DIASPORIC CONTINUITIES

2010-05-31T21:43:00.001-07:00

In terms of ‘diasporic continuities’, perhaps resolution of the debate before the Canadian Parliament on the restitution to those Italians and Italian Canadians interned during WWII by 2011 would be a fitting sesquicentennial celebration. It is an issue concerning the *diaspora* of Italians that *continues* to this day … seventy years after the fact, twenty years after then-PM Brain Mulroney’s unofficial apology, and approximately one month after the Canadian Parliament issued a formal apology … .

Bill C-302
An Act to recognize the injustice that was done to persons of Italian origin through their “enemy alien” designation and internment during the Second World War, and to provide for restitution and promote education on Italian-Canadian history

See relevant clauses of Bill C-302 below.

RECOGNITION AND APOLOGY
3. The Parliament of Canada hereby acknowledges the unjust treatment received by persons of Italian origin as a result of their designation as “enemy aliens”, their registration and internment and other infringements of their rights during the Second World War, and apologizes on behalf of Parliament, the Government of Canada and the Canadian people of earlier times and of today for the suffering that this treatment caused.
4. The Minister of Canadian Heritage, in cooperation with the Minister of Finance, shall negotiate with the National Congress of Italian Canadians an agreement for a suitable payment to be made in restitution for the unjust treatment described in section 3, which agreement shall be proposed to Parliament for approval.

Roberto Buranello

2010-05-21T08:41:00.001-07:00

Hello,

I'm reading the posts on this new salon with interest. It's exciting! First off, I found just the name of the site to be thought-provoking: Diasporic Continuities. It's a bit of an oxymoron - the two words contradict each other. Maybe that's the point."Diaspora" meaning dispersed communities outside of the homeland. "Continuities" meaning holding the ties, containing the connection. Two opposite activities. Like an amoeba widening & contracting. But then, we certainly are amoebic!

I also think most people wouldn't even associate the word "diaspora" legitimately with Italians and Italian Americans. Oh well. They'll learn!

Sometimes I think the Italian American community here in the U.S. is the community that doesn't know it's a community. So, thanks for creating this salon! Maybe it will contribute to us finding and refining our boundaries and our communal definition.

Yes, it will be curious to see what Italy's 150th celebration will look like, over there, and over here. People Get Ready!!

by Giovanna Capone

2010-05-20T10:31:00.001-07:00

Past Commemorations of Italian Unification
In considering the 150 years of Italian “diasporic continuities” I became curious to think about what kinds ofevents marked earlier celebrations of unification, especially ones outside of Italy’s national borders.

Among various commemorations, there are two that I find particularly striking:

In 1971, in Philadelphia there was a multi-day “Festival of Italy” that according to Samanth Owen Quinn served more to confirm an Italian American identity than celebrate the Risorgimento specifically (see: http://www.compas.ox.ac.uk/study/migration-studies-society/). In fact, when we consider the larger racial tensions and cultural shifts of the late 1960s/early 1970s in the US, such a celebration of Italian ethnic pride—“Kiss me I’m Italian”-buttons and flags galore—makes perfect sense. And what does it mean that as Coppola’s The Godfather was about to hit movie screens and revitalize one of the most powerful popular images of Italian Americans, communities were looking back at the history of a nation that had in many respects let them down?

Going back to the early twentieth century, instead, the Dante Alighieri Society of New York City (and Carlo Barsotti, then-editor of Il Progresso) spearheaded the building and placement of a monument to Dante at Lincoln Center. In 1912 it was inaugurated specifically in honor of the 50th anniversary of Italian unification. The complexities of upholding Dante as a noted “Italian” poet is pretty straight-forward these days. Although a figure central to eventual unification mainly as an early proponent of a single-Italian language (with all the loaded socio-political linguistic concerns related to this) , it rings odd, at the very least, to have a 14th century poet of a non-unified Italy held up as a symbol of a modern nation—even more so when it is an immigrant community who is shaping that symbol.

What will the 150 year commemorations hold ? How will they come to reflect the cultural and political position and experiences of the Italian diaspora today?

(posted by Laura E. Ruberto)

2010-05-18T13:38:00.001-07:00

2010-05-18T09:27:00.001-07:00

From the Risorgimento to Berlusconi, what has changed?

“Emigration was a key to the Nationalists’ success in crystallizing their rhetoric and attracting a broad audience.”

Mark Choate, Emigrant Nation: The Making of Italy Abroad, Harvard UP, 2008.

“Berlusconi’s right-wing Forza Italia government has set up a Ministry for Italians Abroad and recently altered the law to allow for the first time a postal vote for Italians living overseas.”

Greg Brown, “Political Bigamy: Dual Citizenship in Australia’s Migrant Communities,” People and Places, 10(1), 2002, pg. 74.

(posted by Laura E. Ruberto)

2010-05-17T22:49:00.000-07:00

«attribuire ad altri la propria infelicità […] è l'ultimo ingannevole filtro dei disperati»

from Il gattopardo, T. Di Lampedusa

2010-05-17T22:04:00.000-07:00

1861-2011

Onehundred and fifty years of nationhood. But what does it mean? Laura Ruberto and I thought it might be useful to consider what the legacy of that moment in history might be as Italy is changing demographically after a period of zero growth. With less than a clear memory of its own history of migration, Italy now faces the reality of having to deal with a growing immigrant population. As internal forces are pushing for a disintegration of what we have come to know as Italy, a new Italy is slowly emerging that will be different in many ways. Ironically, Unification might in the end be strengthened by its new residents rather than those who see themselves to be as the only "legitimate" italians.