The Leamington Italian community : ethnicity and identity in Canada / Walter Temelini.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Temelini, Walter, 1939- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Italians--Ethnic identity.

Italians.

Italians--Ontario--Leamington--Ethnic identity.

Italians--Ontario--Leamington--History.

Italians--Ontario--Leamington--Social life and customs.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (545 pages)

Place of Publication:

Montreal : Published for the Leamington Roma Club by McGill-Queen's University Press, [2019]

Summary:

The Leamington Italian Community intertwines personal and family stories with both empirical and intuitive writing to offer new historical insights into the complex social, economic, and psychological causes and effects of the migration phenomenon. Walter Temelini meticulously reconstructs the history of immigration and settlement in Leamington, Ontario, of Italians from the southern regions of Lazio, Molise, and Sicily. He explains how, despite their regional differences, three generations between 1925 and the 1990s forged a cohesive, socially conscious, and unique agricultural community by balancing their inherited values and their newly adopted Canadian economic opportunities. Temelini's groundbreaking research draws on testimonial and documentary evidence gathered from in-depth interviews with hundreds of residents, as well as on original archival information and Italian-language histories translated by the author and previously unavailable to English-speaking readers. He concludes his study with an investigation into the award-winning novel Lives of the Saints by Nino Ricci, one of the community's most celebrated descendants. Drawing parallels between Ricci's narrative and the development of the community, Temelini demonstrates that ethnicity can be transformed successfully into a powerful universal archetype, and a creative force of identity. A pioneering and authoritative work, The Leamington Italian Community creates an intimate portrait within a global framework, delving into issues both timely and timeless, that will interest and inform the general and specialized reader alike.

Contents:

Front Matter

Contents

Foreword

Preface

Acknowledgments

Introduction: The ȜOral History Method ȝ: Advantages and Disadvantages

A Unique Italian Canadian Community

Clandestine Emigration and the South

The Second Expedition: The Ordeal of the First Molisani

1925–1945: The Slow Growth of Solid Roots

1925–1945: L’unione fa la forza (Strength in Unity)

The War Years: “Good Canadians” and “Bad Italians” or Vice Versa?

Postwar Growth

The Settlement Pattern

Employment

Marriage and the Family

Social Life: Homemade Fun,Food, and Festivals – the Family, the Roma Club, and the Church

Ethnic Identity: Italian Canadians or Canadianized Italians?

Ethnic Identity and the Community: Individualism and Solidarity, Parochialism and Interaction

Community Self-Identity: What Is an Italian Canadian?

The Universal Values of Ethnicity: Nino Ricci’s Lives of the Saints and the Leamington Italian Community

Appendix

Leamington Italians 1920s–1980, and Date of Entry in Canada

Italians in the Leamington Area, (Southeast Essex County): 1920s–1945

Reproductions of Passports/Military Discharge Papers

Farm Purchases by Leamington Italian Immigrants 1920s–1960s

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780773555860

0773555862

9780773555853

0773555854

OCLC:

1106535402