Habitat et communaute villageoise a Gozo

Abstract

Habitat and village community in Gozo - The occupation of a territory by a population determines a certain organization of space, which is the answer of such a society, faced by constraining realities, either historical, geographical or economic. The solutions found are a function of the personality of the group, as well as of its social structure.

In the island of Gozo the characteristic feature ofhabitilt is the village. The speaker examines two aspects thereof: the relations one individual has with the people of his own village, and the attitude of the group towards this entity. The feeling ofbelonging relies principally on the cohesion of the community founded on the closeness of relations within the family and among the members of the village (marrying a person of one's own village is preferable, predilection for social encounters at the cafes and clubs) on the one hand, and on the other hand distrust of all "strangers". The church then symbolizes the spatial reality of integration.

Nowadays the social and economic structures go beyond the framework of the village. The island itself tends to supersede the village, and a new unity is formed individualized through its opposition to the neighbouring island of Malta.