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

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

 

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 (elena.bellina@nyu.edu); Giorgia Alù (giorgia.alu@sydney.edu.au)

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

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

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: calandra@qc.cuny.edu.

DEADLINE

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

Exhibition Extended through April 2024: “A Legacy of Making: 21 Contemporary Italian American Artists”

“A Legacy of Making: 21 Contemporary Italian American Artists” currently on view at the John D Calandra Italian American Institute in Midtown Manhattan, will run until the end of April, 2024. Curated by Joseph Sciorra and Joanne Mattera, the exhibition features the work of artists based in New York City who are Italian American, or Italian born and and now living here, whose immigrant experience has informed them personally and artistically.
On Wednesday, December 13, artists in the exhibition will be present to speak informally in the gallery about their work, 6:00-7:30. You are invited. Come and see the show and engage with the artists.
Info:
. The Calandra Institute is at 25 W. 43 Street, 17th floor, New York City.
. Read a conversation between John Avelluto and Joanne Mattera in Two Coats of Paint: https://twocoatsofpaint.com/…/an-italian-american…
. See a walk-through of the show on Mattera’s blog: https://joannematteraartblog.blogspot.com/…/a-legacy-of…
. Artists were selected from the newly published book Italianità: Contemporary Art Inspired by the Italian Immigrant Experience: https://store.bookbaby.com/book/italianit%c3%a0

Commemorative Ceremony for Pete Panto: September 26

Tuesday, September 26, 2023, 2:30pm
St. Charles Cemetery
2015 Wellwood Avenue
Farmingdale, NY 11735
Section 9, Row F, Grave 224
Please join us for a commemorative ceremony honoring the life and work of slain dock worker and labor activist Pietro “Pete” Panto (1910–1939) to formally mark the installation of his tombstone at St. Charles Cemetery.
On July 14, 1939, Panto was murdered on the orders of crime boss Albert Anastasia in retribution for Panto’s efforts leading a rank-and-file movement against a corrupt and crime-infested labor union in Brooklyn. At the time, working conditions on the docks were rife with endemic problems such as the shape-up hiring system, mandatory salary kickbacks, extortion, and high numbers of work-related injuries. No one was convicted for Panto’s murder.
For more than eighty years Panto’s body lay buried in an unmarked grave. In 2022, the Institute’s Dr. Joseph Sciorra led an online fundraising campaign to create a marker for the gravesite. Scores of people joined our initiative by making small and large donations. We feel that the simple act of putting a headstone on his grave is more than warranted, given this Italian American working-class hero’s sacrifice on behalf of laboring people.
For further information, please call 212-642-2094.

Exhibition Opening A Legacy of Making: 21 Contemporary Italian American Artists

Curated by Joanne Mattera and Joseph Sciorra

Exhibition opening takes place on Wednesday, September 27, 2023, at 6pm.

The work of the twenty-one artists featured in this exhibit offers a richness of form, medium, subject matter, color, and style that is a delight and a revelation to behold. Connections to a discernable Italian art tradition—or for that matter to Italian American aesthetic practices more specifically—vary across the exhibition, ranging from the explicit to the suggestive to the nonexistent.

After the opening on September 27, the exhibition will be accessible during business hours, 9:00am to 5:00pm, Monday through Friday, and is located in the Galleria of the John D. Calandra Italian American Institute.

Image: Claudia DeMonte, Il Corno, 2013

 

Calandra’s Dean Participates in Italian American Book Event in Settefrati

Calandra’s dean Anthony Tamburri was in Italy recently, representing the Institute and Queens College, CUNY, at a number of events. One of these was a presentation, organized by the mayor of Settefrati, of a book titled Una Nuova e Più Grande Settefrati sul Suolo D’America (A new and greater Settefrati on American soil), written by Mario Vitti (edited by Dean Tamburri). The book covers the immigration of Italians from Settefrati (Frosinone province) to Connecticut. Dean Tamburri made some remarks at the event. (Video is in Italian; the book is in Italian and in English.)

 

Potentially Dangerous: When It Was a Crime to Be Italian (2021)

Wednesday, November 15, 2023, 6pm
Potentially Dangerous: When It Was a Crime to Be Italian (2021), 50 minutes
Zach Baliva, dir.

Potentially Dangerous presents the history of Italian immigrants interned and persecuted as America’s “enemy aliens” during World War II. The US government restricted the actions and freedoms of 600,000 Italian residents of the United States, many of whom were placed under curfew, banned from their workplaces, evacuated from their homes and communities, and even placed in internment camps. Many of these people had been in the United States for decades, had children born in their adopted country, and had sons serving in the US military. Interned Italians were not charged with a crime or allowed legal representation. They were subjected to “loyalty hearings” and held for the duration of the war. The United States government considered them “potentially dangerous” based on where they had been born. Potentially Dangerous offers the people affected by these policies a chance to give voice to their experiences and those of their families.