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The 50th Annual IASA Conference

November 2 to November 4, 2017

Marriott Wardman Park, Washington, DC

“Faith, (Ir)reverence, and the Italian

Diaspora: Fifty Years of Italian

American Studies”

In Collaboration with the National Italian American Foundation (NIAF)

Image Credit: Center for Migration Studies of New York

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The Italian American Studies Association would like to extend its most heartfelt gratitude

to all those who assisted in making this conference a success.

The IASA Conference Committee

Jessica Femiani, Chair

Rose De Angelis

Alan J. Gravano

Lisa Marie Paolucci

Anthony D. Mitzel

Special Thanks to

Andrea Bartlett, NIAF Director of Events

Program Cover Photo, Other Photos, and Letter Thanks to

Frank Cavaioli

Alexandra de Luise, IASA Secretary

Mary Brown, Archivist/Bibliographer

Center for Migration Studies of New York

Interns: Taylor Smith, Rachel Morton, & Frances Fynan

For Identifying AIHA Members in the Photos a Special Thanks to

Mary Jo Bona, Stony Brook University

Fred L. Gardaphé, Queens College, CUNY

John Paul Russo, University of Miami

Anthony Julian Tamburri, Queens College, CUNY/John D. Calandra Italian American Institute

For Screening Antonino D’Ambrosio’s Frank Serpcio a Special Thanks to

Stanislao G. Pugliese, Professor of History and Queensboro UNICO Distinguished Professor of

Italian and Italian American Studies, Hofstra University

Hofstra University

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Thursday, November 2

Arrival

2:00-5:00 PM: Registration

Exhibit Hall A

2:00-5:00 PM: Executive Council Meeting

Exhibit Hall A: Roosevelt Room 1

6:15-6:45 PM: Graduate Student Meet & Greet

Maryland Room B & C

Jessica Femiani, Binghamton University

Alan Gravano, IASA President, Rocky Mountain University

6:45-7:00 PM: Opening Remarks

Maryland Room B & C

Alan Gravano, IASA President, Rocky Mountain University

Samuele F. S. Pardini, Elon University

7:00-8:00 PM: Keynote Address

Maryland Room B & C

Robert Orsi, Grace Craddock Nagle Chair in Catholic Studies,

Northwestern University

“The Dangers of Italian Americans Reading (Besides Going Blind)”

8:00-10:00 PM: Reception

Maryland Room B & C

Hosted by IASA

Dinner on Your Own

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Friday, November 3

8:30AM-4:30 PM Registration

(Convention Registration Desk)

7:30-9:00 AM Coffee Service

(Exhibit Hall A Hallway)

8:00-9:15 AM

Session 1: “Ethnographic Studies”

Room: Exhibit Hall A: Roosevelt Room 1

Chair: Rose De Angelis, Marist College

Michele Deramo, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, “Me, I’m from the

Mezzogiorno: An Autoethnographic Analysis of Memory, Migration, and Imagined

Communities”

Joanne Milner, Independent Scholar, “Family History: Foundation of Faith”

Session 2: “Historical and Political Examinations of Immigration/Emigration of the Italian

Diaspora”

Room: Exhibit Hall A: Roosevelt Room 2

Chair: Michael Buonanno, State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota

Patrizia Fama Stahle, College of Coastal Georgia, “Pope Leo XIII, Bishop Scalabrini, and

Italian Americans”

Frank Salamone, Iona College, “Before and After in Italian American Religious History:

Pre and Post War Immigrants”

Laura Buonanno, Buffalo State University, SUNY, and Michael Buonanno, State College

of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota, “The Italian American Influence on U.S. Immigration

Policy: The Role of the Family in Unification in Contemporary Immigration Reform”

Session 3: “Revisiting John Fante and Italian Women in Film”

Room: Exhibit Hall A: Roosevelt Room 3

Chair: Dennis Barone, University of Saint Joseph

Francesco Chianese, Independent Scholar, “God Swearing and Father Blaming:

Blasphemy and Assimilation in John Fante from Wait Until Spring, Bandini to The

Brotherhood of the Grape”

Giuliana Muscio, University of Padua, “Censoring Italian Women’s Religious Practices:

The Miracle, The Rose Tattoo, Full of Life and Film Censors”

Dennis Barone, University of Saint Joseph, “The (Italian) American Mercury: Mencken's

Publication (Sacred and Profane) of Cautela, Fante, and Turano”

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9:30-10:45 AM

Session 4: “Devotional Aids, Letters, and Religious Ideology”

Room: Exhibit Hall A: Roosevelt Room 1

Chair: Alexandra de Luise, Queens College, CUNY

Alexandra de Luise, Queens College, CUNY, “Written Devotionals for Guiding the

Parish: The Church of the Holy Rosary, Washington DC”

Janet Michello, LaGuardia Community College, CUNY, “The Sociocultural Aspects of

Religious Ideology of Italian American Catholics and Catholics in Southern Italy”

Lisa Ferrante-Perrone, Bucknell University, “Letters as Lifelines for Early Italian

Americans”

Session 5: “Memoir”

Room: Exhibit Hall A: Roosevelt Room 2

Chair: Rose De Angelis, Marist College

Kathy Curto, Sarah Lawrence College and Montclair State University, “Cutlets

and Candles: Food, Grief, Faith, and My Italian American Experience”

Cinzia Marongiu, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität, Mainz, “Border-crossing Madonna:

Religious images and Multi-Ethnic Coalition in Kym Ragusa’s The Skin between Us”

Rose De Angelis, Marist College, “The Faithful and the (Ir)Reverent: Religion and the

Italian American Experience”

Session 6: “Canadian Italian Experience from WWII and Internment to Muslim Canadians”

Room: Exhibit Hall A: Roosevelt Room 3

Chair: Joanne DeTore, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

Jan Marta, University of Toronto, “Faith as Identified and Source of Resilience: Italian

Canadians in WWII and Muslim Canadians in the 21st Century”

Jessica Leonora Whitehead, York University, “The Italian-Canadian Internment: The

Case of the Mascioli Brothers of Timmins, Ontario”

Session 7: “Religions of the Self in Italian American Narrative”

Room: Exhibit Hall A: Roosevelt Room 4

Chair: George Guiida, New York City College of Technology, CUNY

George Guida, New York City College of Technology, CUNY, “Self, Soul, and Satire:

Salvatore Scibona’s The End and the Limits of Identity in Italian American Fiction”

Marie D’Amico, Independent Scholar, “Women’s Selfhood in Maria Messina’s Fiction”

Joanna Clapps Herman, Manhattanville College, “My Numi”

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11:00-12:15 PM

Session 8: “Italy: from the Veneto to Firenze to Napoli”

Room: Exhibit Hall A: Roosevelt Room 1

Chair: Alexandra de Luise, Queens College, CUNY

Gloria Nardini, Independent Scholar, “Un Presepio Napoletano a Firenze: Combined

Italian Belief Systems”

Teresa Fava Thomas, Fitchburg State University, “The Experience of War and

Occupation in The Italian Veneto”

Lawrence Squeri, East Stroudsburg University, “Italian Americans: Not Fully Arrived”

Session 9: “What Ever Happened to Little Italy: Part I”

Room: Exhibit Hall A: Roosevelt Room 2

Chair: Jerome Krase, Brooklyn College

Teri Ann Bengiveno, Las Positas College, “Little Italy San Jose: From the Valley of the

Heart’s Delight to the Arch of Silicon Valley”

Dominic Candeloro, Loyola University, Chicago, “Chicago’s Little Italies: Past and

Present”

Jerome Krase, Brooklyn College, “The Italians of Brooklyn Revisted”

Session 10: “This Panel Is Brought to You by the Number 13 and the Letter M (for Malocchio):

Religion, Superstition, and Magic in Italian America”

Room: Exhibit Hall A: Roosevelt Room 3

Chair: Fred Misurella, East Stroudsburg University

Sarah Annunziato, University of Virginia, “The Good Witch of the South: Tomie

dePaola's Strega Nona and the Tradition of Female Healers in Italian American

Communities”

Francesco Fiumara, Southeastern Louisiana University, “Amulets and Crucifixes and

Candles, Oh My: How Social Workers Viewed Italian American Religious Traditions and

Superstitions in 1930s New England”

Lucia G. Harrison, Southeastern Louisiana University, “You're Not in Sicily Anymore:

How Immigrants and Their Descendants Adapt Italy's Religious Traditions to Life in a

Louisiana Town”

12:15-2:15 PM Lunch

Screening of Frank Serpico (Documentary)

Introduction: Stanislao G. Pugliese, Hofstra University

Location: Exhibit Hall A: Roosevelt Room 1

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2:30-3:45 PM

Session 11: “Pasolini, Fellini, and The Sopranos”

Room: Exhibit Hall A: Roosevelt Room 1

Chair: Jonathan Cavallero, Bates College

Pietro Bocchia, University of Notre Dame, “How Religion Shapes Revolution: Pier Paolo

Pasolini’s Reception of the American New Left”

Claude Barbre, The Chicago School of Professional Psychology, “Faithful Disbelief,

Trickster Spirituality, and the American Sublime in Federico Fellini’s Films “

Jonathan Cavallero, Bates College, “Putting Faith in the Visual: Television, Authorship,

Gender, and The Sopranos”

Session 12: “Creative Writing: Poetry, Fiction, and Memoir”

Room: Exhibit Hall A: Roosevelt Room 2

Chair: Joanne DeTore, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

Joane DeTore, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, “Curses, Spells, and Catholic

Recovery: A Collection of Poetry”

Steve Villano, Independent Scholar, “The Tightrope Italian Americans Tread When

Organized Crime Touches Us” excerpt from Tightrope: Balancing a Life between Mario

Cuomo and My Brother

Fred Gardaphé, Queens College, CUNY, “Alter Boys” excerpt from Blood Stains: A

Memoir

Session 13: “Dagoes, Darkies, and 20th Century Modernity: Two Encounters”

Room: Exhibit Hall A: Roosevelt Room 3

Chair & Moderator: Thomas J. Ferraro, Duke University

Presenter: John Gennari, University of Vermont, Soul and Flavor: Italian America at Its

African American Edge

Presenter: Samuele F. S. Pardini, Elon University, In the Name of the Mother: Italian

Americans, African Americans, and Modernity from Booker T. Washington to Bruce

Springsteen

4:00-5:15 PM

Session 14: “Newspapers, Inter-Colonialism, and Globalism in Italian American Studies”

Room: Exhibit Hall A: Roosevelt Room 1

Chair: Courtney Ruffner Grieneisen, State College of Florida

Sarah Salter, Texas A&M University, Corpus Christi, “Faith, Health, and the Allure of

Consumer Mysticism”

Courtney Ruffner Grieneisen, State College of Florida, “Inter-Colonialism and its

Integration into Italian American Studies”

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Rocco Mesiti, Western New England University, “Italy’s New Diaspora: The Cultural

and Ecclesiastic Practices of New Immigrants”

Session 15: “What Ever Happened to Little Italy: Part II”

Room: Exhibit Hall A: Roosevelt Room 2

Chair: Jerome Krase, Brooklyn College

Salvatore LaGumina, Nassau Community College, “Suburban Little Italies on Long

Island: Four Generations Later”

Anthony Mitzel, Università di Bologna, University College London, “The Ephemerality

of Little Italy in Youngstown, Ohio: Brier Hill or Coalburg?”

Danielle Oteri, Art Historian, “A Taste of Arthur Avenue in The Bronx”

Session 16: “(Ir)Reverent in More Ways than One: Narrators Navigating the Perils of Being

Italian American, Catholic, and Female”

Room: Exhibit Hall A: Roosevelt Room 3

Chair: Maria Giura, Independent Scholar

Brenda DeMartini-Squires, Dutchess Community College

Maria Giura, Independent Scholar

Kathleen Zamboni McCormick, Purchase College, SUNY

5:30-6:45 PM

Session 17: “Page, Stage, and Screen in Italian American Studies”

Room: Exhibit Hall A: Roosevelt Room 1

Chair: Colleen Ryan, Indiana University Bloomington

Colleen Ryan, Indiana University, Bloomington, “Scripting Identities, Shaping Lives:

Italian American Theater across the Decades”

Ryan Calabretta-Sajder, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, “Gendering, the Body, and

Politics in Gay Italian American Theater”

Maria Protti, Independent Scholar, “The Dies Irae: A Lineage of Gregorian Chant, Verdi,

Spaghetti Westerns, and Horror”

Session 18: “Writing Faith and the Italian American Writer’s Irreverence”

Room: Exhibit Hall A: Roosevelt Room 2

Chair & Moderator: Jessica Femiani, Binghamton University

Susan Scutti, Creative Writer

Jessica Femiani, Binghamton University

Robert Viscusi, Brooklyn College

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Session 19: “Psychology to Psychological: Faith to Daughters and Fathers”

Room: Exhibit Hall A: Roosevelt Room 3

Chair: John Gennari, University of Vermont

Karen De Luca Stephens, Independent Writer/Screenwriter, “Faith and Skepticism from

Father to Daughter”

Lorraine Mangione, Antioch University, New England, “Italian American Daughters and

Dads: Relationship to Spirituality and Religion”

7:00-8:15 PM Keynote Roundtable Follow-up

Session 20: “Orsi Roundtable”

Room: Exhibit Hall A: Roosevelt Room 1

Chair: Samuele F. S. Pardini, Elon University

Thomas J. Ferraro, Duke University

Kristy Nabhan-Warren, University of Iowa

Susan Ridgely, University of Wisconsin, Madison

9:00 PM Farewell Banquet

(Omni Hotel)

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Saturday, November 4

8:00-12:00 Registration

(Convention Registration Desk)

7:30-9:00 AM Coffee Service

(Exhibit Hall A Hallway)

8:00-9:15 AM

Session 21: “The Routledge History of Italian Americans: A Roundtable”

Room: Exhibit Hall A: Roosevelt Room 1

Chairs: William J. Connell, Professor of History and Joseph M. and Geraldine C. La Motta Chair

in Italian Studies, Seton Hall University, and Stanislao G. Pugliese, Professor of History and

Queensboro UNICO Distinguished Professor of Italian and Italian American Studies, Hofstra

Peter Carravetta, Alfonse M. D’Amato Chair in Italian and Italian American Studies,

Stony Brook University

John Gennari, Associate Professor of English and Critical Race and Ethnic Studies,

University of Vermont

Jerome Krase, Emeritus and Murray Koppelman Professor, Brooklyn College, CUNY

Giuliana Muscio, Professor of History of Cinema, Emerita, University of Padua

James Periconi, Independent Scholar (Foremost non-institutional collector of Italian

language American imprints)

Robert Viscusi, Professor of English and Executive Officer of the Wolfe Institute for the

Humanities, Brooklyn College, CUNY

9:30-10:45 AM

Session 22: “Teaching The Godfather Films”

Room: Exhibit Hall A: Roosevelt Room 1

Chair: Alan J. Gravano, Rocky Mountain University

Presenter: Benjamin Lawton, Purdue University

Respondent: Ryan Calabretta-Sadjer, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville

Respondent: Alan J. Gravano, Rocky Mountain University

11:00-12:15 PM

Session 23: “Teaching Italian American Studies: A Roundtable Approach”

Room: Exhibit Hall A: Roosevelt Room 1

Moderator: Ryan Calabretta-Sadjer, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville

Laurie Buonanno, Buffalo State University (SUNY)

Jonathan Cavallero, Bates College

Lina Insana, University of Pittsburgh

Stanislao G. Pugliese, Hofstra University

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12:15-1:00 PM Lunch & Graduate Student Meet & Greet

(Exhibit Hall A: Roosevelt Room 4) Alan Gravano, IASA President

Michele Fazio & Jessica Femiani, EC Members

1:00-2:15 PM Business Meeting & Presentation of Awards

2017 Book Award Winner: Camillia Trinchieri

2017 IASA Memorial Fellowship Winner: TBA

2017 IASA Conference Travel Subsidies: TBA

(Exhibit Hall A: Roosevelt Room 4)

2:30-3:30 PM

Session 24: “Bridging the Gaps: From Teaching ‘Commercial Italian’ to Living It: A

Roundtable”

Room: Exhibit Hall A: Roosevelt Room 1

Chair: Ryan Calabretta-Sadjer, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville

Enza Antenos, Montclair State University

Lyn Scolaro, Prospect High School (Illinois)

Gabriella Mileti, NIAF

Session 25: “Reflections on Calabria Symposium and Diaspora Summer Program”

Room: Exhibit Hall A: Roosevelt Room 2

Chair: Robert Oppedisano, Independent Scholar

Francesco Chianese, Independent Scholar

Jessica Femiani, Binghamton University

Fred Gardaphé, Queens College (CUNY)

Patrizia Stahl, College of Coastal Georgia

3:45-4:45 PM

Session 26: “Past IASA (AIHA) Presidents Panel”

Room: Exhibit Hall A: Roosevelt Room 1

Chair & Moderator: Michele Fazio, University of North Carolina, Pembroke

Dominic Candeloro (1985-88)

Jerome Krase (1993-96)

Fred L. Gardaphé (1997-2000)

Josephine Gattuso Hendin (2009-10)

George Guida (2011-14)

Alan J. Gravano (2015-Present)

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5:30 PM: NIAF Reception

(Marriott Foyer)

7:00 PM: NIAF Gala Dinner

(Marriott Ballroom)

10:00 PM: NIAF After Party

(Marriott Mezzanine)

Sunday, November 5

10:30-11:30 AM Catholic Mass in Italian

(Holy Rosary Church)

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9th Annual AIHA Conference in Washington, DC 1976

Back Row: Robert Severino, Rudolph J. Vecoli, Salvatore LaGumina, Elena Agarossi, Humbert S. Nelli, Jean Scaparci, Fanco Cerase, A. William Salamone, Enio di Nolfo

Front Row: Luciano Iorizzo, Emilia Morelli, Giorgio Spini, Raimond Luraghi, Clara Lovett

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14th Annual AIHA Conference St. Paul, Minnesota 1981

Back Row: Rudolph J. Vecoli, Francis X. Feminella, George Pozzetta, Phyllis Martinelli, Ernest E. Rossi, Dominic Candeloro

Front Row: Teresa Cerasuola, Helen Barolini, Gary Mormino, Frank Cavaioli, Carlo Ferroni

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39th Annual AIHA Conference Orlando, FL 2006

Back Row: Michael Di Virgilio, George Guida, Fred L. Gardaphé, Stanislao Pugliese, Stefano Luconi, Frank Cavaioli

Middle Row: Angelo Tripicchio, Angela Danzi, Dominic Candeloro, Frank Alduino, Anthony Tamburri

Front Row: Maria Elisa Ciavarelli, Dawn Esposito, Mary Jo Bona, Salvatore LaGumina, Jerome Krase, Edward Maruggi

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Casa Italiana of Columbia University 1931

Front Row: Angelo Lipari, Dino Bigongiari, Counsel General Grossardi, Angelo Patri, Leonard Covello

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Image Credit: Center for Migration Studies of New York

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Image Credit: Center for Migration Studies of New York

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Call for Papers

The 51st Italian American Studies Association Conference

Loyola University, Chicago

Hampton Inn Chicago North Loyola Station / 1209 W. Albion Ave. / Chicago,

IL 60626

October 18-20, 2018

Submission Deadline: May 15, 2018

Upload/submit proposals to Submittable:

https://italianamericanstudies.submittable.com/submit

For inquiries, please contact the conference committee

at iasa.conference@gmail.com

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Notes