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The Philip V. Cannistraro
Seminar Series in Italian American Studies
On the cover of Thomas Ferraro's new book Feeling Italian: The Art of Ethnicity in America (New York University Press), there is a striking black-and-white photograph of a cook, his back to the camera, in a restaurant window on Broadway, circa 1937. The cook, classically dressed, holds up a generous fork of spaghetti, brightly illuminated, lifting it to a crowd gathered in wonder " inviting them to partake as if it were the Eucharist. Ferraro will present this virtuoso image (so stereotypical yet so resonant) of the Italian-American way with ethnicity, prefiguring his book while urging his audience to join him in (debating) the vernacular style of love-and-irony that he calls "feeling Italian." Tuesday, October 11, 2005 "The Land of the Future: Changes in Italian Perceptions of Sćo Paulo, Brazil as an Immigrant Destination, 1880-1930" David Aliano, CUNY Graduate Center
In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, some Italians perceived Sćo Paulo, Brazil as a vast land of the future promising wealth and prosperity, while others saw a backward wilderness run by cruel fazendeiros (coffee planters) who treated immigrants no better than their former slaves. Ph.D. candidate in history David Aliano discusses the national debate over immigration to Sćo Paulo by Italian government officials, journalists, and travel writers, and the ways those perceptions changed over time as a result of political and economic developments in both Italy and Brazil. Wednesday, November 9, 2005 The Buried Treasures of Sicilian Folk and Fairy Tales Jack Zipes, University of Minnesota Although most folklorists are aware of the significance of the Brothers Grimm collection of German folk and fairy tales that are revered (wrongly) as models of folk narrative, most scholars are unaware that the true treasures of the nineteenth century lie in Sicily. Not only did a Swiss German woman by the name of Laura Gonzenbach publish a highly significant collection titled Sicilian Folk Tales in 1870, recently translated into English by Jack Zipes (Beautiful Angiola: The Great Treasury of Sicilian Folk and Fairy Tales and Robber With a Witch's Head: More Stories from the Great Treasury of Sicilian Folk and Fairy Tales, Routledge), but Giuseppe Pitrč, perhaps the most brilliant folklorist, published four volumes of extraordinary folk tales in Sicilian dialect, Fiabe, novelle e racconti popolari siciliani (1875). Zipes will discuss the importance of these collections for international folklore studies and how difficult it is to capture their "original" meanings in English translation. This lecture is co-sponsored by Arba Sicula. Tuesday, December 6, 2005 The Mafia in the Mind of America: Attraction and Repulsion of a Media Image George De Stefano, Independent Scholar As evidenced in countless novels, films, and television portrayals, the mafia has maintained an enduring hold on the American cultural imagination, even as it continues to wrongly color our perception of real-life Italian Americans. George De Stefano, reading from his new book An Offer We Can't Refuse: The Mafia In The Mind of America (Faber and Faber), explores how these representations illuminate the allure of mafia stories, while discussing the rich cultural details contained in the works. He also addresses the lamentable extent to which the "goodfella" cliché makes it all but impossible to produce media projects about the Italian American experience not set in gangland.
Monday, February
27, 2006 Carlo Tresca: Portrait of a Rebel Nunzio Pernicone, Drexel University Carlo Tresca was one of the most
fascinating figures of the American left, a charismatic Italian anarchist who
became a folk-hero to immigrant and native-born American workers alike. During his adventurous career
spanning nearly forty years (1904-1943), Tresca pursued a range of activities
unmatched by any of his radical contemporaries: independent newspaper editor;
labor agitator and organizer; civil libertarian; foremost leader of the
Italian-American anti-fascist resistance, and an indomitable foe of
Stalinism. In a definitive
biography Carlo Tresca: Portrait of a Rebel (Palgrave
Macmillan, 2005), historian
Nunzio Pernicone reveals the life of this “freelance revolutionary,” provides
a comprehensive exploration of the lost world of Italian American radicalism
and antifascism, and illuminates forgotten chapters of the American radical
and labor movements. Monday, March 13,
2006 The Tammurriata
from Campania: Adaptations and Revivals of a Folk Tradition Jennifer Caputo,
Wesleyan University Italy experienced
its first folk music revival in the 1970s, when field recordings of the tammurriata or ballo sul tamburo (dance with the tambourine) were published as part
of Roberto De Simone’s book Canti e
Tradizioni Popolari in Campania.
During that period, De Simone founded the musical group Nuova
Compagnia di Canto Popolare, whose commercial recordings brought the tammurriata and other folk songs to
Italian radio stations and record stores. Over the past decade, the tammurriata has undergone another
revival. It is performed in
various forms at folk festivals and concerts, and has been adapted to musical
styles such as rock, hip-hop, and reggae. Jennifer Caputo,
doctoral candidate in ethnomusicology, discusses the revivals, new
interpretations of the tammurriata,
and explains how they have both positively and negatively impacted the local
religious festivals in Campania. Monday, April 3,
2006 Merchants,
Midwives, and Laboring Women: Italian Migrants in Urban America Diane Vecchio, Furman University Challenging long-held patriarchal
assumptions about Italian women's work in the United States, Diane Vecchio
discusses the regional variation of Italian women's work, as well as the
skills they transplanted to America.
Vecchio's recently published book Merchants, Midwives, and Laboring
Women: Italian Migrants in Urban America (University of Illinois Press,
2006) on Endicott, New York sheds light on the gendered nature of life in a
“company town” governed by welfare paternalism, while her research on
Milwaukee, Wisconsin emphasizes how Italian immigrant women worked as
midwives and turned to small business enterprise when local opportunities for
wage earning were limited. Monday, May 15,
2006 Tenor Madness: Joe Lovano's “Viva Caruso”
and the Italian Jazz Diaspora John Gennari, University of Vermont Tenor saxophonist and jazz composer Joe Lovano’s 2002 recording “Viva Caruso” features small combos and a 12-piece chamber ensemble performing Caruso's opera “hits,” obscure tunes, classics of the Neapolitan song tradition, and a four-part suite, “Il Carnevale di Pulcinella,” a tribute to comedia dell'arte and the tarantella. Lovano's “Viva Caruso” fosters fresh ways of thinking about Italian influence in the jazz tradition by evoking Caruso's voice, body, and musical world, suggesting connections between early New Orleans jazz and Mediterranean song forms and rhythms, and drawing attention to a masculine operatic idiom central to jazz since the pioneering work of Louis Armstrong, Sidney Bechet, and Coleman Hawkins. All events are free. Presentations begin at 6:00 PM. Building management has initiated a new policy for people attending events after business hours. You must pre-register with the Calandra Institute by calling (212) 642-2094. You will need to show a photo ID to the building's concierge. The Calandra Institute is a
university institute under the aegis of Queens College [Return to the Academic & Cultural Programs page.] |
