Land of Women: Basilicata, Emigration, and the Women Who Remained Behind, 1880-1914
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City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works All Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects 6-2017 Land of Women: Basilicata, Emigration, and the Women Who Remained Behind, 1880-1914 Victoria Calabrese The Graduate Center, City University of New York How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/2101 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] LAND OF WOMEN: BASILICATA, EMIGRATION, AND THE WOMEN WHO REMAINED BEHIND, 1880-1914 by Victoria Calabrese A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty in history in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, The City University of New York 2017 ii ©2017 VICTORIA CALABRESE All Rights Reserved iii Land of Women: Basilicata, Emigration, and the Women who Remained Behind, 1880-1914 by Victoria Calabrese This manuscript has been read and accepted for the Graduate Faculty in History in satisfaction of the dissertation requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Date [Mary Gibson] Chair of Examining Committee Date [Andrew Robertson] Executive Officer Supervisory Committee: Marta Petrusewicz Jane Schneider Herman Bennett Timothy Alborn THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK iv ABSTRACT Land of Women: Basilicata, Emigration, and the Women who Remained Behind, 1880-1914 by Victoria Calabrese Advisor: Mary Gibson Between 1880 and 1914, millions of Italians emigrated to all corners of the globe in hopes of earning better wages and forging a better life for themselves and for their families. This dissertation examines the role of the women left behind in the Italian region of Basilicata when their husbands emigrated, and the political, social, economic, and legal changes they experienced in their absence. During the Liberal Period, women had few political rights, and married women were dependent on their husbands, but being left on their own put them in a unique position. I argue that the Southern Italian women who remained behind were not passive, powerless, or simply waiting for their husbands to return, but played a role above and beyond that of their subordinate legal role. They were living in a transnational society, and were exposed to ideas, people, and customs from all over the world. They were consumers handling money, citizens appealing to state agencies for assistance, mothers raising young children, and de facto heads of households, despite not having legal authority. My research demonstrates that emigration allowed these women to become integrated citizens in a newly unified Italy. They had increased social, economic, and civic responsibilities, which challenged societal norms and perceived stereotypes of Southern Italians. Overall, this dissertation uses emigration to show how Italian women in the Liberal Period acted beyond their traditional role and in doing so became modern citizens in the Italian state. v Acknowledgements: I wish to express my gratitude to a number of people who have helped me immensely with this dissertation. First and foremost, my advisor, Mary Gibson, who has read many drafts of my chapters and has always provided me with invaluable feedback and advice. Marta Petrusewicz, who also offered important guidance and insight as she read my drafts. I also wish to thank the other members of my dissertation committee: Jane Schneider, Herman Bennett, and Timothy Alborn, all of whom have carefully read my work, offering their unique perspectives. The members of our Italian History dissertation group, Francesca Vassale, Sultana Banulescu, Antonella Vitale, Diana Moore, and Davide Colasanto, for reading my chapters with interest and for offering suggestions and encouragement. To all other professors and scholars who provided feedback and guidance, it is much appreciated. I am extremely grateful to the organizations and institutions who have been generous enough to award me funding which has allowed me to undertake various research trips to the Italian archives. I also wish to thank all the staff and archivists who have assisted me during my various research trips to Italy, especially those at the Archivio di Stato in Potenza, the Archivio di Stato in Matera, and the Archivio Centrale dello Stato in Rome. To my parents, all other family and friends who have supported me during this journey. Thank you. vi Table of Contents: Chapter 1-Introduction 1 Chapter 2- Before Leaving: Life in Italy and Basilicata after Unification and During the Period of Major Emigration 33 Chapter 3- To Leave or Not to Leave: The Emigration Decision and Process 70 Chapter 4- Italian Women: Everyday Life and Emigration 106 Chapter 5- Women and the State: Emigration and Political and Economic Roles 143 Chapter 6- Emigration, Community, and Family: Shifting Gender Roles and Women as “Heads of Household” 177 Chapter 7- When They Returned 212 Chapter 8-Conclusion 237 Bibliography 244 vii List of Illustrations: Fig. 1- Map of Italy 7 Fig. 2- Physical Map of Basilicata 36 Fig. 3- Districts of Basilicata 78 Fig. 4- Provinces of Basilicata 78 Fig. 5- Map of Basilicata 215 1 Chapter 1: Introduction In December of 1883, Lucrezia Alberti, a woman from the small town of Viggiano, in the Southern Italian region of Basilicata, appealed to the mayor to issue her a passport for America. She told him that her husband had emigrated to South America eight years prior, and she had not heard from him in five years. He left promising to continue to provide for the family in his absence, as was his marital duty, but he had not kept his promise, which Lucrezia said saddened her. She explained to the mayor that she was a struggling mother with three young children, and because her husband was not sending money to support the family, she often was forced to work as a servant. However, she often did not find work and thus on some days the family went without eating. Lucrezia went to the mayor to request a passport so she could travel to America to search for her husband. Yet, despite the hardships of the family, Lucrezia could not be issued a passport because she was a married woman and needed her husband’s authorization. This put her in a bind. It must have taken a lot of courage for her to go to the mayor, possibly already knowing she did not have her husband’s authorization and was likely to be turned down. The mayor responded to her request stating that a passport could not be granted, and she was advised to write to the Foreign Ministry (Ministero degli Affari Esteri) with a request to locate her husband and ask him to send money home.1 Lucrezia’s story is only one of many that demonstrates some of the ways women and families in Basilicata were affected by emigration between 1880 and 1914. This story also touches upon many of the key topics that will be discussed in this dissertation: emigration, Basilicata, gender roles, changing attitudes and customs, and women left behind. During the 1 Archivio di Stato di Potenza, Atti di Pubblica Sicurezza, Cat 6, #43. 2 time period covered in this dissertation, 1880-1914, a married woman in Italy depended on the financial support of her husband and his legal role as head of the household. When men emigrated, women were left on their own to bear the burden taking care of the home, raising the children, and managing family funds. In some instances, married women, with few legal rights, appealed to the state to obligate their husbands to fulfill their legal duties. This dissertation will address the implications of emigration on the women left behind, and the great amount of change women experienced during this absence. Background Migration: Migration existed within Italy for centuries. Leslie Page Moch, a migration historian, was one of the first to argue that Europeans were never sedentary. This, of course, includes Italians as well. In the 18th and early 19th centuries in particular, migration in Italy was largely internal and seasonal.2 Yet by the late 19th century, emigration to places much farther became a feasible option. Steamboats made the transatlantic journey a lot faster and a lot cheaper than ever before. The growing network of railroads throughout Italy and the rest of Europe over the course of the 19th century also made for quicker and easier movement. These two realities alone allowed people who were looking for opportunities outside their village a chance to travel to places farther than they could have imagined. Many scholars view emigration outside of Italy as a continuation of local labor practices and as a broadening out of existing family strategies.3 Between 1880 and 1914, a great wave of Italian emigration occurred, as millions of people from all over Italy left their homes in search for opportunity and a better life abroad. This 2 See: Angiolina Arru and Franco Ramella, L’Italia delle migrazioni interne: donne, uomini, mobilità in età moderna e contemporanea (Rome: Donzelli, 2003). 3 Jonathan Dunnage, Twentieth Century Italy: A Social History (New York: Pearson, 2002), 14. 3 emigration was exceptionally strong from Basilicata, a region affected so greatly that it was the only place in Italy where the population fell between 1881 and 1901, from 524,504 to 490,705.4 Of recorded emigrants over this period of time, approximately 80% were men, many of whom were married. To use a specific example, between 1903 and 1905, 83% of migrants from Italy were male.5 This means that as men emigrated to search for opportunity abroad, many married women and their children were left behind. Although many Italians left for good, much of this emigration was also seasonal or temporary.