248, Section 2: Imagining Italian America

M 2-5 | Dwinelle 6331 | Instructor: Laura Ruberto

Units: 2 or 4

This interdisciplinary seminar investigates cultural expressions and creative productions by and about Italian Americans in order to understand how such expressions construct and restrict identity, shape collective narratives, direct notions of race and ethnicity, and continue to be relevant within constantly-shifting transnational and global spaces. We will chart the field of Italian American Studies within related fields of study and varying notions of Italian mobilities (diaspora, colonialism, etc). We will also explore in-depth specific thematic nuclei around expressive culture, broadly understood, with emphasis on storytelling, performance, visual culture, and experiences of everyday life.

Readings will vary widely, with a focus on seminal studies and recent trends in the scholarship (including work by Gabaccia, Gardaphe, Gennari, Giunta, Guglielmo, Fiore, Orsi, Tamburri, Sciorra, Ruberto, and Verdicchio) as well as examples from literature, film, and the other arts.

Required readings include PDFs supplied by the professor and the following books:

  • Bencivenni, Marcella. Italian Immigrant Radical Culture: The Idealism of the Sovversivi in the United States, 189-01940. New York University Press, 2011. (paperback, 2014) ISBN: 9781479849024
  • Cinotto, Simone. The Italian American Table, New York University Press, 2013. (paperback) ISBN: 0252079345
  • Ets, Marie Hall. Rosa, The Life of an Italian Immigrant, University of Wisconsin Press, 1999. (paperback) ISBN: 0299162540
  • Gennari, John. Flavor and Soul: Italian American at Its African American Edge, University of Chicago Press, 2017. (paperback) ISBN: 9780226428321
  • The Italian American Political Solidarity Club, Editors. Avanti Popolo: Italian-American Writers Sail Beyond Columbus, Manic D Press, 2008. (paperback) ISBN: 1933149280
  • Ruberto, Laura E. and Joseph Sciorra. New Italian Migrations to the United States, Volume. 2: Art and Culture since 1945, Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2017. (paperback) ISBN: 9780252082917
  • Sciorra, Joseph. Built with Faith: Italian American Imagination and Catholic Material Culture in New York City. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2015 (paperback, 2018) ISBN: 1621903834

Course Requirements: weekly responses, at least one seminar presentation, and a research paper. Can be taken for 2 or 4 units (with different degrees of work).