Michele Segretario is a Ph.D. Candidate in Italian Studies with a Designated Emphasis in Folklore. His dissertation, The Traveling Soundscape – An Acoustic Ethnography of the Italian Diaspora, which was awarded the Italian American Studies Association Annual Memorial Fellowship, is an aural investigation of the Italian migrations in the United States between the 20th and 21st centuries.

His research explores the intersections between folkloristics, sound studies, ethnomusicology, and diaspora studies within the migratory experience of Italians in the United States, with broader interests in politics, including Italian fascism, and a primary focus on diasporic listening practices.

Involved in public scholarship, Michele founded La Stiva, an organization that promotes social engagement and the emergence of artistic production among young audiences in poor and underserved areas in Sicily.

He holds a B.A. in Music Studies and an M.A. in Musicology, summa cum laude, from the Università degli Studi di Palermo, and completed his M.A. in Musicology at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

He is a co-founder of Berkeley’s Italian Migration Studies Working Group.

Recent publications:

2022. “Listening to the Italian Diaspora: Self-Cognition, Soundscapes, and Acoustic Networks.” Voci, edited by Luisa Del Giudice and Katia Ballacchino, Anno XIX: 142-160.
2021. “Aurality and Tactics of Resistance in Colonial Latin America.” Sound Ethnographies IV (1): 107-123.
2019. “A Fickle Soundscape, The Fisherman’s Feast in the Boston’s North End.” Italian American Review 9 (1): 113-130.