Carmelia, fille de Francisco Cassar : femme d’affaires Franco-Maltaise citoyenne Europeenne de Monastir [II]

Abstract

This study introduces a business woman named Carmélia Cassar, an Anglo-Maltese subject who became a European citizen after her marriage to the French vice-consul in Monastir – Napoléon Souzouni – at the end of the nineteenth century. Carmelia came to be involved in the economic dynamics of the sea-port town and of eight other entities of Monastir. To do this she employed credits issued in specie and retrieved in kind – more precisely in olive oil –, and with "out of season" anticipation through an original speculative mechanism known as "Slam". Carmelia Cassar did not deal directly with notaries and debtors but she was represented by an army agent from Bembla commissioned for the issuing of notarial consignment and mainly for the collection (or ‘recovery’) of debts. This research paper may be considered as an original case study illustrating the abilities of migrant business women – settled in the sea-port town of Monastir – to become part of, integrate, and get involved in the economic and social activities of their host society.