The village of Villagrande Strisaili, situated in central highlands of the island of Sardinia, Italy, is the subject of this ethnographic study of economic and cultural change. In Part I, a brief historical overview reveals that the pre-war society was largely subsistence based, with shepherding providing milk and cheese to sell on the market for cash. A strict division of labour and responsibilities by sex required mutual dependency of the male and female heads of a household, and supported local notions of gender equality. Part II examines the economic basis of and the restructuring of occupational opportunities in Villagrande today. Although shepherding and subsistence production continue to be important local activities, they are no longer the dominant forms of economic production and secure positions in government offices and institutions are now the preferred occupations. The profound cultural changes of recent decades is the focus of Part III. The notion of local culture, and of a distinctive local identity, is disappearing as cosmopolitan culture becomes localized through local acceptance. Contemporary villagers now create their sense of identity in terms of a wider reality, as defined by the powerful messages of the cosmopolitan system which are efficiently disseminated to villagers through the state educational system and the ubiquitous mass media. These cultural changes have unexpected consequences on the local culture and its reproduction to future generations.

In Telemula, a highland village of Sardinia, Italy, the concept of 'modernity' has been assigned a positive moral meaning which is used in opposition to the concept of 'tradition'. This dissertation examines the phenomenological dimension of strategic repositionings deployed by local people, as they strive to represent themselves as persone brave (good persons). Alternative representations of shepherds carry different moral connotations. Villagers who have to decide whether or not to become, or to continue to be shepherds, also wish to represent themselves positively. Thus, they manipulate the meanings which had been originally ascribed by national and supranational agencies, but that currently form part of the locals' world-views. In consequence, individuals participate in the multiplication of life-worlds and codes of meaning that they use in organising their own perceptions of life events and reflexive experience of self.

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