Italian Immigrants Research Articles

Charcoal and Blood: Italian Immigrants in Eureka, Nevada and the Fish Creek Massacre

Charcoal and Blood: Italian Immigrants in Eureka, Nevada and the Fish Creek Massacre

The study on the history of Italian immigration and cultural identity of Italian immigrants in Brazilian literature

The study on the history of Italian immigration and cultural identity of Italian immigrants in Brazilian literature

A Tribute to Louise DeSalvo (1942–2018)

A Tribute to Louise DeSalvo (1942–2018)

Ecclesiastical Participation of the Catholic Laity in the Late Modern Period: The Case of Italian Immigrants in the United States

This article focuses on two ancient ecclesiastical institutions, the lay patronage (Ius Patronatus) and the council of the upkeep of the church (Consilium Fabricae Ecclesiae). It attests to how those two institutions, in decline in Italy and almost unknown in the United States in the late modern period, diffused and developed among Italian immigrants in the United States. The aim is to contribute to the historical understanding of the evolution of the ecclesiastical culture of the Catholic laity in the late modern period, in particular before the promulgation of the Codex Iuris Canonici (1917).

Tuberculosis — The Singapore Experience, 1867–2018: Disease, Society and the State by Kah Seng Loh and Li Yang Hsu

Reviewed by: Tuberculosis — The Singapore Experience, 1867–2018: Disease, Society and the State by Kah Seng Loh and Li Yang Hsu Por Heong Hong Tuberculosis — The Singapore Experience, 1867–2018: Disease, Society and the State, by Kah Seng Loh and Li Yang Hsu, New York, Routledge, 2020, 169 pp. ISBN 9780367354534 Diseases rarely become a subject of historical studies in the region. This book is no doubt an important contribution, not only to the general historical studies of Singapore and Malaya, but also to the historical studies of diseases in the region. More importantly, unlike past historical studies of diseases, which were largely dominated by physicians, this book on tuberculosis in Singapore is co-written by a social historian, Loh Kah Seng, and an infectious disease physician, Hsu Li Yang. As the title of the book suggests, it is not a medical history of tuberculosis. On the contrary, it is a social and political history of the disease, which places the activities and views of various historical actors, including physicians, politicians, activists of NGOs, patients, Asians and Europeans, elites and working class, under the analytical gaze of the two authors. In short, this is a history of disease that goes ‘beyond hospitals and doctors’ (p. 155). Drawing predominantly from colonial documents, and a small number of oral histories and personal memories, the book is divided into nine chapters including the introduction and conclusion. The narratives of the book flow chronologically to chart the social construction of tuberculosis from colonial to post-colonial era. Covering a period of over one and a half centuries, Singapore’s history of tuberculosis is periodised into different themes, reflected in the title of each chapter. On the outset, the authors conceptualize tuberculosis as ‘a social and intellectual construct and a political battlefield’ (p. 2). They contextualize the disease by situating it against the background of several social forces and trends, such as colonialism, migration, and transnational flow of ideas of sanitation and evolutionary theories during colonial era, the drive of decolonization during post-war years, and the desire of nation building after independence. Urban housing, conceived a cause as well as a solution to the spread of tuberculosis, is an issue of concern that cuts across all three eras. The dynamics between the metropole and the colony, between elites of different ideologies in the colonial administration, and between people at the giving and the receiving ends of social engineering, jointly shaped the evolution and the treatment of the disease. Starting from the nineteenth century Singapore, tuberculosis was closely linked to pauperism and the development of pauper hospitals, which the colonial elites had little interest in. Not until twentieth century did the disease gain more colonial administrator’s attention, a timing when the medical and social meanings of the same disease had already been transformed, from a ‘glamorous hereditary affliction of beautiful and creative elites” to a ‘vile, contagious, and stigmatizing disease of the poor and the filthy’, in the West (Snowden 2019, 292). Hence, the [End Page 231] romantic metaphor of the ‘consumptive look’ of tuberculosis sufferers as a mark of social standing and power of creativity, a social construct prevailing in the mid nineteenth century West during the pre-contagionism era, never took hold of the colony. Like its counterpart in the twentieth century West, tuberculosis in Singapore was associated not only with poverty, but also with immigrants. Similarly in both the West as well as in Singapore, the spread of tuberculosis coincided with the large influx of immigrants and rapid urbanization. While poor Irish and Italian immigrants were over represented among TB victims in New York, poor Chinese immigrants in overcrowded urban housing were the most afflicted ethnic group in Singapore. What was the colonial policy then? The Sanitary Condition of Singapore (1907), a report written by WJR Simpson, a physician who inspected Singapore’s shophouses in 1906, was a paradigm shift that shaped not only colonial policy on tuberculosis, but also that on urban housing. The report eventually became a template for today’s state built public housing in Singapore. Simpson’s suggestion was in line with comparable practices in the metropole, which viewed environmental deterioration and congested dwellings in urban space...

Inventing the Immigration Problem: The Dillingham Commission and its Legacy by Katherine Benton-Cohen

Reviewed by: Inventing the Immigration Problem: The Dillingham Commission and its Legacy by Katherine Benton-Cohen Jeanne Petit Inventing the Immigration Problem: The Dillingham Commission and its Legacy. By Katherine Benton-Cohen. (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2018. Pp. 342. Photographs, notes, index.) Katherine Benton-Cohen seeks to understand the meaning and legacy of the Dillingham Commission, the three-year congressional study of immigration that began in 1907 and issued its report and recommendations in 1911. She faced a significant challenge in writing this book. The main source is a massive, multivolume government report with thousands of pages of statistics and graphs, but there is little documentation of how the report was created because the papers of the Dillingham Commission were not preserved. Benton-Cohen finds a solution to this dilemma by concentrating on an array of men and women—social scientists, reformers, religious leaders, politicians, and others—who sought to shape the report’s findings and recommendations. In the process, she argues, those who participated in the Dillingham Commission competed to create a framework for understanding migration to the United States, ultimately creating a powerful and consequential vision of the “immigration problem.” While many historians recognize the significance of the Dillingham Commission in justifying immigration restriction, Benton-Cohen examines how participants used complex and competing political, economic, and ideological arguments to shape the report. One interesting insight here is how, perhaps not surprisingly, the work of the commission created unexpected political bedfellows. For instance, while many Jewish lobbyists advocated for Judaism to be labeled a religion, Zionists agreed with the restrictionist Senator Henry Cabot Lodge that Jews should be classified as a distinct “Hebrew race.” Moreover, Jewish philanthropist Jacob Schiff advocated for the redistribution of Jewish immigrants to Texas to counter criticism about their concentration in the New York area. This idea was likewise promoted by Mississippi Senator LaRoy Percy, who wanted to address what he called “the Negro problem” by replacing [End Page 483] low-wage African American agricultural workers in Mississippi with Italian immigrants. A central theme throughout the book is that those with different views on immigration shared a belief in the expanded use of federal power to achieve their goals. Many commissioners used their authority to pry into the personal lives of individuals, particularly vulnerable people. Jett Lauke, a “practical economist” (108) who led an expansive investigation of industrial conditions for the commission, coerced workers in steel towns to answer personal questions about employment history, savings, and even grocery bills. He used the report to argue that the federal government should exclude immigrants to protect what he called “the vanishing American wage earner.” Anthropologist Franz Boas made the opposite argument, that immigrants should not be excluded because they assimilated into what he called “the American type.” To make this case, he, too, used federal authority to get schools to allow him to measure the skulls and other physical features of children. The author includes an entire chapter on each of Lauke’s and Boas’s concepts of American types. Another contribution this book makes is to demonstrate how the Dillingham Commission offered opportunities for those on the periphery of power to shape perceptions of migration. These figures include Yamato Ichihashi, a Japanese immigrant who offered sympathetic portraits of Japanese farmers in California. They also include social worker Anna Herkner, who went undercover on shipping vessels to examine the conditions immigrant women faced. She successfully advocated for a federal law limiting immigrants in steerage. At the same time, Benton-Cohen shows that powerful figures like Henry Cabot Lodge had the ability to shape the final recommendations, which portrayed immigration as a problem to be solved through restriction. Through a focus on historical actors, the author demonstrates the multiple ways Progressive-Era Americans created the “immigration problem” and reimagined the ways federal policy could deal with it. As Benton-Cohen points out, the Dillingham Commission’s legacy shapes the way we understand immigration policy to this day. Jeanne Petit Hope College Copyright © 2020 The Texas State Historical Association

Whom We Shall Welcome: Italian Americans and Immigration Reform, 1945–1965

Whom We Shall Welcome: Italian Americans and Immigration Reform, 1945–1965

Nella terra di mezzo: cinema e immigrazione in Italia 1990–2010 by Giancarla Vanoli

MLR, .,   homage to Franca Rame in her own staging of Mary at the Cross at the end of her play Passione. Dario Fo’s role at the origin of teatro di narrazione has been widely discussed, beginning with Simone Soriani’s  article ‘Dario Fo, il teatro di narrazione, la nuova performance epica: per una genealogia di un “quasi-genere”’, Forum Italicum ,  (), –, as well as in his  book Sulla scena del racconto (Genoa: Zona). Nor is the function of Fo’s relationship with the audience new, having been investigated by Scuderi himself in several articles and books. Rather, the original contribution of this collection is that it both looks back at the roots of Fo’s theatrical activity and looks forward by discussing his legacy as a consummate playwright and performer. Will the theatre of Dario Fo and Franca Rame—its political engagement and popular roots—maintain its relevance even aer their death? e essays contained in this volume indicate that it will. U  A D C Nella terra di mezzo: cinema e immigrazione in Italia –. By G V. (Linee) Milan: Meltemi. .  pp. €. ISBN ––– –. In her insightful study, Giancarla Vanoli sets out to investigate the fertile intersection between Italian cinema and the theme of immigration from  to , years in which the style and format of immigration films were first shaped. While this study follows the lines of previous Italian essays such as Sonia Cincinelli’s Senza frontiere (Rome: Kappa, ) and Angela Bianca Saponari’s Il corpo esiliato (Bari: Progedit, ), Vanoli’s work is original in demonstrating how Italian immigration cinema has worked as a ‘grande specchio dell’identità nazionale’ (p. ), while reviving the debate on authorship and genre in the Italian context. e volume includes a short Introduction, three chapters, closing remarks, and a useful appendix referencing major Italian films about immigration, about half of which are directly analysed by the author throughout the book. Chapter  provides a detailed analysis of the state of Italian cinema in the early s, investigating its turbulent evolution across the big and the small screen, in the rising years of Berlusconi’s Mediaset and at times of scarce public funding for the film industry. Vanoli highlights that, while television has played an important role in spreading xenophobic and populist attitudes towards immigrants, numerous film-makers have used the medium of cinema to convey solidarity with them. However, an appearance of support which in reality belittles the migrant characters is already identified in films such as Pirani’s L’appartamento (). In fact, the author clearly underlines how films about immigration, which was then—and remains today—one of the most divisive issues in Italian society, struggle to offer nuanced portraits of migrant subjects, and oen fall into the trap of buonismo. In the second chapter Vanoli examines the entanglements between immigration films and two strongholds of Italian cinema: author and genre. Analysing the works of De Seta, Bertolucci, and Olmi—the venerati maestri—she concludes that their  Reviews authoritative position in the Italian landscape does not exclude them from a paternalistic approach to narrating the story of the migrant, a clear example of which is identified by the author in the ending of De Seta’s Lettere dal Sahara (). Similar risks are highlighted in the production of the in-between generation of film-makers, particularly in the indulgent Western gaze cast in two major dramas, Amelio’s Lamerica () and Giordana’s Quando sei nato non puoi più nasconderti (). Such risks seem to be avoided with the third generation of registi, such as Garrone and Manetti Bros., who are seen as postmodern, globalized authors able to offer a less hierarchical vision of the interaction between Italians and immigrants, as in the metanarrative of Terra di mezzo () or in the moves towards accented cinema in Torino Boys (). e third chapter concludes the analysis on genre in immigration cinema from the early s, arguing that the theme of migration brings new life both into the tradition of documentary—a notable example being Come un uomo sulla terra by Biadene, Segre, and Yimer ()—and in the resurgence of comedy with works such as Comencini’s Bianco e nero (). At the same time, the author...

Guido Culture and Italian American Youth: From Bensonhurst to Jersey Shore by Donald Tricarico

Reviewed by: Guido Culture and Italian American Youth: From Bensonhurst to Jersey Shore by Donald Tricarico Andrea L. Dottolo Guido Culture and Italian American Youth: From Bensonhurst to Jersey Shore By Donald Tricarico New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019. xv + 332 pp. Cloth $89.99, e-book $69.99. Tony Manero in Saturday Night Fever. Pauly D in Jersey Shore. Gold chains, Cadillacs, The Godfather, "gym, tan, laundry," and "fuggedaboutit." This book traces the emergence and evolution of Guido youth culture in the United States. Donald Tricarico delineates Guido performance and identity as a product of a particular sociohistorical context—the 1970s—and the "turn to disco," specifically placed in Bensonhurst, New York. Tricarico defines Guido as an "Italian American youth culture practice" that serves as a collective identity, an ethnic identity, and a commodified identity, characterized by the conspicuous consumption of material objects, styles, clothes, hair, and media images, particularly celebrity and celebrity culture as illustrated in the imagery and references above (30). As Tricarico explains, "Saturday Night Fever and Jersey Shore are the textual bookends for the development of an Italian American youth subculture called Guido" (3). Through a collection of essays, the product of several book chapters and journal articles written over the course of twenty-six years, Tricarico explores multiple domains of Guido identity and culture, including style, cool, and the media. Tricarico is a professor of sociology and urban studies at Queensborough Community College. He locates himself as a cultural insider, with access to individuals and groups that self-identify as Guidos. While Tricarico does not describe a research methodology, he mentions personal conversations and joining chat rooms, while often quoting first-hand communications as evidence. The book is firmly situated in Italian-American studies, primarily sociology, [End Page 459] especially in its theoretical applications of youth subcultures and ethnicities as social constructs. While centered on the "turn to disco," Tricarico historicizes the roots of Guido culture in the baby boomer generation, those born after 1945, first in moments like American Bandstand in the 1950s, then to the "greasers" of the 1960s, and then later evolving with hip-hop and club culture, and eventually in online communities. Tricarico also describes Guido as a distillation of Italian ethnic identity, informed by and in response to immigration, where the children and grandchildren of Italian immigrants were able to claim their Italianness as Americans while also distancing from an old-world past. Guido was initially waged as an ethnic slur referring to a stigmatized performance of race, class, and gender, imposed by a more powerful majority. Like many other identity markers and social movements, Guido was then reclaimed and embraced as an insider marker of group membership and pride. There are several strengths of this text, including the inclusion of delightful color photographs of John Travolta, the Jersey shore, nightclubs and discotheques, local Guido celebrities, and ordinary Guidos and Guidettes out on the town. Tricarico is clearly an expert in urban studies and youth cultures, evidenced in his descriptions, explanations, and theoretical applications. He skillfully situates Guido as a performance of ethnic identity in a working-class context, exploring regional variations of Guido in the northeast United States and in Toronto, Canada. The introduction is strong and well written. However, I was disappointed at the lack of analysis of gender and sexuality. Endemic to the term "Guido" is masculinity, embodied in a man's name. There is minimal discussion of the Guidette, or even an analysis of Guido as a particularly masculinist performance. While features of Guido identity are discussed that are certainly marked as masculine and heteronormative, such as bodybuilding, car culture, and cruising, there is little analysis of the Guido as a heterosexual man or the way that patriarchy and compulsory heterosexuality function to sustain him. Perhaps this is due to the common challenge of claiming and interrogating privilege. As a collection of essays, each chapter stands alone, which could be useful for instructors who choose to assign individual sections. However, the book is missing a narrative arc, as there is a great deal of repetition across chapters, leaving less space for a richer unpacking of the important domains that Tricarico unveils about Guido culture. Nonetheless, this...

The Quotidian of Italian Immigration in La Staffetta Rio-Grandense According to Michel Maffesoli

The Quotidian of Italian Immigration in La Staffetta Rio-Grandense According to Michel Maffesoli

The Fathers Refounded: Protestant Liberalism, Roman Catholic Modernism, and the Teaching of Ancient Christianity in Early Twentieth-Century America by Elizabeth A. Clark

Reviewed by: The Fathers Refounded: Protestant Liberalism, Roman Catholic Modernism, and the Teaching of Ancient Christianity in Early Twentieth-Century America by Elizabeth A. Clark Maia Kotrosits The Fathers Refounded: Protestant Liberalism, Roman Catholic Modernism, and the Teaching of Ancient Christianity in Early Twentieth-Century America Elizabeth A. Clark Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2019. Pp. 440. ISBN: 978-0812250718 The last decade has brought the swift contraction of Religious Studies and Classics departments across the United States, as well as the instability and collapse of so many progressive theological institutions. Not incidentally, this is occurring on a national landscape in which public discourse about religion is almost devastatingly poor, and religion remains a significant force shaping the very texture and terrain of national socio-political life. As a result, the study of ancient Christianity has hit a skid of existential self-questioning: will the discipline survive? If so, how? And in what form? Another way this worry has been voiced is: How can the study of ancient Christianity be more relevant? How can it be, shall we say, "of the moment?" Appearing on the scene during this panic about survival, Elizabeth Clark's The Fathers Refounded recounts, with ample detail and narrative restraint, another phase of self-reckoning: in the first two decades of the twentieth century, a number of white Christian male intellectuals wondered if Christianity could be modern. What they imagined that to mean was whether Christianity could more explicitly engage the potent intellectual and cultural changes of the moment while still somehow retaining a sense of long-view coherence. It was a question that negotiated theological concerns and historical ones, as the three figures on which Clark concentrates her attention, Arthur Cushman McGiffert (of Union Theological Seminary), George LaPiana (of Harvard Divinity School), and Shirley Jackson Case (University of Chicago Divinity School), sought to deliver sketches of ancient Christianity that were both academically viable and still meaningful to public audiences, including and especially their students. Methodically reconstructed out of elusive and muddled archives, Clark's depictions of these three figures in their intellectual, social, and institutional worlds present a pinball machine of ricocheting responses to the strange impressions that the experiences of modernity and modernism left. And so Clark's book is thoroughly, if not always explicitly, about the quandaries of time: where was faith to be found—or placed—in the tension between vaunted pasts and glittering human futures? Christianity's long march forward became not just a point of curiosity, but a source of inspiration, and in some cases, an intractable problem. A few examples: McGiffert knocked the idea of a Harnackian essence to Christianity, as well as the nostalgic desire to return to the ostensible clarity of the early church, and thought any hope of returning to that time was a wish to return to a "second childhood" and a function of "the inanity of a decrepit old age." There were deviations from the teachings of Jesus all along, beginning with Paul, and we cannot "unlive our life," he writes [End Page 458] soberly (98). But McGiffert nonetheless saw antiquity and modernity as comparable, operating in something of parallel universes. His temporality is therefore subtly frictive: trajectory and "maturity" competes with simultaneity. LaPiana, arguing for a culturally unoriginal Christianity, found himself using the historical past to envision a future for the church. Christianity developed, and it was this change that can and should be the source of inspiration for church life—a living tradition. But in his own use of contemporary politics as historical corollaries (comparing, for example, migrants in Rome to Italian immigrants in the U.S. in his lengthy and well-known "Foreign Groups in Rome During the First Centuries of the Empire"), his history suggests not directional change as much as circularity. As Clark notes, despite LaPiana's critique of "one-man" forms of authority characteristic of both the Catholic Church and Italian fascism, contexts that strongly informed his work, LaPiana still saw the development of the papacy as inevitable for Christianity's growth (327). Case, a lover of method and often writing for public audiences, deployed social history not only to refuse celebrations of the past, ones...

Local History or New Dimensions in Croatian-Italian Relations? A Review of a Book by F. Škiljan “Italians in Zagreb” [Škiljan F. Talijani u Zagrebu. Zagreb: Zajednica Talijana u Zagrebu, 2015. 95, 101 s.

This review is dedicated to the monograph by Filip Škiljan, а Researcher from the Institute for Migration and Ethnic Studies (Zagreb), whose area of interest includes the position of ethnic minorities in contemporary Croatia. The book is an extremely detailed and scrupulous piece of research on the origins and history of the Italian community in Zagreb from the 12th Century to the present day. A significant part of the work is devoted to the results of field research conducted by the author, including interviews with different representatives of the Italian diaspora. As a result, this work creates a very comprehensive picture of the Italian presence in Zagreb with a broad historical perspective, which makes it a great contribution to the question of the position of the Italian minority in Croatia as a whole. It is worth emphasizing that this work is not free from different theoretical and methodological limitations which reveal a great deal about the historical and national psychology of Croatia. In this respect, it is quite interesting to look in particular at the chapter devoted to the Middle Ages regarding the methods, evaluations, and approaches used by author. According to F. Škiljan the Ottoman conquest of the Balkan peninsula led to the divide between Croatia and the Italian (and, consequently, European) civilizational space, which had a serious impact on Croatian identity.

Performative Ethnicity, Embodied Memory, and Oral History in Narratives from the Bronx Italian American History Initiative

Research Article| January 01 2020 Performative Ethnicity, Embodied Memory, and Oral History in Narratives from the Bronx Italian American History Initiative Kathleen Lapenta; Kathleen Lapenta KATHLEEN LAPENTA is a senior lecturer in Italian at Fordham University and is co-director of the Bronx Italian American History Initiative. Her research specializes in modern Italian culture, diaspora studies, and memory at the intersection of literature and cinema; and she has published on Giovanni Verga, Florestano Vancini, Roberto Rossellini, as well as on Italian American identity and representation. She is currently at work on a book-length project that investigates representations of national diasporas in the contexts of migration, exile, and border crossings in Italy and abroad throughout the twentieth century. She is member of the Scientific Committee of the Italian Diaspora Studies Seminar at the University of Calabria. Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Jacqueline Reich Jacqueline Reich JACQUELINE REICH is professor and chair of the Department of Communication and Media Studies at Fordham University. Her areas of expertise include star studies, film history and theory, and Italian and Italian American cinema. She is the author of The Maciste Films of Italian Silent Cinema (Indiana University Press, 2015) and Beyond the Latin Lover: Marcello Mastroianni, Masculinity, and Italian Cinema (Indiana University Press, 2004). She is also co-author, with Catherine O’Rawe, of Divi: La mascolinità nel cinema italiano (Donzelli, 2015) and co-editor with Piero Garofalo of Re-viewing Fascism: Italian Cinema, 1922-1943 (Indiana University Press, 2002). Currently she is co-director, with Dr. Kathleen LaPenta, of the Bronx Italian American History Initiative, a community-engaged oral history research project at Fordham. Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Italian American Review (2020) 10 (1): 1–18. https://doi.org/10.5406/italamerrevi.10.1.0001 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Permissions Search Site Citation Kathleen Lapenta, Jacqueline Reich; Performative Ethnicity, Embodied Memory, and Oral History in Narratives from the Bronx Italian American History Initiative. Italian American Review 1 January 2020; 10 (1): 1–18. doi: https://doi.org/10.5406/italamerrevi.10.1.0001 Download citation file: Zotero Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All Scholarly Publishing CollectiveUniversity of Illinois PressItalian American Review Search Advanced Search The text of this article is only available as a PDF. Copyright 2020 by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois2020 Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

Cultural Manifestation and Ethnic Tourism: Hospitality in the Urban Public Space

Considered an ethnic neighborhood, boosted by the occupation of Italian immigrants in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Bela Vista (also known as Bexiga) is the scene of cultural manifestations that expresses the vitality in the use of public space, becoming a tradition of the city of São Paulo. The neighborhood as a place of hospitality, gathers a set of ten cultural events that were catalogued over the years 2015 and 2016. This article focuses on one of those cultural events, the Italian festivity of Nossa Senhora Achiropita (Our Lady Achiropita). A celebration that by 2018 had been taking place for 92 years. Its aspects and dynamics were analyzed in order to identify the practices of sociability and commensality - treated in this study as dimensions of hospitality - as well as the potential of the neighborhood for ethnic tourism. Characterized as an exploratory research, the methodology of oral history was conducted via interviews with active participants or residents of the neighborhood, and through on site observation and bibliographical and documentary surveys. Among the results, the festive vocation of the neighborhood stands out as it shelters ethnic groups as well as cultural, popular and spontaneous manifestations, which are the locus of hospitality and touristic practices.

Unaccompanied Foreign Minors, the Difficult Path from Migration to Citizenship

In Italy, the number of unaccompanied foreign minors (UFMs) is constantly and continuously increasing, and includes unaccompanied and separated minors, as well as asylum seekers, coming from different countries and for different reasons. To better understand this phenomenon, the regulations that protect UFMs, the Italian immigration system, and the fundamental rights of children will be discussed. Possible risk factors such as deviance, exploitation and trafficking, and possible intervention strategies to protect unaccompanied foreign minors will also be discussed.

Language use and intergenerational transmission of heritage Veneto in the rural area of Santa Teresa, Brazil

Abstract This article examines the current sociolinguistic situation of Veneto in Santa Teresa, a small municipality located in the highlands of the state of Espirito Santo, in Southeastern Brazil. Santa Teresa was founded in 1874 by a group of about 300 Italian immigrants from Veneto-speaking towns in Northern Italy. The study is based on a survey conducted in 2016, which compares three distinct age groups of descendants of Veneto heritage residing in the rural area of Santa Teresa by examining self-rated language abilities in both Veneto and Portuguese, language use, and attitudes. The 98 informants that participated in this study belong to the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth generations of Veneto descendants. At the conclusion of this preliminary study, the results of the self-evaluations show that Veneto continues to be spoken and used at home, at work, and with neighbors and friends by respondents of all of these generations, which means that the rural community of Santa Teresa surpassed the typical three-generation shift to the majority language observed in heritage language families in the United States. However, findings also indicate that language shift towards Portuguese is taking place in Santa Teresa, and that the heritage language runs the risk of disappearing in the near future if nothing is done to stop the ongoing language shift.

Online communities as points of observation of the transnational migrant career: a case study on Italian immigrants in Toronto

ABSTRACT This paper aims to explore the significance that social media plays in the lives of transnational migrants. Building on data collected during a six-month online/offline ethnography conducted among the members of a Facebook group for Italian migrants in Toronto, it is argued here that diasporic online communities provide a privileged location to capture the complex process of identity transformation undergone by migrants. Data suggests that research into online communities allows for a dynamic and adaptive understanding of the migratory experience capable of recognising the lives of migrants not just as the results of single events, but as trajectories that could help reach a better understanding of the evolution of life courses, as well as changes in social status.

The encounter between Italy and Siam at the dawn of the twentieth century: Italian artists and architects in the modernising Kingdom of Siam

This paper focuses on the encounters between Italy and Siam at the dawn of the twentieth century, as it was the most dynamic period of Italian settlement in the modernising Siam. The paper analyses the development of Siamese modernisation as a challenging opportunity for Italian entrepreneurs and professionals, thanks to a healthy diplomatic relation between the two countries. Compared to the main characteristics of the Italian diaspora, the Italian colony in Siam stands out because of the fruits of its creative production. Siam was described as a symbol of tradition, not very different from the way China was often viewed, while the West was regarded as a source of modernity. With this perspective, the fact that Siam herself initiated the modernisation process, as well as the recruitment of Italians as part of the government's team in public works, architectural construction and civil engineering, was emphasised less than the part played by Italians in transforming the image of the Siamese capital. The paper examines how the encounters between Italy and Siam developed, attempting to do this from both Siamese and Italian perspectives, since both shared cultural memories, empirical evidence of cultural encounters and transculturality.

Prosthetic Memories in <em>The Sopranos</em>

Prosthetic Memories in <em>The Sopranos</em>

O futebol na colônia Santa Felicidade: memórias de uma identidade imigrante italiana

Fundada no final do século XIX uma antiga colônia de imigrantes italianos, tornou-se um dos bairros mais tradicionais de Curitiba-PR. Muito famosa pelos seus restaurantes de comida típica e vinícolas, Santa Felicidade é a sede de dois clubes tradicionais de futebol, a Sociedade Operária Beneficente Esportiva Iguaçu e o Trieste Futebol Clube. O presente artigo objetiva entender como o futebol participou(a) da (re)construção da identidade “italiana” dentro da colônia/bairro Santa Felicidade. Por meio dos procedimentos teóricos e metodológicos da História Oral foi possível perceber que os fragmentos memoriais analisados se tratam de fenômenos sociais em construção. As manifestações étnicas como a gastronomia e a arquitetura singular, juntamente com o futebol, mostram como os italianos construíram ao longo dos anos uma identidade, mesmo que estereotipada, dentro de Santa Felicidade.