Lubna Alli

Today was one of my favourite lectures. Today Francesco, the Vice President of the University of Siena, and a member of the Palio’s winning contrada The Lupa, paid a visit to IRE 33Y2’s Siennese classroom. In he strolls with a bright smile paired with a crisp navy blue suit and pointy brown dress shoes. Our professor, having already forewarned us of his good looks, had also informed us that he would be speaking to the class about the role leadership plays within the contradas. I was stoked!

As Francesco begins to explain the breakdown of the vote and the set up of the contrada, I begin to draw upon the similarities and differences between student council elections. For example, Franceso talked about the Priore and the Capitano being the two main leaders in each contrada, with the Priore being comparable to the President and the Capitano being comparable to the Vice President. Similar to the Priore, the President also has the job of overseeing the board members, whose seats, known as “seggio,” are determined by the Priore. Although not entirely similar to how this process works within a student council, the general outline remains the same. I was more taken aback by the fact that the Capitano had to step in for the Priore, without there being someone that would step in and either take the place of the Priore or serve as an assistant to the Priore. When I was on student council, we had a member drop out without notice and our staff advisors did nothing to rectify the situation. I seem to notice a generally laid back trend in politics and team settings when it comes to confrontation. This reminds me of Hofsteade’s Uncertainty Avoidance, which states that relying on social norms and conventions to avoid unpredictability of future events, in this case avoiding tension so not to stir up drama, is common within global cultural dimensions.

With regards to the electoral process, although Francesco specifically mentioned that it was a democratic process, when he outlined the specifics, I came to realize that there were a few things that stuck out to me as different. For example, when you vote, instead of checking the box beside the name of the person that you’d like to elect as Capitano, instead you must cross off the name or names of whomever you do not see as fit for the position.

Additionally, politics is usually corrupt. At least in the real world it is, compared to high school, where it’s much harder for that to be true. Corruption, in my experience with high school politics, always happened to be moderated by teachers and school officiators. Francesco mentioned that bribery was a main component of the Palio when it came to getting the best horses and jockeys. It makes me wonder if there is any method that is used to control the bribery within the contradas or if it is just an accepted practice? And, if there have been methods used to try and stop it, were they effective or not? Supposedly with a tradition that’s been going on for that long there’s not much that can be done to challenge corruption, huh? That’s something I’ll have to bring up for next time Francesco visits!

Excited,

Lubna