Emigrant Nation: The Making of Italy Abroad

Mark Choate, Brigham Young University

Between 1880 and 1915, thirteen million Italians left their homeland, launching the largest emigration from any country in recorded world history. As the newly-created Italian state struggled to adapt to the exodus, it pioneered the establishment of a “global nation,” an Italy abroad cemented by ties of culture, religion, ethnicity, and economics. Lasting ties between the Italian homeland and “Little Italies” were established to the benefit of both. Mark Choate, author of Emigrant Nation: The Making of Italy Abroad (Harvard University Press, 2008), will discuss the importance of mass emigration in the development of the Italian nation-state and that history’s relevance to current debates over international migration.

Podcast available HERE.