The Neapolitan way to the commons: poetics of irony and ‘creative use of the law’ in the case of L’Asilo

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article is the result of ethnographic research exploring the relationships between social movements for the commons and local institutions in Naples. Proposed as an effective counter-narrative that opposes the clientelistic and corrupt management of public resources, the approach introduced by the Neapolitan commons network has become a model on a national scale and beyond. My aim is to describe the social and cultural factors underlying commoning practices and policies for the commons in a context that expresses specific conceptions of the political. I will dwell, in particular, on the experience of L’Asilo, the first community of commons activists who obtained recognition from the local administration for the ‘civic use’ of a public building that they had occupied in the historic centre of Naples.