Religious festive practices in Boston's North End : ephemeral identities in an Italian American community / Augusto Ferraiuolo.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ferraiuolo, Augusto, author.

Series:

SUNY series in Italian/American studies.

SUNY series in Italian/American culture

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Italian Americans--Massachusetts--Boston--Religion.

Italian Americans.

Italian Americans--Massachusetts--Boston--Ethnic identity.

Italian American Catholics--Massachusetts--Boston.

Italian American Catholics.

Festivals--Massachusetts--Boston.

Festivals.

Fasts and feasts--Massachusetts--Boston.

Fasts and feasts.

North End (Boston, Mass.)--Social life and customs.

North End (Boston, Mass.).

North End (Boston, Mass.)--Religious life and customs.

Boston (Mass.)--Social life and customs.

Boston (Mass.).

Boston (Mass.)--Religious life and customs.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xvi, 291 p. ) ill., 1 map ;

Place of Publication:

Albany, New York : State University of New York Press, [2009]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In this lively and accessible book, Augusto Ferraiuolo examines the many religious festivals in the Italian American community of Boston's North End. Using interviews, participant observation, and visual data, Ferraiuolo creates a vivid picture of how, over the course of a summer season, a number of religious festive practices are organized by multiple, overlapping, and, to some extent, competing voluntary organizations. The central argument that emerges is that the community uses these festivals, in part, to help maintain and establish a variety of identities, and that these identities are multistranded, complex, shifting, and negotiated—and thus ephemeral. In addition, Ferraiuolo shows in detail how individuals negotiate and construct identities as Italian Americans, Scaccianesi, Neapolitans, Catholics, and others, within the context of these celebrations. He also introduces a creative and original metaphor for understanding the ways in which selfhood is constructed, arguing that contemporary identities function as hypertext, in the manner of web-based technologies, linking to one another and building upon each other as constantly evolving "technologies of the self."

Contents:

The North End

Diasporas, ethnic enclaves, and transnational perspectives

The societies of saints

The festive practices

Ephemeral identities.

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

Originally presented as the author's thesis (Ph. D.--Boston University, 2006).

Includes bibliographical references (pages [259]-275) and index.

ISBN:

9781438428147

1438428146

9781441620576

1441620575