Tag: Italian American

Curator’s Talk by Rosa Berland

Edward E. Boccia: Postwar American Expressionist

Join exhibition curator Rosa Berland as she introduces works by this underrecognized Italian American artist. Berland will speak about the selection of paintings, drawings, and never-before-seen journals by Edward E. Boccia (1921–2012) that are on view for the first time in New York City at the John D. Calandra Italian American Institute.

Throughout his long career, Boccia developed a new genre of contemporary monumental panel painting that functioned as devotional art while raising questions about ethical, philosophical, and stylistic problems in twentieth-century America. An imaginative and technically gifted artist greatly influenced by Max Beckmann and Philip Guston, Boccia produced work that expressed the crisis of morality experienced in the US in the face of war and consumerism. His bold paintings speak of desire, loss, and spirituality and provide a fresh perspective on what constitutes Italian American modernism. For more than thirty years, Boccia served as a professor of fine arts at Washington University, where he fostered generations of studio artists, thereby changing the landscape of American painting.

Berland notes: “By reintroducing the visitor to Boccia’s experimental work, this exhibition seeks to create new dialogue around the diasporic practice of this important and accomplished Italian American artist.”

EXHIBITION On view October 29, 2024–February 21, 2025

Gallery Hours: Monday–Friday, 9am–5pm

George Guida reads from The Uniform (Guernica World Editions, 2024) Alexander Sammartino reads from Last Acts (Scribner, 2024)

George Guida reads from The Uniform (Guernica World Editions, 2024)

Alexander Sammartino reads from Last Acts (Scribner, 2024)

Two writers explore the expectations and realities of modern masculinity. In George Guida’s novel, a brutal racist attack in 1950 drives Alfie Bagliato’s family from their small town to New York City, where the sixteen-year-old dreams of escaping his Italian American enclave through a career in music and a romance with his cousin Adeline. All too quickly, disappointment and frustration lead Alfie to join the military, to follow Adeline to San Francisco, and then to become a New York City cop. The clash with protesters during the 1968 Columbia University student uprising forces him to confront his inherited bigotry and fear as he wrestles with his love for Adeline and desire for a new life. Alexander Sammartino’s satirical tale follows David Rizzo, proprietor of a failing firearms store in Phoenix, who nevertheless has reason to feel optimistic. His son, Nick, has just recovered after a near-fatal overdose, which prompts Rizzo to use Nick’s resurrection to create a television commercial for his gun emporium. But the relationship between father and son is fragile, mired in mutual disappointment. And when the pair embarks on their scheme to avoid bankruptcy, a high-stakes crash of hijinks, hope, and disaster ensues.

Discussion led by Fred Gardaphé, John D. Calandra Italian American Institute, Queens College, CUNY.

Call for Papers for Calandra’s 2025 Conference: The Bitter Bread of War: Multidisciplinary Perspectives from Italy and the Diaspora

Posted on by Sian Gibby

April 25–26, 2025

War has been foundational to the shaping of modern Italian history, memory, and culture—from the wars of the Risorgimento to colonial and Fascist wars of expansion up to and including the two world wars. Furthermore, in all these Italian war efforts, emigrant and diasporic communities have played significant roles whether through moral and material support, serving in the Italian military, or through their opposition to Italian wars. As such, scholars are increasingly turning their attention to the theme of war and its importance to our understanding of the history of Italy, the Italian diaspora, and former colonial subjects. This interdisciplinary conference is open to a wide range of topics concerning war from an Italian—broadly understood—perspective. As in the past, the Institute’s conference proposes an inclusive approach to Italy and Italian mobilities, including inhabitants of the nation-state, members of the diaspora, current immigrants in Italy and their descendants, and former colonial subjects.

Suggested paper topics include but are not limited to:

  • Italian military history
  • Italy’s reaction to other nations’ wars (e.g., Vietnam War, Russian-Ukraine War)
  • Anti-war movements and statements (e.g., Scorsese’s 1967 The Big Shave)
  • Colonial wars and anti-colonial responses
  • Domestic warfare, e.g., brigands, partisans, Years of Lead
  • Diasporic involvement with Italy’s military and wars
  • Italian immigrant and descendants’ participation in host country’s military
  • Displaced persons and refugees
  • Internment, e.g., POWs, US government’s enemy alien designation, Fascist concentration camps in Libya
  • Gendered approaches to war
  • Creative accounts and depictions, e.g., memoir, fiction, film, visual arts (e.g., Mengiste’s 2019 The Shadow King)
  • War as metaphor, e.g., class wars, war on organized crime, war on migrants
  • Memory, oral history, and historical revisioning, e.g., the foibe, Fosse Ardeatine, the Shoah

This is an in-person event without virtual presentations.

The official language of the conference is English. All presentations are limited to twenty minutes, including audio and visual illustrations. Thursday evening is dedicated to welcoming comments and reception; sessions and panels will take place all day Friday and Saturday.

NOTA BENE: There are no available funds for travel, accommodations, or meals. There is no conference registration fee. The conference does not make arrangements with local hotels, so participants are responsible for booking their own accommodations.

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS: SEPTEMBER 15, 2024. Abstracts for scholarly papers (up to 500 words, plus a note on technical requirements) and a brief, narrative biography should be emailed as attached documents by September 15, 2024, to [email protected], where other inquiries may also be addressed. We encourage the submission of organized panels (of no more than three presenters). Submission for a panel must be made by a single individual on behalf of the group and must include all the paper titles, abstract narratives, and individual biographies and emails.

Notice of acceptance or rejection will occur in early November 2024.

This year’s conference title comes from Arturo Giovannitti’s poem “Anniversary II.”

“Translating Italian Mobilities”: Calandra Annual Conference a Success

Posted on by Sian Gibby

Scholars and interested participants began gathering at the Institute on April 26 to listen to presentations by speakers from around the world on the theme of this year’s conference, Translating Italian Mobilities. All sessions were livestreamed. With ten panels and individual presentations on topics related to translation and a keynote (“Rescue, Restore, Redeem: On Translating I Promessi Sposi“) by Michael F. Moore and Lawrence Venuti (“The Bourgeois Shudder: Translating Dino Buzzati’s Politics of Fantasy”)(with discusant Loredana Polezzi), the conference lasted two full days and provided ample material and opportunities for lively and collegial discussion. To review the program and see all the presenters and their topics, click here. Click here to see more photos from the conference.

Luisa Del Giudice at Calandra

Posted on by Sian Gibby

Thursday, April 11, Luisa Del Giudice, author and independent scholar, presented her new book In Search of Abundance: Mountains of Cheese, Rivers of Wine, and Other Gastronomic Utopias (2023 Bordighera Press), in which she outlines the fascinating and complex journey of ideas about plenty and scarcity in the history of Italian diasporic cultures. The book is available via Bordighera Press.

Dean Tamburri To Address Supreme Court of the State of New York

Posted on by Sian Gibby

Today Calandra’s dean, Anthony J. Tamburri, will speak to the Appellate Division, Second Department, of the Supreme Court of the State of New York. His topic is “Italian Americans: Who We Were and Who We Are.”

Dean Tamburri Gives a Talk at Casa Italiana Zerilli Marimò on Italian American Film

Posted on by Sian Gibby

 

On March 4, Calandra’s dean Prof. Tamburri spoke about the film Big Night (1996) from the perspective of identity. Through a comparative analysis of the three main characters (Primo, Secondo, and Pascal), we come to understand how Italian immigrants negotiated differently the challenges of the host country. Even of the same generation, we see how these three characters represent three different types of individuals, from one person to the next. Click here to see the entire presentation.

Intergenerational Memories of World War II: Italian and Italian American Captivities

Delve into the multifaceted narratives of World War II Prisoners of War (POWs) as their descendants share compelling insights during this roundtable discussion. Through a hybrid format blending online and in-person participation, this event offers a unique opportunity to explore the scholarly, artistic, and visual representations of their fathers’ and grandfathers’ captivity experiences.

Speakers: Yemane Demissié, New York University; Laura E. Ruberto, Berkeley City College; Mark Pedri, United States; Anton Pulvirenti, Australia; Elisa Longarato, Italy

This event is part of a series on “Memory, Memories, and Memorialization of WWII Italian Captivity” organized by Elena Bellina (New York University) and Giorgia Alù (The University of Sydney) and co-sponsored by NYU’s Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò, The University of Sydney, The John D. Calandra Italian American Institute (Queens College, CUNY), and the Centre for Italian Modern Art (CIMA). The events aim to investigate how World War II Italian POWs have narrated their long captivity experiences, as well as how these narratives have been recollected and memorialized in Italy, America, Australia, Asia, and Africa.

Those attending in person please RSVP by calling (212) 642-2094.

For online participation, please register in advance for the webinar:

https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_MrgGaW3QS8ieLZk0tHcv-Q

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

For details, please contact Elena Bellina ([email protected]); Giorgia Alù ([email protected])

Calandra’s Stephen Cerulli Talks Italian Americans and Ethnicity on NYTN Podcast

Posted on by Sian Gibby

Podcaster Danielle Romero invited Calandra college assistant Stephen Cerulli, who is getting his PhD in Modern History at Fordham University, to talk about matters relating to Italian Americans and ethnicity.

 

The Pietro “Pete” Panto Italian Diaspora Labor Dissertation Fellowship

Posted on by Sian Gibby

SCOPE OF THE FELLOWSHIP

The John D. Calandra Italian American Institute, a university-wide institute under the aegis of Queens College, The City University of New York, is offering a fellowship for graduate students who are writing their dissertation on any topic involving Italian emigrant and/or Italian ethnic labor and/or working-class life either in the United States or in the wider Italian diaspora. Submissions may come from all relevant fields of study in the social sciences and humanities, including, but not limited to, history, literary studies, film studies, gender studies, and political science.

The fellowship is named after dockworker and labor activist Pietro “Pete” Panto (1910–1939), who was murdered for leading rank-and-file stevedores in a struggle for safe and democratic working conditions on the Brooklyn waterfront, which had long been in the grip of mobsters and corrupt elements in the union.

The fellowship will run for six years with one award given each year. The fellowship award is $1,000 US per year, distributed by check or bank transfer after the awardee is announced.

ELIGIBILITY

Graduate students will need to have been registered at their university in the twelve months previous to the application deadline. Recently graduated students are eligible to apply as long as they were registered within the twelve months immediately previous.

Applicants must have passed their qualifying exams, been admitted to candidacy, and have submitted an accepted dissertation proposal. This status must be confirmed in the dissertation director’s letter (see below).

Graduate students who do not win in a given year but continue to work on their dissertation or thesis in the following year are welcome to apply again.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

  • Application materials must be in English and submitted in .pdf format. The dissertation itself may be written in any language.
  • Project description: In no more than 750 words (double-spaced, Times New Roman 12-point font with 1-inch margins), provide a title and brief description of the dissertation project, your progress toward its completion, and an explanation of the project’s contribution to the field of diasporic Italian emigrant and/or ethnic labor and/or working-class life.
  • Curriculum vitae: The CV should include your current mailing address, email address, and telephone number and should focus on publications, courses taken and/or taught, professional activities, and awards. Maximum length not to exceed two pages.
  • Unofficial transcripts: Proof of good standing. There is no need for the transcript to be translated into English.
  • Two letters of reference: One letter must come from the dissertation director and explicitly address the relevance of your project to the furthering of Italian diaspora and labor/working-class studies. Both letters must be in English.

Please upload the documents in .pdf format to Submittable: https://bordigherapress.submittable.com/submit/285828/john-d-calandra-italian-american-institute-pietro-pete-panto-italian-diaspora

For any questions about the application process, please write to the John D. Calandra Italian American Institute at the following email: [email protected].

DEADLINE

May 1, 2024. The announcement of this year’s winner will be made on September 2, 2024.