Ann Cornelisen and ‘Lucanità sommersa’ in the female peasant world of Tricarico

Résumé

This article examines Lucanità sommersa ‘submerged Lucanity’ in three books by American author Ann Cornelisen (1926-2003). Blending memoir, anthropology, and sociology, these works detail life in Tricarico from the 1950s to 1970s. Analyzing pseudonyms and nicknames reveals multilayered, complex links between reality and invention. Overlooked by scholars because she wrote for general audiences, Cornelisen illuminates rural Lucania, especially peasant women’s lives and village disintegration from migration. This legacy warrants closer scrutiny for highlighting a submerged identity.