Italians Without Borders:

Transnational Italian (American) Experience

The 47th Annual Conference

of

The Italian American Studies Association

October 17rd-October 19th, 2014

The University of Toronto

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

SPONSORS

Fordham University Press

The John D. Calandra Italian American Institute, CUNY

The National Italian American Foundation

The University of Toronto

CONFERENCE COMMITTEE

Salvatore Bancheri

Joanne DeTore

Nina Di Trapani

Michael Eula

George Guida

Joey Nicoletti

Joseph Sciorra

PROGRAM

Friday, October 17th, 2014

2 p. m. - 5 p. m.

EXECUTIVE COUNCIL MEETING 106 CARR HALL

4 p. m. – 6 p.m.

REGISTRATION CARR HALL 4TH FLOOR CORRIDOR

6:30 p. m. – 7:15 p. m.

INAUGURAL PRESENTATION ♦ Salvatore Bancheri (University of Toronto)

Welcome ♦ Giuseppe Pastorelli (Italian Consul General, Toronto)

Opening Remarks

♦ Antonio D’Alfonso (Independent Scholar, Author, Filmmaker) “The Cosmopolitan Italic Experience”

THE CROFT CHAPTER HOUSE AT UNIVERSITY COLLEGE

UC183 – 15 King’s College Circle

7:15 p. m. - 9:00 p.m.

OPENING RECEPTION HORS D’OEUVRES, CASH BAR

(Sponsored by Fordham University Press)

THE CROFT CHAPTER HOUSE AT UNIVERSITY COLLEGE

UC183 – 15 King’s College Circle

9:00 p. m. - 10:30 p.m.

NIGHTCAP: TEN POETS AND WRITERS READ ♦ Peter Carravetta (Stony Brook University) ♦ Dante Di Stefano (Binghamton

University) ♦Jessica Femiani (Author) ♦Chuck Joy (Author) ♦ Anthony Mitzel (Durham University) ♦ Lisa Paolucci (St. Francis College)

♦Joseph Ricapito (Louisiana State University) ♦ Nicole Santalucia (Shippensburg University) ♦ Pasquale Verdicchio (University of California,

San Diego) ♦ Angelo Zeolla (Author)

Saturday, October 18th, 2014

7:30 a. m. - 8:30 a.m.

CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST CARR HALL 4TH

FLOOR CORRIDOR

8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p. m.

REGISTRATION CARR HALL 4TH

FLOOR CORRIDOR

8:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.

BOOK TABLE DISPLAYS CARR HALL 4TH

FLOOR CORRIDOR

CONCURRENT SESSIONS

8:30-9:45 a.m.

SESSION 1A

Presenting “Critical Studies in Italian America”: Fordham University Press’s Latest Published Collections

405 CARR HALL Chairs: ♦ Nancy Carnevale (Montclair State University) and ♦ Laura Ruberto (Berkeley City College)

♦ Nancy Caronia (University of Rhode Island) and ♦ Edvige Giunta (New Jersey City University) “Personal Effects: Essays on Culture, Teaching, and Memoir in the Work of Louise DeSalvo”

♦ Simone Cinotto (University of Gastronomic Sciences) “Making Italian America: Consumer Culture and The Production Of Ethnic Identities”

♦ Luisa Del Giudice (Independent Scholar, Los Angeles) “Sabato Rodia's Towers In Watts: Art, Migrations, Development”

SESSION 1B

A Forgotten Generation: The Exile of Italian Intellectuals to the United States During the Interwar Years

406 CARR HALL Chair: Renato Camurri (University of Verona)

♦ Renato Camurri “Mussolini’s Gifts: Exiles from Fascist Italy”

♦ Mattia Acetoso (Boston College) “Renato Poggioli’s (Unending) Exile and the Problem of Return”

♦ Giuseppe Gazzola (Stony Brook University)

“‘Exile as Metaphor in an Unpublished Work by G. A. Borgese” ♦ John Monfasani (The University at Albany, SUNY)

“Paul Oskar Kristeller and Italy”

SESSION 1C The Accent of One’s Birthplace: Poetry of Place in the Italian Diaspora

403 CARR HALL Chair: ♦ Joanne DeTore (Embry-Riddle University)

♦ Joanne DeTore ♦ Amy Barone (Italian American Writers’ Association)

♦ Alan Gravano (West Virginia State University) ♦ Gerry LaFemina (Frostburg State University)

♦ Joey Nicoletti (Buffalo State University, SUNY)

10:00-11:15 a.m.

SESSION 2A Embroidered Stories: Interpreting Women’s Domestic Needlework

from the Italian Diaspora: A Roundtable 404 CARR HALL

Chair: ♦ Joseph Sciorra (The John D. Calandra Institute, CUNY) ♦ B. Amore (Artist, Author)

♦ Mary Jo Bona (Stony Brook University) ♦ Louise DeSalvo (Hunter College)

♦ Marisa Frasca (Author, Translator) ♦ Maria Mazziotti Gillan (Binghamton University, SUNY)

♦ Edvige Giunta (New Jersey City University) ♦ Joanna Clapps Herman (Manhattanville College)

♦ Gianna Patriarca (Author) ♦ Tiziana Rinaldi (Author)

♦ Christine Zinni (The College of Brockport, SUNY)

SESSION 2B Politics and the Italian Diaspora

405 CARR HALL Chair: ♦ Samuele F. S. Pardini (Elon University)

♦ Stefano Luconi “The Electoral Dimension of Transnationalism for Italy’s ‘Global’ Citizens: The U. S. Experience”

♦ Carl A. Antonucci (Central Connecticut State University) and ♦ Kenneth DiMaggio (Capital Community College)

“Vincent Impellitteri: American Pro-Consul, Italy, 1951: American Client State” ♦ Larbi Youcef (University Abd El Hamin Ibn Badis)

“Addio, Italia. Benvenuto, Algeri?” ♦ Pedro M. Cameselle (Fordham University)

“Italians in Uruguary: Transnational Networks and Inter-American Relations, 1933-1942”

SESSION 2C Italian Americans and Television

403 CARR HALL Chairs: ♦ Jon Cavallero (Bates College) and ♦ Laura Ruberto (Berkeley City College)

♦ Michael R. Frontani (Elon University) “Television, the Syndicate, and Italian American Image, 1950-1955”

♦ Aaron Baker (Arizona State University) “The Real Rocky: Television Documentary and the American Dream”

♦ Michele Rodino-Colocino and Dunja Antunovic (Pennsylvania State University) “DIY’s Italian American Machismo: Tony Siragusa Plays Himself to Renovate

(White) Masculinity on Man Caves”

SESSION 2D Art, Artists and Artisans

406 CARR HALL Chair: Anthony Cavaluzzi (State University of New York, Adirondack)

♦ Anthony Cavaluzzi “The Underground Gardens of Baldassare Forestiere”

♦ Angelyn Balodimas-Bartolomei (North Park Education) “Post-World War II Italian Immigrants: The Tuscan Artisans in Chicago”

♦ Kathleen M. Bennett (Today’s World Literacy Center) “Sicily: Global Citizens in the Eighteenth Century”

11:30-12:30 p. m.

FEATURED READING AND DISCUSSION

♦ Pier Giorgio Di Cicco

400 MUZZO FAMILY ALUMNI HALL 121 St. Joseph Street

12:30-1:30 p. m.

LUNCH (ON YOUR OWN)

1:30-2:45 p. m.

SESSION 3A Triangulations in the Canada-Italy-USA Borderlands

404 CARR HALL Chair: Luisa Del Giudice (Independent Scholar, Los Angeles)

♦ Luisa Del Giudice “Evolving Triangulations in the Borderlands”

♦ Giovanna P. Del Negro (Texas A & M University) “‘Never Canadian Enough’: Chronic Otherness and Working-Class Cosmopolitanism

in the Experience of an Immigrant Academic” ♦ Pasquale Verdicchio (University of California, San Diego) “Photographic and Filmic Images of Cultural Triangulation”

SESSION 3B Writing Class: Scholarly and Personal Narratives

405 CARR HALL Chair: ♦ Nick DeChario (Author)

♦ Cassandra Casella (New Jersey City University) “The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire:

An Italian American Granddaughter’s Personal and Scholarly Journey” ♦ Tiziana Rinaldi Castro (Author) “Amnesia is a Medicating Balm”

♦ Circe Accurso Sturm (University of Texas at Austin) “The Earth Trembles in Galveston, Too”

Respondent: ♦ Mary Anne Trasciatti (Hofstra University)

SESSION 3C Voyage, Migration and Limbo in Italian and Italian American Literature

403 CARR HALL Chair: Josephine Gattuso Hendin (New York University)

♦ Josephine Gattuso Hendin “The Uses of Reverse Migration to Italy: Imaginaries of Myth and Reality”

♦ Dennis Barone (University of Saint Joseph) “Neither Migrant Nor God: Emanuel Carnevali’s Voyage in Pagany”

♦ Frank A. Pellicone (University of Pennsylvania) “Per correr miglior acque: Dante in the Purgatory of Italian American Literature”

SESSION 3D Italian American Writers Bridging the Gap Between Italy and America

406 CARR HALL Chair: Maria Mazziotti Gillan (Binghamton University)

♦ Maria Mazziotti Gillan “Italian in America”

♦ Peter Covino (University of Rhode Island) “Developing a Post-Modern Italian in America Aesthetic”

♦ Edvige Giunta (New Jersey City University) “You Were the Girl”

3 – 4:15 p. m.

SESSION 4A Transnationalizing Italian American Studies: From Theory to Pedagogy

404 CARR HALL Chair: Loredana Polezzi (University of Warwick)

♦ Jennifer Burns (University of Warwick) ♦ Terri Colpi (British Italian Community Specialist)

♦ Loredana Polezzi ♦ Barbara Spadaro (University of Bristol)

Respondents: ♦ Donna Gabaccia (University of Minnesota) ♦ Fred Gardaphé (Queens College, CUNY)

♦ Anthony Julian Tamburri (The John D. Calandra Institute, CUNY)

SESSION 4B Italian Immigrant Enterprise in North America

405 CARR HALL Chair: ♦ Fraser Ottanelli (University of South Florida)

♦ Stefano Agnoletto (Bocconi University) “They Became Italians: Italian Immigrants in the Toronto Construction Industry, 1950s–1970s”

♦ Vittoria Ferrandino and ♦ Valentina Sgro (University of Sannio) “Italian Migration and Entrepreneurship’s Origins in the U. S.: A Business History Analysis

from the Post-War Period to the Present” ♦ Ruth A. Rappini (Author)

“Vittorio’s Journey—An Italian Immigrant’s Story”

SESSION 4C Italian Canadian Writers

406 CARR HALL Chair: ♦ Joseph V. Ricapito (Louisiana State University)

♦ Darlene Madott (Author) ♦ Michael Mirolla (Poet, Fiction Writer, Editor—Guernica Press)

♦ Gianna Patriarca (Poet)

4:30 – 5:45 p. m.

SESSION 5A Queer Italian American Literature: Space, Place, and Class

404 CARR HALL Chair: Ryan Calabretta-Sadjer (University of Arkansas, Fayetteville)

♦ Ryan Calabretta-Sadjer “Caught Between ‘Two’ Worlds: Space, Class, and Gender in Robert Ferro’s The Family of Max Desir and The Blue Star”

♦ Luca Lanzilotta (Dickinson College) “More than a Deviation: Felice Picano's Italian Journey”

♦ Taylor Papallo (Yale University) “Alterity and The Evolving Italian American Family in Philip Gambone's "Enrollment”

SESSION 5B Why an Ethnic Writing Association?

The Association of Italian Canadian Writers and The Italian American Writers’ Association:

Where to Go from Here? 405 CARR HALL

Chair: Gil Fagiani (Italian American Writers’ Association) ♦ Gil Fagiani

♦ Venera Fazio (Association of Italian Canadian Writers) ♦ Maria Lisella (Italian American Writers’ Association)

♦ Jim Zucchero (Association of Italian Canadian Writers, King’s University College at Western University)

SESSION 5C A Labor of Love: Learning about Life, Work,

and Intellectual Engagement with Louise DeSalvo 406 CARR HALL

Chairs: ♦ Nancy Caronia (University of Rhode Island) and ♦ Edvige Giunta (New Jersey City University)

♦ Mary Jo Bona (Stony Brook University) ♦ Kimberly Costino (California State University, San Bernardino)

♦ Ilaria Serra (Florida Atlantic University) ♦ Anthony Julian Tamburri (The John D. Calandra Institute, CUNY)

Respondent: ♦ Louise DeSalvo (Hunter College)

6 - 7 p. m.

KEYNOTE ADDRESS

♦ Bruno Ramirez (University of Montreal)

“Transnationalism and Italian Migrations to the U.S. and Canada” Opening Remarks by Anthony Tamburri (The John D. Calandra Institute, CUNY)

400 MUZZO FAMILY ALUMNI HALL

121 St. Joseph Street

8 p. m.

BANQUET

Fieramosca Restaurant 36A Prince Arthur Avenue

♦♦♦

Read an Epic Italian Immigrant Story!

Sunday, October 19th, 2014

8 a.m. - 8:30 a.m.

COFFEE BREAK CARR HALL 4TH

FLOOR CORRIDOR

8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p. m.

REGISTRATION CARR HALL 4TH

FLOOR CORRIDOR

9:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.

BOOK TABLE DISPLAYS CARR HALL 4TH

FLOOR CORRIDOR

CONCURRENT SESSIONS

8:30 - 9:45 a.m.

SESSION 6A The Ethnic Journalist and the Sit-Com Man:

Italian Canadians and Italian Americans in Mass Media 404 CARR HALL

Chair: Jon Cavallero (Bates College) ♦ Jon Cavallero

“The Sit-Com Man: Representing Italian-American Masculinities on Who’s the Boss?, Friends, and Everybody Loves Raymond”

♦ Daniela Sanzone (York University) “Interculturalism: Ethnic Journalism in Italy and Canada”

♦ Marilyn A. Verna (Saint Francis College) “Two Italian American Women Make Their Mark in American Society”

SESSION 6B Italian Immigrant Stories

405 CARR HALL Chair: ♦ Maria Lisella (The Italian American Writers’ Association)

♦ Janice A. Sabin (University of Washington) and Phillip Pitruzzello (Independent Researcher/Writer)

“The Vincenza Project” ♦ Mario Toglia (Author, Editor)

“From Calitri to America: Two Immigrant Stories”

SESSION 6C The Borders Within Fiction: A Collection of Voices

406 CARR HALL Chair: Joanna Clapps Herman (Manhattanville College)

♦ Joanna Clapps Herman from No Longer and Not Yet

♦ George Guida (New York City College of Technology, CUNY) from The New York State Trilogy

♦ Donna Miele (Author) from a novel-in-progress

Respondent: ♦ Gerry LaFemina (Frostburg State University)

10 - 11:15 a.m.

SESSION 7A Guernica Editions: The Work of an Italian Canadian Press

404 CARR HALL Chair: ♦ Connie McPartland (Guernica Editions)

♦ Antonio D’Alfonso (Founding Publisher, Guernica Editions) ♦ Gil Fagiani (Italian American Writers’ Association)

♦ Maria Mazziotti Gillan (Binghamton University) ♦ Rachel Guido DeVries (Author)

♦ Michael Mirolla (Guernica Editions) ♦ Italian American and Italian Canadian Guernica Authors

SESSION 7B Rust-Belt Italian Americans: Lived and Oral Histories

403 CARR HALL Chair: ♦ Mary Ann Trasciatti (Hofstra University)

♦ Melissa E. Marinaro (Heinz History Center) “An Archive of Oral Histories from Italian American Communities of Southwestern Pennsylvania”

♦ Anthony Dion Mitzel (University of Durham) “An Ethnogenesis of Youngs’talians: DIY narratives from the Rust Belt”

♦ Christine Zinni (The College of Brockport, SUNY) and ♦ Karen Canning (Independent Scholar) “Eviva San Giuseppe!: Continuity and Change in Western New York St. Joseph’s Day Celebrations”

SESSION 7C Global Italian American Poets: International Voices

Connecting the Diaspora with the Homeland 406 CARR HALL

Chair: ♦ George Guida (New York City College of Technology, CUNY) ♦ Peter Covino (University of Rhode Island)

♦ Michelangelo LaLuna (University of Rhode Island) ♦ Jennifer Militello (River Valley Community College)

♦ Robert Viscusi (Brooklyn College)

SESSION 7D

Italian Americana Presents Its Authors 406 CARR HALL

Chair: Perri Giovannucci (American University in Dubai) and ♦ John Paul Russo (University of Miami)

♦ Perri Giovannucci ♦ Alan Gravano (West Virginia State University)

♦ Marisa LaBozzetta (Author) ♦ Denise Scannell (New York City College of Technology, CUNY)

11:30 - 12:45 p. m.

SPECIAL PLENARY SESSION

“The Italian Americans”: A Screening and Discussion Of The New Public Television Documentary

♦ John Maggio (Filmmaker, Ark Media)

Respondents: ♦ Fred Gardaphé (Queens College/CUNY) and ♦ John Viola (National Italian American Foundation)

400 MUZZO FAMILY ALUMNI HALL

121 ST. JOSEPH STREET

12:45 p.m. - 2:15 p.m LUNCH (ON YOUR OWN)

2:15 – 3:30 p. m.

SESSION 8A Italoamericana: New Prospects in Teaching and Research

404 CARR HALL Chair: Robert Viscusi (Brooklyn College, CUNY)

♦ Robert Viscusi “Future Scholarship on Great Migration Authors and Works”

♦ Anthony Julian Tamburri (The John D. Calandra Institute, CUNY) “Bilingual Pedagogy in Teaching Italian American Literary History”

♦ James J. Periconi (Independent Scholar) “A Bibliography of Great Migration Authors and Works”

SESSION 8B Hymns, Parades, and Immigrants:

Varieties of Italian American Integration 405 CARR HALL

Chair: ♦ Mary Anne Trasciatti (Hofstra University) ♦ Danielle Battisti (University of Nebraska, Omaha)

“‘With the Spirit of Columbus—Our Parents Came to These Shores and Brought with Them Determination:” Columbus Day Celebrations, ‘Ethnic Contributism,’

and Immigration Reform (1952-1965)” ♦ Charles J. Scalise (Fuller Theological Seminary)

“‘United In A Bond Of Love’: Hymns And The Assimilation Of Protestant Italian-Americans”

SESSION 8C Borders, Citizenship and Italian Identity:

Looking at “Birds Of Paradise” Through Global Lenses 403 CARR HALL

Chair: Alexandra de Luise (Queens College, CUNY) ♦ Louisa Calio (Author)

♦Venera Fazio (Association of Italian Canadian Writers) ♦ Marisa Frasca (Author)

♦ Alexandra de Luise (Queens College, CUNY)

SESSION 8D Patriarchy and Childhood Nostalgia in Autobiographically Based Narratives

by First and Second Generation Italians 406 CARR HALL

Chair: Maria Giura (Montclair State University) ♦ Maria Giura

from a memoir-in-progress ♦ Rachel Guido deVries (Author)

from Tender Warriors ♦ Connie Guzzo McPartland (Guernica Editions)

from The Girls of Piazza d’Amore

3:45 - 5 p. m.

SESSION 9A The Growth of Italian-American Educators in the United States

404 CARR HALL

Chair: Vincenzo Milione (The John D. Calandra Institute) ♦ Vincenzo Milione

♦ Itala Pelizzoli (The John D. Calandra Institute) ♦ Carmine Pizzirusso (The John D. Calandra Institute)

SESSION 9B Chinese or Italian?: Representations of Chinese Immigration to Italy

and Italian American Foodways, in Film and Literature 405 CARR HALL

Chair: ♦ Simone Cinotto (University of Gastronomic Sciences) ♦ Meredith Levin (Columbia University)

“Comforting Cuisine: Italian American Foodways in Twentieth-Century Literature” ♦ Gaoheng Zhang (University of Toronto)

“Chinese Sensibility, Italian Audience: Italy’s Cosmopolitanism and Sino-Italian Intercultural Translation”

SESSION 9C Italian American Memoirs

405 CARR HALL Chair: ♦ Stanislao Pugliese (Hofstra University)

♦ Judith Pistacchio Bissette (Author) “An Italian American in Paris”

♦ Carol Mastrangelo Bové (University of Pittsburgh) “Autobiographical Fiction: A Psychoanalytic Reading of Frank Lentricchia’s The Edge of Night”

♦ Rose De Angelis (Marist College) “Sisters of Charity: They Had None; Well, Some Did”

♦ Mary Donnarumma Sharnick (Chase Collegiate School) “Wife, Mother, Virgin, Whore?: No, Zia!”

5:15 – 6:15 p.m.

IASA BUSINESS MEETING 404 CARR HALL

IASA Officers and Executive Council President George Guida New York City College of Technology City University of New York Vice President Michael Eula Buffalo State College State University of New York

Secretary Alan Gravano West Virginia State University Treasurer Dawn Esposito St. John’s University Curator Alexandra de Luise Queens College City University of New York

Executive Council Dennis Barone University of Saint Joseph Joanne Detore Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Marisa Frasca-Patinella Independent Scholar Chiara Mazzucchelli University of Central Florida Fred Misurella East Stroudsburg University

Joey Nicoletti Buffalo State University The State University of New York Robert Oppedisano Independent Scholar Joseph Ricapito Louisiana State University John Paul Russo University of Miami Anthony Tamburri The John D. Calandra Italian American Institute The City University of New York

Long Island Chapter President Anne T. Romano

Western Chapter President Adele Negro

Watch for the Premier Showing

AUTHOR and ACTIVIST

The Daniela Gioseffi Story with appearances by Angelina Oberdan,

George Guida, Anthony Tamburri,

Fred Gardaphe, Thea Rinaldi Kearney,

Rob Marchesani, and others.

A film by Anton Evangelista Preview trailer on You Tube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKg5RMTaDks

Also: CUNY-TV Interview with Dr. Anthony Tamburri:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSZ-05377Gk

READ PIONEERING ITALIAN AMERICAN CULTURE;

Essays and Interviews By and About Daniela Gioseffi

http://www.bordigherapress.org/ViaFolios3.html

_______________________________________________________________________ A new book on the stories of inventiveness and hope as well as of oppression and

despair experienced by thousands of Italians emigrated to Toronto

Agnoletto, Stefano

The Italians Who Built Toronto Italian Workers and Contractors in the City's Housebuilding Industry, 1950-1980

ISBN 978-3-0343-1773-3 http://www.peterlang.com?431773

COMING IN 2016!

VINCENZA 1917 A Story of One Sicilian Girl's Journey, Betrayal, and Triumph in the Year 1917

by

Janice A. (Pitruzzello) Sabin & Philip R. Pitruzzello

VINCENZA 1917 is a narrative non-fiction book that spans the genres of memoir, history, and coming of age in the

early 1900s. The main character, eighteen-year-old Vincenza Pitruzzello, immigrated to the US from Melilli, Sicily

in 1917. The story, much of it told in Vincenza's own words, recounts one momentous year in Vincenza's life

defined by steadfast faith, poverty, the world at war, America's closing borders, discrimination, constraints of

gender, family loyalty, and betrayal. VINCENZA 1917 portrays the universality and complexity of the immigration

experience. In the end, VINCENZA 1917 reminds us of the rich contribution immigrants make to American society.

Research in Progress: If you have expertise or special knowledge on the themes of this book, please contact Janice

Sabin, PhD, MSW (sabinja@uw.edu) or Philip Pitruzzello, JD (ppitruzzello@msn.com)

See you next year at IASA’s 48th Annual Conference, at the National Italian American Foundation’s

Gala Weekend in Washington D. C.!