italian-studies: Scholarly discussions in any field of Italian studies
Ricatti, Francesco
Embodying Migrants
Italians in Postwar Australia
Bern, Berlin, Bruxelles, Frankfurt am Main, New York, Oxford, Wien, 2011.
331 pp.
Print: ISBN 978-3-0343-0466-5 pb.
SFR 83.00 / €* 57.20 / €** 58.90 / € 53.50 / £ 48.20 / US$ 82.95
Order online: www.peterlang.com
Book synopsis
This book constructs a suggestive, dramatic and colourful portrait of
migrants' everyday life in 1950s and early 1960s Australia, by focusing
on important aspects such as health, sexuality, self-beautification, love,
and morality. The book considers two columns edited by Lena Gustin (Mamma
Lena) for the Italian-language newspaper in Australia La Fiamma between 1956
and 1964. Furthermore, the historical analysis is based on hundreds of
original letters that Italian migrants wrote in the same years to the two
columns or directly to Gustin. Most of these letters were never published in
the newspaper, or were strongly edited before publication. Gustin's
selection and editing eliminated most of the explicit references to the
body, sexuality, and violence. This 'editing of the body' opens up important
questions about the construction of Italian ethnic identity by the migrant
élites and by scholars.
Contents: Italian migrants in Australia in the post-Second World War period
- Ethnic media: the Italian-language newspaper in Australia La
Fiamma - Lena Gustin's columns: Il salotto di Lena and Inchiostro simpatico
- The editorial process: editing the body and the construction of
ethnic respectability - Migrants' writing - Love and identity - Ethnic
moralism and misogyny - Interethnic and interregional relationships, and
the generational gap - Mutable bodies and sexual dilemmas - Transsexuality -
Self-beautification - Health and work injuries - Childbirth and
motherhood - Mental health.
Francesco Ricatti (PhD, University of Sydney) is Cassamarca Lecturer in
Italian at the University of the Sunshine Coast. In 2008 he received the
Altreitalie award for the best PhD thesis on Italian migration.
*************************
Dr. M.Cristin@ Mauceri
Cassamarca Lecturer
Department of Italian Studies,
MacCallum Building (A18),
University of Sydney, N.S.W. 2006
AUSTRALIA
Ph. +61 2 93516887
Fax +61 2 93513407
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