THE’“art of making do” it is not just an individual attitude, but a real one social philosophya way of being in the world that reflects continuous adaptation to often precarious economic, political and environmental conditions. “He who adapts, lives”: a proverb that summarizes one of the most profound traits of Mediterranean cultures. The ability to survive difficulties with creativity. It is based on one form of practical, collective intelligence and on a flexible conception of time and rules, in which improvisation becomes a virtue. Its roots go back a long way history of marginality and dependence which has marked the Mediterranean world, where making do has become a way of resisting and reinventing the imposed order. Like in the movie “The art of making do” Of Alberto Sordithis philosopher reflects a subtle balance between survival and cunning, reminding us that, in the Mediterranean, knowing how to adapt is often the most authentic form of intelligence.
Today this practice is expressed as survival strategy and collective agency: a transformative action which, despite economic or social constraints, reaffirms the dignity and autonomy of the subjects. In uncertainty, making do is not disorder but intelligence of the possible.
What ethics of adaptation and origin imply
The origin ofart of making do it must be sought in the long run history of marginality and fragmentation of the Mediterranean world. Give her colonizations al domain of the great empiresthrough the scarcity of natural resources and economic dependence on external powers, the Mediterranean peoples have developed a way of reacting to power structures through creativity and adaptation. According to anthropological tradition, from Ernesto De Martino to Anton Blokthese forms of “situated intelligence” they are born in contexts where survival depends on the ability to continually negotiate with the uncertainties of reality.
The art of making do, in this sense, is not a “deviant” behavior compared to the norm, but one cultural response to institutional shortcomings and the complexity of daily life. As a Sicilian proverb says: “Cu sapi fari, si salva”, those who know how to do it are saved.
Making do means adaptbut not in a passive sense: rather it is a act of creativity that transforms the unexpected into opportunitythe lack of resources. The philosopher Edgar Morin he described this ability as “complex thinking”: a logic that does not separate but connects, which addresses uncertainty as an integral part of life.
In Italy, this philosophy has historically expressed itself in the ability to invent solutions temporary but effective, of “do with little”to solve practical problems in an unconventional way. This worldview is opposed to that one modern, industrial and bureaucraticwhich favors the planning And efficiency. In the art of making do, however, the value lies in the ability to react, in flexibility and in the relational dimension of living.
Between cunning and survival
Like many popular practices, the art of making do moves on an ambiguous boundary between virtue and vice. On the one hand it represents a example of resilience and creative intelligence; on the other it can degenerate into cunningopportunism, or in that tendency to “get by” that many sociologists have read as a trait of Italian culture. “Law made, deception found“, the proverb indicates not only an individualistic attitude, but a systemic distrust towards institutions and a preference for informal solutions.
However, reducing the art of making do to a defect would be a mistake: it reveals a form of micro-resistance to powera way of regain possession of their autonomy in contexts of economic or political dependence. As he observed Gramscione survives in popular practices “spontaneous philosophy“, a wisdom that comes from below and reflects an ethic of everyday ingenuity.
Cultural resistance and form of agency
In times of economic, climatic or social crises, the art of making do takes on the value of one collective strategy of survival and affirmation of agencythat is, the ability to act and influence one’s destiny despite structural constraints. In many communities, for example in Southern Italy, the Maghreb or rural Greece“making do” means building solidarity networks, exchanging favors, creating informal micro-economies and rebuilding margins of control over one’s daily life.
It’s one form of resistant subjectivitywhich does not reject the system but reinvents it from the bottom up, rewriting its rules. In the human sciences, this practice approaches the logic of DIY Of Lévi-Strauss and to the reflections of Sherry Ortner on theagency as a transformative capacity: even in conditions of disadvantage, individuals and communities find creative ways to reaffirm their dignity.
From this perspective, the art of making do is a way to eactively exist, to reclaim spaces of autonomy and meaning.
Sources
De Martino E. (1959). “South and magic”
Blok A. (1974). “The Mafia of a Sicilian Village”
Lévi-Strauss C. (1962). “The wild thought”
Gilmore D. (1982). “Anthropology of the Mediterranean Area”
