ITALIAN ROOTS
AMERICAN SOIL
Generations of Immigrants
to the Philadelphia Area
University of Pennsylvania
May 2 - 5, 2002
ALL PANELS ARE IN PLENARY SESSIONS
Thursday, May 2
2:00 pm
CONFERENCE OPENING
Houston Hall - Bodek Lounge
Rebecca Bushnell, Associate Dean
School of Arts and Sciences, University of Pennsylvania
Lorenzo Mott
Consul General of Italy in Philadelphia
2:30 - 4:30 pm
THE QUESTION OF IDENTITY
Houston Hall - Bodek Lounge
Introduction
Millicent Marcus
University of Pennsylvania
Anthony J. Tamburri, Florida Atlantic University, Florida
Rethinking Italian/American Identity: From the Hyphen
to the Slash and Beyond
What is the current status of the study of
Italian/American identity? Where has it been and where is it going? These
are some of the questions still in need of discussion today as we cross
over the threshold of the 3rd millennium. This presentation re-examines
Professor Tamburri's original notion of the hyphen as ideological marker
and metaphor. The paper will consider how the concept may have transformed
itself in the twelve years that have passed since its initial drafting
in 1990, given the developments in critical writings over the past ten
years.
Sante Matteo, Miami University, Ohio
How I Stopped Being Abruzzese and Became White:
Take Some Roots, Add a Pinch of Rhizome, Sprinkle with Spores
When Professor Matteo emigrated from Italy,
his home region was "Abruzzo e Molise," and he was identified
as "abruzzese." In his absence the region split into two separate
regions, and so he became a "molisano," with no choice or action
required on his part. With respect to both his birthplace and his adoptive
home, his identity has changed because of several kinds of re-contextualization:
political, racial, social, economic, etc. The paper will explore whether
the "root" metaphor is still viable in today's world.
Nicholas Patruno, Bryn Mawr College, Pennsylvania
From Bari to New York: In Search of America and Self
Identity
Professor Patruno's paper will focus on how
he uncovered the meaning of his Italian roots through his process of Americanization.
The presentation will include a brief documentary made for Italian television.
Lina Insana, University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
'Cu nascia tunnu nun po' mòriri quatratu' and
Other Things Nonna Pasqua Used to Say
The speaker's comments will be guided--as are the lives of many of her Sicilian family members--by the practical wisdom of Sicilian proverbs. Through them, she intends to illustrate many of the paradoxes inherent in her identity as an Italian-American woman in academe and to explore the implications of translating meaning from the culture that generated it, to the new soil of "l'Ameriga".
4:30 - 5:30 pm
REFRESHMENTS
Houston Hall
5:30 - 7:30 pm
LIFE EXPERIENCES OF ITALIANS IN AMERICA UP TO 1920
Houston Hall - Bodek Lounge
Moderator
Vincent Genovese
Alliance of Italian-American Associations of Philadelphia
Nine speakers present their experience as
Italians in America. Presenters have been chosen by the Grand Lodge of
Pennsylvania - Order Sons of Italy in America, NIAF - National Italian
American Foundation, and Alliance of the Italian-American Associations
in Philadelphia.
Friday, May 3
9:00 - 10:00 am
BREAKFAST
Houston Hall
10:00 am - 12:00 pm
THE LANGUAGES OF ITALIAN AMERICA
Houston Hall - Bodek Lounge
Moderator
Rinamaria Narducci
University of Pennsylvania
Jonathan Steinberg, University of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania
The Many Languages of Italy: An Overview
Professor Steinberg will introduce the phenomenon of Italian regionalism as reflected in the diversity of dialects. The presentation will include examples of dialectal usage and will suggest the great disparity between these "micro-languages" and standard Italian.
Joseph Luzzi, University of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania
The Impala and the Fig Tree: An Italian Dialect in America
This presentation will examine the life and death in America of the Calabrian dialect spoken by Professor Luzzi's immigrant parents, by placing their dialect within the larger context of the modern Italian "questione della lingua."
Elena Bellina and Yvonne Mattevi, Youngstown State University, Ohio
Italian-Americans in Youngstown: A Socio-linguistic
Study
The paper begins with a brief socio-historical introduction to Abruzzese immigration to Youngstown, and then analyzes some interesting linguistic features deriving from the influence of Italian dialects on English.
1:30 - 3:30 pm
REPRESENTATIONS OF ITALIAN-AMERICANS IN LITERATURE AND FILM
Houston Hall - Bodek Lounge
Moderator
Victoria Kirkham
University of Pennsylvania
Ben Lawton, Purdue University, Indiana
For a Few More Dollars: Further Reflections on the Representation
of
Italian Americans in Film
The speaker continues his reflections on the images of Italian Americans in film--good, bad, and ugly--and comes to the conclusion that the representations are overwhelmingly stereotypical and defamatory.
Pietro Frassica, Princeton University, New Jersey
Philadelphia through the Eyes of Two Italian Cultural
Celebrities
This paper will examine the American experiences of Mario Soldati and Marta Abba, with specific reference to their impressions of Philadelphia. For Soldati, his American sojourn in the 30's was to serve as a background for nearly all of his novels, while for Abba, the preferred actress of Pirandello's later plays, the City of Brotherly Love would be the site of her American debut.
Laura Salsini, University of Delaware, Delaware
Tarantella's Gendered
Vision of Italian-American Identity
This paper examines how a young woman's search into her ethnic background leads to an investigation of gender identity and formation within the codes of Italian-American culture.
Mary Ann Mannino, Temple University, Pennsylvania
In Our Ears, A Voice: The Persistence of the Trauma
of Immigration in
Blue Italian and Umbertina
Psychologist Elizabeth Messina claims that children and grandchildren of immigrants exhibit symtoms of anxiety and other mental disorders because the trauma that the immigrants experienced caused them to suffer from post-traumatic stress. In this paper, Professor Mannino will discuss how the main characters of two novels, Blue Italian and Umbertina suffer from this syndrome.
4:00 - 5:30 pm
KEYNOTE ADDRESS
Houston Hall - Bodek Lounge
Richard N. Juliani, Villanova University,
Pennsylvania
Finding a Usable Past: Philadelphia's Italian Americans
This presentation is a historical and sociological introduction to the Italian experience in America, particularly in Philadelphia, from colonial times to the present day. It examines the causes of emigration; working and living conditions in America; the assimilation of Italians as Americans; the impact of Italians upon America; the emergence of Italian American identity; and the value of understanding Italian American history.
6:00 - 8:00 pm
PUBLIC RECEPTION
International House
8:00 pm
FILM
International House
Introduction
Gaetana Marrone-Puglia
Princeton University, New Jersey
BIG
NIGHT
Directed by Stanley Tucci, US, 1996, Color, 35mm, 107 minutes
Two Italian born brothers own a restaurant in 1950's New York, which serves exquisite food. Offering a fine dining experience does not keep them from being on the verge of going out of business, because of a lack of customers. To turn things around, a friend helps them plan a "big night" by inviting a famous entertainer to a dinner party at the restaurant, which will have extensive coverage by the press.
Saturday, May 4
9:00 - 10:00 am
BREAKFAST
Houston Hall
10:00 am - 12:00 pm
REMARKABLE LIVES
Houston Hall - Bodek Lounge
Moderator
Nicoletta Marini
Cultural Attaché, Consulate General of Italy in
Philadelphia
Millicent Marcus, University of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania
From Fallo to Philly and Back:
An Amateur Historian Reconstructs a Remarkable Italian Immigrant Life
This is the extraordinary success story of Mariano DiVito who immigrated as a young boy, uneducated and penniless, from a small town in the Abruzzo to Philadelphia in l907 and who amassed a fortune through wisely investing his earnings as the director of food services at the Bellevue Stratford Hotel. It is also the story of how a middle-aged academic, who became the first holder of the Mariano DiVito Chair in Italian Studies at Penn, explored the context and the events of this remarkable life.
Fred Gardaphe', SUNY-Stony Brook, New York
Jerre Mangione: Ambassador of Italian America
The guiding principle of Jerre Mangione's style and a dominant theme in his work is that one can challenge destiny. He writes out of a need to explain the people who have affected his notions of self; he also writes in order to bridge the gap between the Italian immigrant and the American. This talk looks at the career of Mangione in the context of American culture and Italian American history.
Mary Jo Bona, SUNY-Stony Brook, New York
Finding Rose Green: Peregrinations of an Italian-American
Scholar
Rose Basile Green's The Italian American Novel: A Document of the Interaction of Two Cultures placed Italian American writers on the literary map of America. Green's book is the first to make possible a sustained analysis of Italian American writers on their own terms. An inestimable blueprint for a generation of scholars devoted to the dissemination of Italian American literature, Green's book continues to inspire and guide.
1:30 - 3:30 pm
LIFE EXPERIENCES OF ITALIANS IN AMERICA FROM 1920 TO WORLD WAR II
Houston Hall - Bodek Lounge
Moderator
Rocco Gigante
Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania - Order Sons of Italy in America
Nine speakers present their experience as Italians in America. Presenters have been chosen by the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania - Order Sons of Italy in America, NIAF - National Italian American Foundation, and Alliance of the Italian-American Associations in Philadelphia.
3:30 - 4:00 pm
REFRESHMENTS
Houston Hall
4:00 - 6:00 pm
LIFE EXPERIENCES OF ITALIANS IN AMERICA FROM WORLD WAR II TO THE PRESENT
Houston Hall - Bodek Lounge
Moderator
Matthew J. DiDomenico
NIAF- National Italian American Foundation
Nine speakers present their experience as Italians in America. Presenters have been chosen by the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania - Order Sons of Italy in America, NIAF - National Italian American Foundation, and Alliance of the Italian-American Associations in Philadelphia.
Sunday, May 5
10:00 am - 12:00 pm
READINGS AND SCREENING BY ITALO-PHILADELPHIAN ARTISTS
Houston Hall - Benjamin Franklin
Moderator
Helen McFie Simone
University of Pennsylvania
Rosemary Petracca Cappello
Writer
Diana Cavallo
Writer
Maria Famà
Writer
Justin Vitiello
Writer
Leonard Guercio
Filmmaker
(Tiramisu, A Short B/W Film)