in views of observer and observed in the anthropological enterprise.

This is the fascinating account of the people who live in the central Italian city of Ascoli Piceno, city of one hundred towers, and the surrounding villages and hilltowns. Lola Romanucci-Ross describes the long and rich cultural heritage of these people and their strategies for cultural and personal survival from both an insider's and an outsider's perspective. In this innovative book, the author goes beyond the newest approach in anthropology, most frequently called reflexive ethnography, where the anthropologist provides information on the researcher as well as the researched. After years of anthropological research in diverse cultures of the world, Romanucci-Ross returns to the town in Italy where her Italian-American family came from. In Ascoli Piceno she is not only anthropological researcher but also niece and aunt, cousin and daughter; here the professional outsider with the insider's perspective deals effectively with the parallax error inherent in views of observer and observed in the anthropological enterprise. A beautifully written yet scholarly account of a vivid and lively culture, this book is also a groundbreaking approach to the ever-growing effort by anthropologists to overcome the limitations that emerge from the separation between researcher and subjects. Romanucci-Ross focuses on the families, their language, personal and cultural identity, mythic thought, and magical thinking in the negotiation of social and personal identity. Both the general reader and professional anthropologists will find One Hundred Towers a source of stimulating ideas and valuable insight.