Representations of Race and Italian-Ness in Canada's Printed Media Kr
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CAN ITALIAN-CANADIANS HAVE THEIR CANNOLI AND EAT IT TOO? REPRESENTATIONS OF RACE AND ITALIAN-NESS IN CANADA’S PRINTED MEDIA KRYSTA PANDOLFI A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY GRADUATE PROGRAM IN EDUCATION YORK UNIVERSITY TORONTO, ONTARIO March 2018 © Krysta Pandolfi, 2018 Abstract In 2009, Dina Pugliese, co-host of a popular daily television show in Toronto, stated in an interview that she was hesitant to pursue an on-camera career because she worried that she was “too spicy-Italian.” Her words speak to long-standing stereotypes of Italians, developed out of eighteenth and nineteenth century representations of Italy. Clearly, hers is not an identity that has been uncomplicatedly subsumed into Whiteness. Stereotypes borrowed from Europe mark Italian-Canadians, who mostly come from Southern Italy, and who were seen (both inside and outside of Europe) as ‘swarthy’, ‘hot-blooded’ and ‘short-tempered.’ In this dissertation, I examine the concept of Italian-ness in two culturally specific Italian- Canadian magazines, Panoram Italia and Accenti. Thematic data was collected to explore how the magazines construct the image of the Italian-Canadian in their editorial discourses and how this discourse analysis may serve to reveal existing racialized power relations. I identify parallels between Italy as Europe’s south and the Italian-Canadian community, and the ways they serve to function as a filter to understanding Italian-Canadian migration and ongoing concepts of difference within Canada. Furthermore, I explore how the magazine editorial discourses strove to define the interplay between Italian-ness within Canada’s ethno-racial categorizations. The empirical chapters, based on my discourse analysis of both Accenti and Panoram Italia, focus on the Italianization of John Cabot, Italian-Canadian internment during World War II and the politics of redress, and the space and place of Italian-Canadians within Canada’s social and political life. I show that attempts on the part of Italian-Canadian media to legitimize the presence of Italian-Canadians in Canada often result in identities that collude and collide in the construction of Italian-ness as Whiteness. My empirical chapters illustrate a growing need for ii critical Whiteness studies to re-investigate how groups come to self-identify and are labelled by others. Overall, I discuss how critical Whiteness studies, as a theoretical framework, continues to omit differences between White ethnics, particularly in terms of a European continental north- south divide impacting Western thought. I illustrate how printed media representations of Italian-Canadian-ness are often at odds with the thematic claims discussed in critical Whiteness studies, which is often synonymous with normativity, invisibility, culture-less and a non-ethnic background. By critically analyzing the ways Italian-ness is constructed in printed media, I highlight both the general considerations of critical Whiteness studies as obscuring certain identities, which remain “peripheral” (Satzewich, 2000) within its project, and the paradoxical implications this oversight may have for groups like Italian-Canadians. I note the need to de- universalize the processes of racialization within the construction of Whiteness by unpacking the field from an Anglo-British and Anglo-American dominance. That way, it may anchor the field of Whiteness by acknowledging how localized forms of cultural expression elicit a particular Canadian and Italian understanding of race and belonging. Thus, countering how critical Whiteness studies may inadvertently re-inscribe race in problematic ways. iii Acknowledgements I owe immeasurable thanks to my supervisor, Celia Haig-Brown, for her unwavering enthusiasm in this project. Her probing and incisive comments and her gentle reminders to get the writing done made this day possible. I equally thank Carl E. James for his unfailing interest and support. During my time at York University, Carl generously provided a vibrant space for graduate research and friendship. Kindest of thanks to Carmela Murdocca for having agreed to serve on the committee and for her thoughtful comments and suggestions. I also thank Patricia Wood and Franca Iacovetta for their service and time, and Nombuso Dlamini for chairing a lively defence. Heartfelt thanks to the many friends and colleagues who provided vital camaraderie during this process: Danielle Kwan-Lafond, Selom Chapman, Sonya Sachar, Desmond Miller, Tapo Chimbganda, Marsha Miller, Jade Shortte, Patricia Gagliardi-Ursua, Bianca La Neve, Tamir Arviv and Verna St. Denis. I wish to thank the Faculty of Education at York for fostering a positive and welcoming learning environment. Throughout the years and in different capacities Elizabete Petersons, Laura Greco, and Loretta Fiorini provided vital administrative support. Finally, to my parents, Nicole and Umberto, thank you for always being loving, kind, and supportive. iv Table of Contents Abstract ........................................................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements .........................................................................................................................................iv Chapter 1 - The persistence of Italian-ness .................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 2 – The making of Italy and the Italians ......................................................................................... 14 Ethnicity as suspect within critical Whiteness studies ........................................................................ 17 White ethnicity as symbolic ................................................................................................................... 18 Role of Canadian multiculturalism ....................................................................................................... 22 Whiteness as hegemonic ......................................................................................................................... 25 Rethinking Italy’s place within a hegemonic representation of Europe........................................... 31 The impact of the Renaissance .............................................................................................................. 32 Italy and the Italians re-imagined ......................................................................................................... 35 Creating Italy........................................................................................................................................... 37 The development of “Southern Italy” as an imagined and ideological concept .............................. 38 Southern Italy as Europe’s “Indies” ..................................................................................................... 39 Southern Italy as Europe’s “Africa” .................................................................................................... 41 Southern Italy as “scientifically” atavistic and violent ....................................................................... 45 Chapter 3 – Methods .................................................................................................................................... 51 Critical discourse analysis ...................................................................................................................... 52 Sources and sampling ............................................................................................................................. 55 Accenti ...................................................................................................................................................... 56 Panoram Italia ......................................................................................................................................... 58 Sampling................................................................................................................................................... 60 Chapter 4 – Claiming roots: The Italianization of John Cabot as a paradoxical source of historical pride and rootedness. ............................................................................................................................................ 62 The politics of exit and entry ................................................................................................................. 63 Historical overview of Canada’s immigration policy ......................................................................... 66 The genesis of the Italianization of John Cabot .................................................................................. 71 In search of the North American Adam(o) .......................................................................................... 75 Fascism and its concept of romanita and bonifica ............................................................................... 77 The role of Venice ................................................................................................................................... 79 The Italianization of Cabot and Italian-Canadian historiography .................................................... 82 Challenging meta-narratives ................................................................................................................