Staying Italian

Last updated

Staying Italian: Urban Change and Ethnic Life in Postwar Toronto and Philadelphia is a 2009 book by Jordan Stanger-Ross published by the University of Chicago Press. The book compares and contrasts Italian Americans in South Philadelphia to Italian Canadians in Little Italy, Toronto, [1] covering the post-World War II period, [2] and how the two communities define what it means to have an "Italian" identity. [3] The book compares and contrasts the communities' employment patterns, religious practices, marriage practices, and choices of housing in the respective real estate markets. [4] Toronto's Italian community became geographically dispersed while Philadelphia's Italian community remained geographically concentrated; [5] Stanger-Ross explained that the territoriality was more important to Philadelphia's Italians compared to Toronto's, and that the lack of new Italian immigration to Philadelphia contributed to this difference. In Philadelphia African-Americans were settling the city, [6] and Italian Philadelphians feared that their neighborhood would be invaded by black people. [7] Philadelphia's Italians were less likely to move out of South Philadelphia, compared to Toronto's Italians in regards to their Little Italy. [8] In Toronto Italian immigration had continued, [6] and therefore many of the Italians were recent immigrants. [9] Many of them moved to outlying areas of the city and the suburbs. [7]

Contents

Background

Sources used by the book include census data, [7] church registers, ethnic presses, [5] government studies, marriage records, [7] oral histories, [5] publications of Catholic parishes, [7] and real estate records; [5] the real estate records included mortgage records. The book also used secondary literature as sourcing. [7]

Contents

The first chapter discusses the differences between the historical courses of Toronto and Philadelphia as a whole, while the other chapters discuss South Philadelphia and Little Italy in particular. [2] One of the chapters discusses religion. Caroline Waldron Merithew of the University of Dayton stated that in this chapter "the comparative North American framework's purpose and possibility shine" and that the chapter is the book's "most vital contribution to the understanding of Italian ethnicity". [6] The book's illustrations include graphs, maps, and photographs. [6]

Stanger-Ross intentionally avoided discussing assimilation in the book. Maria C. Lizzi of the University of Albany argued that the book should have discussed assimilation, [10] while John J. Bukowczyk of Wayne State University stated that the omission was "an understandable limitation". [11]

Reception

Lizzi stated that the book was "a step forward for ethnic historians of the post-war period", but that it is "impeded" by several issues, with the most significant being the omission of race relations such as Italian-American and African-American relations in Philadelphia. [12] Lizzi argued that the lack of discussion of issues regarding assimilation and, to a lesser extent, class status were problematic. [10]

Bukowczyk stated that scholars from the United States "will find this book an interesting and worthwhile read." [11] He stated that the relations of blacks and whites in Philadelphia is a "relatively ignored elephant in the room" even though Stanger-Ross stated that such dynamics were present in Philadelphia but not in Toronto. [4]

William Michelson of the University of Toronto stated that the book is "a rich examination of the persistence of and variations in Italian culture in North American cities-and a fascinating read." [13] He suggested that the book could have added more macro knowledge. [13]

Carmela Patrias of Brock University stated that this book was "fruitful" research. [5]

Merithew stated that the book "adds crucial geographic and chronological breadth to scholarship on Italian immigration." [6] She argued that the book should have better explained its photographs and explained how racism impacted demography of the Italians in Philadelphia as urban decay occurred. [6]

Roberto Perin of York University wrote that "this book fills an important void in the field of North American immigration and ethnicity where publications on the post-war period are few and far between." [9]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Little Italy, Toronto</span> Neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Little Italy, sometimes referred to as College Street West, is a district in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is known for its Italian Canadian restaurants and businesses. There is also a significant Latin-Canadian and Portuguese-Canadian community in the area. The district is centred on a restaurant/bar/shopping strip along College Street, centred on College Street, imprecisely between Harbord Street and Dundas Street, and spreading out east and west between Bathurst Street and Ossington Avenue. It is contained within the larger city-recognized neighbourhood of Palmerston-Little Italy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Internment of Japanese Canadians</span> Period of internment of Japanese people in Canada

From 1942 to 1949, Canada forcibly relocated and incarcerated over 22,000 Japanese Canadians—comprising over 90% of the total Japanese Canadian population—from British Columbia in the name of "national security". The majority were Canadian citizens by birth and were targeted based on their ancestry. This decision followed the events of the Japanese Empire's war in the Pacific against the Western Allies, such as the invasion of Hong Kong, the attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, and the Fall of Singapore which led to the Canadian declaration of war on Japan during World War II. Similar to the actions taken against Japanese Americans in neighbouring United States, this forced relocation subjected many Japanese Canadians to government-enforced curfews and interrogations, job and property losses, and forced repatriation to Japan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Italian Canadians</span> Ethnic group

Italian Canadians comprise Canadians who have full or partial Italian heritage and Italians who migrated from Italy or reside in Canada. According to the 2021 Census of Canada, 1,546,390 Canadians claimed full or partial Italian ancestry. They comprise a subgroup of Southern European Canadians which is a further subgroup of European Canadians. The census enumerates the entire Canadian population, which consists of Canadian citizens, landed immigrants and non-permanent residents and their families living with them in Canada. Residing mainly in central urban industrial metropolitan areas, Italian Canadians are the seventh largest self-identified ethnic group in Canada behind French, English, Irish, Scottish, German and Chinese Canadians.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Corso Italia (Toronto)</span> Neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Corso Italia is a neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on St. Clair Avenue West, between Westmount Avenue and Lansdowne Avenue. It is contained within the larger city-recognized neighbourhood of Corso Italia-Davenport.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ethnoburb</span>

An ethnoburb is a suburban residential and business area with a notable cluster of a particular ethnic minority population. Although the group may not constitute the majority within the region, it is a significant amount of the population. That can greatly influence the social geography within the area because of cultural and religious traditional values exhibited. Ethnoburbs allow for ethnic minority groups to maintain their individual identity, but that may also restrict their ability to fully assimilate into mainstream culture and society.

Franca Iacovetta is a "feminist/socialist" historian of labour and migration currently working at the University of Toronto.

Growing Up American: How Vietnamese Children Adapt to Life in the United States, by Min Zhou and Carl L. Bankston III is one of the most influential books on the Vietnamese American experience. Published in 1998 by the Russell Sage Foundation, it is widely used in college classes on international migration, contemporary American history, and Asian Studies. The book emphasizes the role of Vietnamese communities in promoting the adaptation of Vietnamese American young people.

Rubén G. Rumbaut is a prominent Cuban-American sociologist and a leading expert on immigration and refugee resettlement in the United States. He is Distinguished Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Irvine.

Philadelphia has a significant Italian American population. In 2010, the Philadelphia metropolitan region had the second-largest Italian-American population in the United States with more than 142,000 residents with Italian ancestry, and about 3,100 Italian immigrants.

<i>The Japanese in Latin America</i>

The Japanese in Latin America is a 2004 book published by the University of Illinois Press about Japanese Latin Americans. The author is Daniel Masterson, while Sayaka Funada-Classen gave research assistance related to the Japanese language. The book discusses all of the major Japanese populations in Latin America and some other groups of Japanese diaspora who are not as well known. The Japanese populations of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay in South America, Cuba and the Dominican Republic in the Caribbean, Central America, and Mexico are all discussed in this book.

<i>New Worlds, New Lives</i>

New Worlds, New Lives: Globalization and People of Japanese Descent in the Americas and from Latin America in Japan (ISBN 978-0804744621) is a 2002 academic book edited by Lane Ryo Hirabayashi, James A. Hirabayashi, and Akemi Kikumura-Yano and published by the Stanford University Press. The volume, edited by three Japanese American anthropologists, was produced by the Japanese American National Museum's International Nikkei Research Project. The same project produced the Encyclopedia of Japanese Descendants in the Americas: An Illustrated History of the Nikkei, and the two books are companion volumes.

The Chinese in Mexico, 1882–1940 is a 2010 book by Robert Chao Romero, published by the University of Arizona Press, about the history of Chinese immigration to Mexico. This is the first English-language monograph written about Chinese immigration to Mexico. Anju Reejhsinghani of University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point described it as "a social history of the small but influential Chinese merchant and laboring community in northern Mexico in the first half of the twentieth century." Erika Lee of the University of Minnesota stated that because much of the existing literature on Asian immigration to North and South America discusses the United States, this book "fills an enormous historiographical gap."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Italian Canadians in Greater Montreal</span>

Montreal and its suburbs have a substantial Italian Canadian community. As of 2007, 17.6% of the ethnic Italians in Canada live in Montreal.

Toronto has a large Italian Canadian community, with 30.3 per cent of the ethnic Italians in Canada living in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) as of 2021. Toronto is home to the fourth largest population of people of Italian descent after São Paulo, Buenos Aires and New York City, respectively. As of the Canada 2021 Census, there were 468,970 Italian Canadians located in the Greater Toronto Area, with 444,755 located within the Toronto CMA.

German-Canadian history in British Columbia began with the onset of the Fraser Gold Rush in 1858, when Germans, Austrians, Swiss Germans and other German-ethnic men arrived in British Columbia en masse as part of the migration to the new Colony of British Columbia from the California goldfields. Many notable figures in that gold rush and the subsequent Cariboo Gold Rush and other British Columbia gold rushes, with many staying on and settling, including many who founded ranches such as the Richter Ranch between Oliver and Keremeos. Like the rest of the province, Greater Vancouver has had historic immigration from Germany.

<i>Saltwater City: An Illustrated History of the Chinese in Vancouver</i>

Saltwater City: An Illustrated History of the Chinese in Vancouver is a 1988 book by Paul Yee, published by Douglas & McIntyre. It discusses the development of the Chinese Canadian community in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Building Little Italy: Philadelphia's Italians before Mass Migration is a 1998 nonfiction book by Villanova University sociologist professor Richard N. Juliani, published by Penn State University Press. The book discusses Italian immigration to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from its beginnings in the 1750s through the 1870s. The book discusses the individual Italian Americans and the social issues the early Italian American community faced.

John Joseph Bukowczyk is a professor of history at Wayne State University specializing in American immigration, history of American urban settlements and ethnic groups - in particular, Polish Americans.

<i>Looking Like the Enemy</i>

Looking Like the Enemy: Japanese Mexicans, the Mexican State, and US Hegemony, 1897-1945 is a 2014 non-fiction book by Jerry García, published by The University of Arizona Press. It discusses the treatment of Mexicans of Japanese descent and Japanese nationals in Mexico during World War II, as well as the overall history from 1897 to the war.

Donna Rae Gabaccia is an American historian who studies international migration, with an emphasis on cultural exchange, such as food and from a gendered perspective. From 2003 to 2005 she was the Andrew Mellon Professor of History at the University of Pittsburgh and from 2005 to 2012 she held the Rudolph J. Vecoli Chair of Immigration History at the University of Minnesota. During the same period, she was the director of the Immigration History Research Center at the University of Minnesota. In 2013, her book, Foreign Relations: Global Perspectives on American Immigration won the Immigration and Ethnic History Society's Theodore Saloutos Prize in 2013.

References

Notes

  1. ↑ Lizzi, p. 218.
  2. 1 2 Michelson, p. 92.
  3. ↑ Lizzi, p. 218-219.
  4. 1 2 Bukowczyk, p. 1450.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Patrias.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Merithew.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Perin, p. 493.
  8. ↑ Dilworth, p. 61.
  9. 1 2 Perin, p. 494.
  10. 1 2 Lizzi, p. 219.
  11. 1 2 Bukowczyk, p. 1451.
  12. ↑ Lizzi, p. 220.
  13. 1 2 Michelson, p. 93.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.