Op-Eds | i-ITALY Page 1 of 4

Sign in | Log in Search

HOME ABOUT US MAGAZINE SPECIALS MULTIMEDIA BLOGGERS COMMUNITY I-ITALY.IT

MAGAZINE FRONT PAGE FACTS & STORIES ARTS & CULTURE LIFE & PEOPLE OP-EDS
Home » Magazine

OP-EDS
IN THIS SECTION

Italian American Culture: Illusion or Reality? LATEST EDITOR'S PICK

Italian American Culture:
MOST POPULAR

TOM VERSO (April 21, 2008)

Illusion or Reality?
TOM VERSO

Opinions on the Italian

elections
MARINA MELCHIONDA

Folk Performances of the

Italian-American Prominenti
JOEY SKEE

A Wake Up Call, 2!
ANTHONY JULIAN TAMBURRI

A Wake-up Call!
ANTHONY JULIAN TAMBURRI

View all >>

Italian American Culture:

Illusion or Reality?
TOM VERSO

Opinions on the Italian

elections
MARINA MELCHIONDA

Folk Performances of the

Italian-American Prominenti
JOEY SKEE

Melting Pot
A Wake Up Call, 2!
Anthony Tamburii: “We simply cannot continue to engage in a series of ANTHONY JULIAN TAMBURRI
reminiscences that lead primarily to nostalgic recall.” --- But, in reality, is
there anything more to Italian/American culture than nostalgic
reminiscences? “Aye now, there’s the rub!” A Wake-up Call!
ANTHONY JULIAN TAMBURRI
TOOLS

Authoritative sources posit, 'culture' involves at least three components:

Email this View all >>
“what people think” (i.e. ideology- e.g. religion, ethnicity, etc.), “what
they do” (behavior), and the “material products they Permalink
produce” (work). Further, culture is taught/learned; each generation
Love Costs: Filipinos in Italy
Print this and the Movie, "Milan"
teaches the next generation its ideology, behavior and work skills. LAURA E. RUBERTO

In the first half of the 20th century, there was a distinct observable Italian America culture. What Carla Bruni, Old World Italian
Italian Americans ‘thought’, ‘did’ and ‘produced’ clearly defined their culture, and differentiated it MARIA LAURINO

from other cultures. Two great sociological works were written describing and analyzing that
culture: “Urban Villagers” & “Street Corner Society”. Essentially, that culture was the immigrant’s
Italian culture modified by the American urban/industrial environment. A Wake-up Call!
ANTHONY JULIAN TAMBURRI

In the second half of the 20th century that culture passed. The second generation (children of
immigrants) did not learn/teach the culture of their parents. They learned/taught the suburban
It Wasn’t Columbus’ Fault. Or
American “melting pot” culture. By the end of the 20th century, with the exception of nostalgic Was It?
reminiscences, little if any observable measurable phenomena that could be called Italian OTTORINO CAPPELLI
American culture existed. There was little if anything being taught to children of Italian decent that
constituted Italianita. What Do Pizza, Mario Merola, and the

http://www.i-italy.org/1709/italian-american-culture-illusion-or-reality 21/04/2008
Op-Eds | i-ITALY Page 2 of 4

In social scientific terms, if one took a random sample of high school students descended from Camorra Have to Do with
Ikea?
Italian immigrants, the ‘ideology’, ‘behavior’ and ‘work’ they are taught would not differentiate LAURA E. RUBERTO
them from other Euro-Americans. Accordingly, the questions that can reasonably be asked: Who
are Italian Americans? What are their distinguishing characteristics? Who and what are Italian View all >>
American scholars and commentators talking about; beyond critiques of fiction and film about
Little Italy days?
TAGS

Today in America, there are manifestations of what may be called PhiloItalianoism; i.e. the love of Antonio Gramsci art Autobiography
Italian (not Italian American) culture such as food and tourist attractions (Greek, Roman and Berlusconi Brooklyn Cinema Clinton
Renaissance). However, this PhiloItalianoism is essentially a pop-culture. Pop-culture is a mass College culture Food Giuliani immigrants
Immigration italian/american Italian
culture, not identified with any specific group, and is essentially ephemeral (e.g. 1950’s TV
Americans Italian Elections Italian Politics
westerns, rap music, etc).
Italy Little Italy mafia Music Naples
Also, currently, there are traces of a Nuevo Italian American culture generated by post 1960’s New York Obama politics pope
Italian immigrants. However, it already shows signs of meltingpotism. Raised in heterogeneous Rome Sicily Veltroni wine
MORE TAGS
suburbs and totally encompassing mass media; the children of these recent immigrants have
‘melted’ (as it were) even more quickly than the children of the original pre-WW I immigrants.
I-ITALY.IT

Finally, for the number crunchers, consider the pages of i-Italy itself. On Saturday (AM EDT)
MULTIMEDIA
4/19/08, 19 of 21 articles on the HOME page were either about Italian things or written in Italian
LATEST EDITOR'S PICK MOST POPULAR
(19/21*100 = 90%). One of three columns ‘above the (virtual) fold’ was devoted to AP Italian. In
the MAGAZINE section, 20 of 23 articles were about Italian things or in the Italian language Benedict XVI at Ground Zero,
(20/23*100 = 87%). NY

In sum, to my mind, Italian American literati should concentrate on establishing that there is, in
fact, such a thing as Italian American culture beyond reminiscence and nostalgia. If so, articulate Neapolitan Music Society - New
York World Premiere
its characteristics. Most importantly, how and by whom will it be taught to the next
generation? Or, should we settle for PhiloItalianoism?

NECTFL / Italian Consul

“Will you join me and other descendents of Sicily at Harry’s Bar in Venice, where we can celebrate General Francesco M. Talò. The
out heritage dining on Carpaccio?” AP Program

View all >>

Benedict XVI at Ground Zero,

TAGS culture italian/american
NY

Add a comment
Neapolitan Music Society - New
York World Premiere

NECTFL / Italian Consul

General Francesco M. Talò. The
AP Program

View all >>

Mario Lanza: Come Prima

Television Interview with

Nancy Peolsi

Mario Cuomo Nominates

Clinton, 1992 - (I)

View all >>

SPECIALS
LATEST EDITOR'S PICK MOST POPULAR

http://www.i-italy.org/1709/italian-american-culture-illusion-or-reality 21/04/2008
Op-Eds | i-ITALY Page 3 of 4

Interview with Gino Bucchino Just

Re-elected to the House of
Deputies
RODRIGO PRAINO

Risultati per l'America

Settentrionale e Centrale

View all >>

Interview with Gino Bucchino Just

Re-elected to the House of
Deputies
RODRIGO PRAINO

Risultati per l'America

Settentrionale e Centrale

Pericolose anomalie e ritardi in

Venezuela e Cile
DI FULVIO MINICHINI

View all >>

Renato d’Agostin. “Yes, I’m an

Attentive Observer”
ILARIA COSTA

Luca Buvoli. Art to Return to the

Origins
ILARIA COSTA

Eletto alla Camera: Gino Bucchino

View all >>

BLOGGERS
LATEST EDITOR'S PICK MOST POPULAR

Italian Immersion only miles

away! Scholarships are also
available!
ANTHONY JULIAN TAMBURRI

Alla riscoperta di Benedetto

STEFANO VACCARA

Italian American Culture: Illusion

or Reality?
TOM VERSO

View all >>

Italian Immersion only miles

away! Scholarships are also
available!
ANTHONY JULIAN TAMBURRI

Alla riscoperta di Benedetto

STEFANO VACCARA

Italian American Culture: Illusion

or Reality?
TOM VERSO

View all >>

http://www.i-italy.org/1709/italian-american-culture-illusion-or-reality 21/04/2008
Op-Eds | i-ITALY Page 4 of 4

Pinocchio: Italian vs. American

Approaches to a Complex Morality
Tale
OTTORINO CAPPELLI

Honoring Giuseppe Garibaldi. A

summer evening in the underworld
ROBERT VISCUSI

Sancto Ianne
GEORGE DE STEFANO

View all >>

Developed and Powered by Digitalians Corporation, NY

http://www.i-italy.org/1709/italian-american-culture-illusion-or-reality 21/04/2008