E Pluribus: What Is Italian America?

45th Annual Conference of the Italian American Studies Association

Hofstra University Hempstead, New York November 29- December 1, 2012 IASA 45TH Annual Conference November 29 - December 1, 2012 Hofstra University Hempstead, New York

E Pluribus: What is Italian America?

SPONSORS Hofstra University The John D. Calandra Italian American Institute, CUNY Queensboro UNICO

CONFERENCE COMMITTEE

Athelene Collins Natalie Datlof George Guida Deborah S. Lom Stanislao Pugliese

HOFSTRA CONFERENCE COORDINATORS

Athelene Collins Natalie Datlof George Guida Deborah S. Lom Stanislao Pugliese

ProgramProgram

Thursday, November 29

1:00-6:00 p. m. REGISTRATION Student Center Lobby Sondra and David S. Mack Student Center North Campus 1:00–4:00 p. m. EXECUTIVE COUNCIL MEETING [DEBORAH SENDS]

CONCURRENT SESSIONS

4:00-5:15 p. m.

SESSION 1A: Italian Americans in Law Enforcement: From Petrosino to Forensic Pathology Chair: Anne T. Romano, Nassau Community College, SUNY "Italian Americans in Law Enforcement" Anne T. Romano "Det. Giuseppe Petrosino: His Legacy" Prof. Joanne Lecci, Nassau Community College, SUNY "Italian Americans & Discrimination" Enrico Annichiarico, Nassau Community College, SUNY "Italian Americans in Policing" Prof. Anthony Ottomano, Nassau Community College, SUNY "Italian Americans in Forensic Pathology: The Crimes They Solve" Penny Bartell Schlachter, Nassau Community College,

SESSION 1B: Italian Americans Among Others Chair: Mary Anne Trasciatti, Hofstra University “’But What Are You?’: Crossing the Continental Divide(s) on the Navajo Reservation” Carmela Delia Lanza, Dakota State University “Who Lives in Boston’s ‘Italian’ North End? James Pasto, Boston University “Living in a Multi-Ethnic Community in the 1940s” Judith Pistacchio Bessette, Independent Scholar “Italianità and Its Atlantic Transformation: From the Mediterranean to the Caribbean, 1896-1939" Antonietta Di Pietro, Florida International University

SESSION 1C: Discoveries in Italian American Literature Chair: Dennis Barone, University of Saint Joseph “Joseph Torra’s Prose and the Italian Value of Work” Dennis Barone “A Tricky Game in a Foreign Country” (Spencer’s A Light in the Piazza) Patricia Polak, Manhattanville College “Philip Lamantia and His Embrace of Italian-American Imagery: The Path of a Surrealistic Mystic Poet” Maria Protti, Independent Scholar SESSION 1D: Unto the Daughters Chair: Louisa Calio, Author, Poet “The Scapegoat Complex as Defined by Jungian Sylvia Perera and the Feminine in Italian/American Experience” Louisa Calio “Remembering the Aunts” Florence Gatto, Author Excerpt from Unto the Daughters Karen Tintori, Author “Domestic Violence and the Italian American Temperament” Marisa Labozzetta, Author

5:30-6:45 p. m.

SESSION 2A: Unearthing Italian American History Chair: Stanislao Pugliese, Hofstra University “Boston’s Italian Burial Ground: St. Michael’s Cemetery” Richard Bonanno, Assumption College “The Boston Italian Wheelmen of the 1890s Cycling Craze” Lorenz J. Finison, Independent Scholar “For God and Country: St. Lucy’s Italian American Parish Responds to WWII” Salvatore LaGumina, Nassau Community College, SUNY “The American Life of Joseph Biggio” Edward Albert Maruggi, Rochester Institute of Technology

SESSION 2B: Book Presentation and Reading: Ellis Island, by Robert Viscusi Chairs: Fred Gardaphè and Anthony Julian Tamburri, Bordighera Press and the John D. Calandra Italian American Institute Robert Viscusi, Brooklyn College, CUNY

SESSION 2C: A Knowledge Management System (KMS) for the Italian Historical Emigration--Roundtable Chair: Dominic Candeloro, Governors State University Fabio Capocaccia, President of CISEI (Centro Internazionale Studi Emigrazione Italiana) Domenic Candeloro, Governors State University Anthony Julian Tamburri, The John D. Calandra Italian American Institute

SESSION 2D: Italian Americana Presents Its Authors Chairs: John Paul Russo and Alan Gravano, Editors, Italian Americana Joseph Bathanti, Author Alan Gravano John Paul Russo

7:00-7:30 p. m. A TRIBUTE TO IASA'S FOUNDERS Salvatore LaGumina, Nassau Community College, SUNY

7:30-9:30 p. m. OPENING RECEPTION

Friday, November 30

8:00-9:00 a. m. LIGHT BREAKFAST

8:30 a. m.–4:00 p. m. REGISTRATION Student Center Lobby Sondra and David S. Mack Student Center North Campus

10:00-4:00 BOOK TABLE DISPLAYS

CONCURRENT SESSIONS

9:00-10:15 a. m.

SESSION 3A: Padroni and Prominenti: Patronage and Leadership in Italian America Chair: Fraser Ottanelli, University of South Florida “Kingfish: An American Padrone” Laurie Buonanno, Buffalo State College, and Michael Buonanno, State College of Florida “From the Prominenti to the Ethnic Leadership: The Changing of the San Francisco Italian-American Community Ruling Group (1931-1951)” Tommaso Caiazza, Università di Venezia “Ca’ Foscari” “Everyone is Welcome to the Table: Italian Traditions and The Radical Leaders of East Harlem” LuLu LoLo Pascale, Independent Artist

SESSION 3B: Italian American Women’s Lives Chair: Mary Jo Bona, Stony Brook University “Sliced Thin: Anorexia in an Italian-American Adolescence” Rosangela Briscese, The John D. Calandra Italian American Institute “Women at a Crossroads: Rites of Passage in Italian America” Camilla Dubini, University College of London “Popular Women’s Fiction and the Shaping of Italian-American Identity: The Case of Adriana Trigiani” Theodora D. Patrona, Aristotle University, Thessaloniki “‘When You Do Something With Your Hands’: Reading Female Hands, Touch, and Handwork in the Poetry of Maria Mazziotti Gillan” Marie Plasse, Merrimack College

SESSION 3C: Italian Americans: Perceptions and Realities Chair: Salvatore LaGumina, Nassau Community College, SUNY “Bombshells, Goombahs, Nonnas and Wiseguys: Will the Other Italian Americans Please Stand Up?” Kris DiLorenzo (Kris Dean), Independent Scholar, Actor “Beliefs About Italian Americans and Organized Crime in the United States” Louis Gesualdi, St. John’s University “The Foundation of Inter-Colonialism and Its Integration into Italian-American Studies” Courtney Ruffner Grieneisen, State College of Florida

SESSION 3D: Robert Viscusi: A Life in Italian American Studies—Roundtable Chair: George Guida, New York City College of Technology, CUNY Teresa Fiore, Montclair State University Pellegrino D'Acierno, Hofstra University Josephine Gattuso Hendin, New York University Stephen Belluscio, Borough of Manhattan Community College, CUNY Robert Viscusi, Brooklyn College, CUNY

10:30-11:45 a. m.

SESSION 4A: Why We Need a New History of Italian Americans—Roundtable Chair: William J. Connell, Seton Hall University Fred Gardaphé, Queens College, CUNY Mark Choate, Brigham Young University Nancy Carnevale, Montclair State University Stanislao Pugliese, Hofstra University

SESSION 4B: Lavender Paesans: Italian American Gay and Lesbian Identities Chair: Dawn Esposito, Saint John’s University “To Answer the Question: ‘What Is Italian America?’ . . . Well, We Gay Italian Americans Are a Part of Italian America” Michael Carosone, Teachers College of Columbia University “My Identity is Lavender, So Am I Italian American?” Joseph Anthony LoGiudice, The Graduate Center, CUNY "Poems on Being First-Generation Lesbian Italian American" Vittoria repetto, Author

SESSION 4C: Beyond Little Italy Chair: Salvatore LaGumina, Nassau Community College, SUNY "From "Big Boss" to Big Business: Italian-Americans as Entrepreneurs and in Corporate America, or Italian-Americans and Business (No, not that business)" Madeline Crocitto, State University of New York--Old Westbury “Italian Americans: The Move to Suburbia” William Egelman, Iona College “Sarah Wool Moore: Education as the Key to Assimilation of Italian Immigrants” Teresa Fava Thomas, Fitchburg State University “Are There Still Italian American Social Institutions?” Donald Tricarico, Queensborough Community College, CUNY

SESSION 4D: What Is an Italian American Poet?: A Reading and Discussion—Part I Chair: Alan J. Gravano, Marshall University Peter Covino, University of Rhode Island Mary Giamo, La Scuola d’Italia Gerry LaFemina, Frostburg State University

11:45-1:15 p. m.

LUNCH ON YOUR OWN

1:15-2:30 p. m. SESSION 5A: Life in Between: Immigrants in Italian America Chair: Dennis Barone, University of Saint Joseph “The Family Sagas of Barolini and Mazzuco and Italian Women’s Global Migrations” Dennis Barone “How the History of Brigandage and Genocide in Southern Italy Shaped My Grandfather’s Attitudes in Italian America” Daniela Gioseffi, Author “Italian American Migrant Literature: The Feeling of Being Suspended Between Two Worlds” Michela Valmori, Università di Bologna

SESSION 5B: What's in a Name That Ends in a Vowel?: Italian (American)ness in Dispute Chair: Jerry Krase, Brooklyn College, CUNY “Reflections on an Italian Name” Lawrence Baldassaro, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee “Why Am I Not an Italian-American?: The Fruitless Search for Roots; or, You Can’t Get There From Here” Jerry Krase “How Could They: Don’t They Know I’m Italian?” Maria Protti, Independent Scholar

SESSION 5C: Italian American Writers Search for Home—A Reading Chair: Maria Mazziotti Gillan, The Poetry Center, Passaic Community College Rachel Guido DeVries, Author Fred Gardaphé, The John D. Calandra Italian American Institute Josephine Gattuso Hendin, New York University

SESSION 5D: What is an Italian American Poet?: A Reading and Discussion—Part II Chair: Alan J. Gravano, Marshall University Joanne Detore Nakamura, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Joey Nicoletti, Niagara University Joseph Ricapito, Louisiana State University Martha Silano, Bellevue College

2:45 - 4:00 p. m.

SESSION 6A: Topics Taboo in Italian American Culture Chair: Robert Viscusi, Brooklyn College, CUNY “Who's Afraid of Columbus?” William Connell, Seton Hall University “The Perpetual Immigrant” A. W. Cafarelli, Independent Scholar “Taboo or Not Taboo: What Italian American Stand-Up Comics Won't Talk About” Fred Gardaphé, Queens College, CUNY

SESSION 6B: All That Lies Between Us: Maria Mazziotti Gillan— A Screening and Discussion Chair: Kevin Carey, Salem State University Mark Hillringhouse, Passaic Community College Anthony Julian Tamburri, The John D. Calandra Italian American Institute Maria Mazziotti Gillan, The Poetry Center, Passaic Community College

SESSION 6C: Expressions of Italianità Chair: Victoria Sferlazza, Nassau Community College, SUNY “Fashioning Home in America: Ebe Cagli’s Displaced Italian Language” Evelyn Ferraro, University of California-Davis

“The Linguistic Status of Sicilian” Victoria Sferlazza “The Italian Tarantella” Vera Lentini, Rutgers University

SESSION 6D: Eternally Remembered: Death and Mourning Amongst Italian Americans Chair: Joseph Ricapito, Louisiana State University “Early Deaths in the Italian Enclaves at the Turn of the 20th Century: A Great Granddaughter’sPerspective” Alexandra de Luise, Queens College, CUNY A Reading Marisa Frasca, Writer and Poet A Reading Fred Misurella, East Stroudsburg University A Reading Joseph Ricapito

SESSION 6E: Women, Memory and the Quotidian Chair: Nancy Caronia, University of Rhode Island from On the Streets of Gela Edvige Giunta, New Jersey City University from After the Manner of Women Joanna Clapps Herman, Manhattanville College from First Sleep Agnes Rossi, Author

4:00 p. m. COFFEE BREAK

4:15 – 5:15 p. m. FEATURED READING Frank Lentricchia Author, The Accidental Pallbearer Katherine Everett Gilbert Professor of Literature, Duke University

5:30 – 5:45 p. m. FEATURED SCREENING [Annie Lanzillotto Short]

BREAK

7:00 - 8:00 p. m. KEYNOTE ADDRESS “ITALIAN AMERICAN STUDIES: A LITTLE HISTORY” Donna Gabaccia, Professor of History The University of Minnesota Joseph G. Astman Distinguished Conference Scholar

8:00-11:00 p. m.

BANQUET with Cash Bar

Saturday, December 1st

8:00 a. m. – 9:00 a. m. CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST

8:30 a. m. – 4:00 p. m. REGISTRATION Student Center Lobby Sondra and David S. Mack Student Center North Campus

8:00 – 4:00 p. m. BOOK DISPLAYS

CONCURRENT SESSIONS

9:00-10:15 a. m.

SESSION 7A: Book Presentation: Essays on Italian American Literature and Culture Chair: Peter Covino, University of Rhode Island Nancy Caronia, University of Rhode Island Jim Cocola, Worcester Polytechnic Institute Roseanne Giannini Quinn, De Anza College

SESSION 7B: La Mia Strada: A Screening and Discussion—Part I Chair: Michael Angelo DiLauro, Film Director; Robert Morris University Joseph D’Andrea, Honorary Consul of Italy, Pittsburgh Dominic Candeloro, Casa Italia Library, Chicago Fred L. Gardaphé, The John D. Calandra Italian American Institute John Paul Russo, University of Miami

SESSION 7C: Baby, You’re Not in the Bronx Anymore Chair: Joanna Clapps Herman, Author "Raw Bronx Roar" Annie Lanzillotto, Poet, Author, Performer, Independent Scholar "People Of The Heart" Jean Feraca, Author "Bronx Accent For Life" Rosette Capotorto, Poet and Writer from After the Manner of Women Joanna Clapps Herman

SESSION 7D: Readings By Italian American Novelists Chair: Fred Misurella, East Stroudsburg University From Sweet Hope Mary Bucci Bush, Author From The Brooch Arthur Cola, Italian Community Center of Milwaukee From A Trilogy Mario Fumarola, Author

10:30-11:45 a. m.

SESSION 8A: Performing Italian America Chair: Mary Jo Bona, Stony Brook University “Woody Guthrie’s Sicilian Sojourn: Reflections of Folk Life on the Road from Palermo to Plymouth” Michele Fazio, University of North Carolina at Pembroke "Righteous Babe: Ani DiFranco and Empowered Identity 'Through Loud Acoustic Music'" Mary Jo Bona “Ethnicity this Way: From Connie Francis to Lady Gaga and the Embodied Legacy of Italian American Female Performance” Roseanne Giannini Quinn, De Anza College

SESSION 8B: La Mia Strada: A Screening and Discussion—Part I Chair: Michael Angelo DiLauro, Film Director; Robert Morris University Joseph D’Andrea, Honorary Consul of Italy, Pittsburgh Dominic Candeloro, Casa Italia Library, Chicago Fred L. Gardaphè, The John D. Calandra Italian American Institute John Paul Russo, University of Miami

SESSION 8C: What Do We Look For in Italian-American Identity? Chair: Bénédicte Deschamps, University of Paris Diderot “The Italian American Electorate: From Ethnic to Racial Voting” Stefano Luconi, Università di Padova “From Italian to American? Identity Building in the Italian-American Press” Bénédicte Deschamps “Italians and Italian Americans: A Not So Immediate Understanding” Marie Saccomando Coppola, Malia “Does “Dante’s Place” Still Exist? Buffalo’s Changing Italian-American Community” Maria Susanna Garroni, Università di Roma, TRE

SESSION 8D: How Humor, Sardonic Wit, and Remembrance in Italian American Literature Defines Italian America and Its Sensibility: A Reading and Discussion Chair: Daniela Gioseffi, Author, Editor, Independent Scholar Paola Corso, Western Connecticut State University George Guida, New York City College of Technology, CUNY Robert Viscusi, Brooklyn College, CUNY 11:45-1:30 p. m LUNCH ON YOUR OWN

1:30-2:45 p. m.

SESSION 9A: Italo-americana: storia e letteratura degli italiani negli Stati Uniti —A Reading and Discussion Chair: Pellegrino D’Acierno, Hofstra University Francesco Durante, Universitá della Sapienza—Rome Robert Oppedisano, Editor Robert Viscusi, Brooklyn College, CUNY

SESSION 9B: Icons in the Public Eye Chair: Dawn Esposito, Saint John’s University “Rise and Fall and Rise Again: The Films of Frank Sinatra” Anthony D. Cavaluzzo, SUNY Adirondack “Anna Magnani: An Icon of Italian-Americana” Franco D’Alessandro, Independent Scholar “Sport and the Construction of an Italian/American Identity” Gerald R. Gems, North Central College

SESSION 9C: The Evolution of Ethnicity Chair: Stanislao Pugliese, Hofstra University “Italianità Americana: A Study of Ethnic Identity Among 2nd and 3rd Generation Italian Americans” Angelyn Balodimas-Bartolomei, North Park University “About the Definition of Italian American” Giuliana Muscio, Università di Padova “The Evolving Meaning of Being Italian American: Past, Present, and Future” Sebastian Fichera, University of California—Los Angeles “Italian American Identity Across America” Denise Scannell-Guida, New York City College of Technology, CUNY

SESSION 9D: Nun, Wife, Peon: The Hopes and Demands on Italian American Women Throughout the 20th Century Chair: Edvige Giunta, Jersey City University “After Mass” Maria Giuria, Montclair State University Excerpt from Sweet Hope Mary Bucci Bush, California State University “Aunt Alice in Wonderland and the Last Two McCormicks” Kathleen Zamboni McCormick, SUNY Purchase 3:00-4:15 p. m.

SESSION 10A: Disappearing Hyphens: Cultural Hybridities in Literature Chair: Fred Misurella, East Stroudsburg University “At the End of the Hyphen: Italian American Contemporary Writers on the Edge of a New Identity” Carla Francellini, Università di Siena “We Are All Immigrants: Views of the Melting Pot by Italian-American Writers” Fred Misurella “Italian-Canadian Studies Between Canada and Italy” Maria Cristina Seccia, Bangor University

SESSION 10B: Visible, Visual, Vision: Images of Italian American Identity Chair: B. Amore, Independent Artist and Writer “Identity, Art and Discovery” B. Amore “Where Is Italian America? The Identity on the Store Shelves” Alessandra Coccopalmeri, Independent Scholar “Engaging Italian American Women on Social Media Sites” Samantha DeMuro, Independent Scholar

SESSION 10C: Not Just Sunday Gravy: Italian-Americanization of Authors and Creative Writing Chair: Chloe Yelena Miller, Fairleigh Dickinson University Joey Nicoletti, Niagara University Maria Mazziotti Gillan, Passaic Community College Valerio Bartolucci, Broward College Gerard “Gerry” LaFemina, Frostburg Center for Creative Writing

SESSION 10D: Reading Mary Bucci Bush’s Sweet Hope—Roundtable Chair: Edvige Giunta, Jersey City University Mary Bucci Bush, California State University Mary Jo Bona, Stony Brook University Nancy Caronia, University of Rhode Island Kathleen Zamboni McCormick, SUNY Purchase Mary Anne Trasciatti, Hofstra University

SESSION 10E: Why IAWA?: The Italian American Writers Association and the Italian American Community Chair: Maria Lisella, Italian American Writers Association “Spreading the Word” Amy Barone, IAWA Board Member / Communications Specialist “Building the Bridge: Two to Three Languages Are Better Than One” Marisa Frasca, IAWA / Drew University and Gil Fagiani, IAWA / Bordighera Author

4:30-5:45 p. m. IASA BUSINESS MEETING

2012 IASA Conference Participants

Albright, Carol Bonomo Amore, B. Annichiarico, Enrico Baldassaro, Lawrence Balodimas-Bartolomei, Angelyn Barone, Amy Barone, Dennis Bartolucci, Valerio Bathanti, Joseph Belluscio, Stephen Bessette, Judith Pistachio Bona, Mary Jo Bonnano, Richard Briscese, Rosangela Buonanno, Laurie Buonanno, Michael Bush, Mary Bucci Cafarelli, A. W. Caiazza, Tommaso Calio, Louisa Candeloro, Dominic Capocaccia, Fabio Capotorto, Rosette Cappelli, Ottorino Carey, Kevin Carnevale, Nancy Caronia, Nancy Carosone, Michael Cavaluzzo, Anthony D. Choate, Mark Coccopalmeri, Allesandra Cocola, Jim Cola, Arthur Connell, William J. Coppola, Marie Saccomando Corso, Paola Covino, Peter Crocitto, Madeline D’Acierno, Pellegrino D’Allesandro, Franco D’Andrea, Joseph de Luise, Alexandra Del Giudice, Luisa DeMuro, Samantha Deschamps, Bénédicte Detore-Nakamura, Joanne DeVries, Rachel Guido DiLauro, Michael Angelo DiLorenzo, Kris (Kris Dean) Di Pietro, Antonietta Dubini, Camilla Durante, Francesco Egelman, William Esposito, Dawn Eula, Michael Fagiani, Gil Fazio, Michelle Feraca, Jean Ferraro, Evelyn Fichera, Sebastian Finison, Lorenz J. Fiore, Teresa Francellini, Carla Frasca, Marisa Fumarola, Mario Gabaccia, Donna Gardaphe, Fred Garroni, Maria Susanna Gatto, Florence Gems, Gerald R. Gesualdi, Louis Giamo, Mary Gillan, Maria Mazziotti Gioseffi, Daniela Giunta, Edvige Gravano, Alan Guida, George Hendin, Josephine Gattuso Herman, Joanna Clapps Hillringhouse, Mark Krase, Jerry Labozzetta, Marisa LaFemina, Gerard “Gerry” LaGumina, Salvatore J. Lanza, Carmela Delia Lanzillotto, Annie Lecci, JoAnne Lentini, Vera Lentricchia, Frank Lisella, Maria LoGiudice, Joseph Anthony LoLo, LuLu (Pascale) Luconi, Stefano Maruggi, Edward A. Mazzucchelli, Chiara McCormick, Kathleen Zamboni Miller, Chloe Yelena Misurella, Fred Muscio, Giuliana Nicoletti, Joey Oppedisano, Robert Ottanelli, Fraser Ottomano, Anthony Pasto, James Patrona, Theodora D. Plasse, Marie Polak, Patricia Leuzzi Protti, Maria Pugliese, Stanislao Quinn, Roseanne Giannini repetto, Vittoria Ricapito, Joseph Romano, Anne T. Rossi, Agnes Ruffner Grieneisen, Courtney Russo, John Paul Scannell-Guida, Denise Schlachter, Penny Bartell Sciorra, Joseph Seccia, Maria Cristina Sferlazza, Victoria Silano, Martha Tamburri, Anthony J. Thomas, Teresa Fava Tintori, Karen Trasciatti, Mary Anne Tricarico, Donald Valmori, Michela Viscusi, Robert

IASA Officers and Executive Council

President George Guida New York City College of Technology, CUNY

Vice President Michael Eula El Camino College, California

Secretary Alan Gravano Marshall University

Treasurer Dawn Esposito St. John's University Curator Ottorino Cappelli Scholar in Residence at the Calandra Italian American Institute

Past President Josephine Gattuso Hendin New York University

Executive Council

Carol Bonomo Albright Harvard Extension School

Dominic Candeloro Curator, Casa Italia Library Chicago

†Paul Giaimo Highland Community College

Luisa Del Giudice Independent Scholar, Los Angeles

Fred Gardaphe Queens College, CUNY

Stefano Luconi University of Padua

Chiara Mazzucchelli University of Central Florida

John Paul Russo University of Miami

Joseph Sciorra Queens College, CUNY

Anthony Julian Tamburri Queens College, CUNY Robert Viscusi Brooklyn College, CUNY

Long Island Chapter President Anne T. Romano

Western Chapter President Laura Ruberto