The anthropological senior research seminar organised by the Department of Anthropological Sciences will be hosting a public lecture by Professor Carmel Cassar entitled 'Hunting in Malta: A Historical Approach' on Friday 1 December at 18:00. The public lecture, will be held at the Mediterranean Institute, Ir-Razzett tal-Ħursun, University of Malta Msida Campus.

Abstract

The rule of the Order of St John (1530-1798) in Malta coincides with the promulgation of stiff regulations that successive Grand Masters issued to curb snaring and hunting rights. For the ruling knights of Malta and the local nobility hunting was essentially a sport and pastime but the mass of the population perceived hunting differently. For the small and privileged class of clerics, and the mass of the peasantry, hunting bans meant deprivation from access to a cheap and abundant supply of meat as well as a legitimate right to use common land. The abandonment of the strict hunting regulations by the British may have contributed in the transformation of hunting from a basic necessity into a veritable pastime.