In collaboration with the McGill University, Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures – Italian Studies, the Italian Cultural Institute of Montréal presents: Re-examining the Long “1950s”: The (Un)Making of the Contemporary Italian Cultural Identity 5.
The objective of the project is to lay the foundation for a reinterpretation of the “long 1950s” as a key phase in the elaboration of the cultural erasures, marginalizations and distortions which constitute the unacknowledged but fundamental underside of contemporary Italian identity. Bringing this underside to light has ethical and political, as well as cultural implications: a deeper and more complex understanding of post-WW II Italy is an essential step in developing a fresh insight into some long-standing and frustrating impasses in contemporary Italian society with respect to issues of class, gender, religious and political ideology, etc.
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Re-examining the Long “1950s”: The (Un)Making of the Contemporary Italian Cultural Identity 5 : “Immigrati Italiani e cultura popolare a Montréal nel secondo dopoguerra” by Prof. Bruno Ramirez and Giovanni Princigalli. Tha talk will be followed by the inauguration of the photographic exhibition: “Fuori Casa’. Gli anni ’50 negli scatti privati degli immigrati italiani a Montréal”, curated by Giovanni Princigalli and Prof. Giuliana Minghelli.
Bruno Ramirez will join Princigalli and Minghelli in leading the opening of the photographic exhibition at the Leonardo da Vinci Center. He will provide a historical context, focusing on the history of the Italian immigration in Montreal and on the distinct character of the “second wave” of immigration in the 1950s. He will then reflect on the importance of material culture in developing an understanding of the immigrant experience and explore what this material culture tells us about the way Italian immigrants negotiated their identity in relation to a range of milieus: the family, the community of origin, the recreated community of adoption, the Italian nation and the Quebec and Canadian nations. Recognizing the complexity of these negotiations has clear contemporary implications, as Italy confronts the tragic consequences of massive migration flows from North Africa and the Middle East.
Leonardo da Vinci Center (8370 Boulevard Lacordaire, Saint-Léonard), Tuesday January 17, 2017, 5pm
Bruno Ramirez is the foremost historian of the Italian immigrant community in Montreal. He has PhD in History from the University of Toronto and is currently a full professor of History at the Université de Montréal. He has been a visiting professor at the École normale supérieure (Paris), at the University of Florence, and the Université de Paris VII, and the University of Bologna and at the University La Sapienza in Rome. He has written two book-length studies on Italian migration to North America: “On the Move: French-Canadian and Italian Migrants in the North Atlantic Economy,” 1861-1914 (Oxford UP, 1991) and “Les premiers Italiens de Montréal: l’origine de la Petite Italie du Québec” (Boréal Express, l984). He also collaborated with the Québec director Paul Tana on the script for two of the most acclaimed films on the Montreal Italian community, “Caffé Italia” (1985) and “Sarrasine” (1992).
Gianni Princigalli has been working for over a decade with the Italian immigrant community in Montreal. He obtained a Master in Political Sciences from the University of Bari and a Master in Cinema from the Université de Montréal. Since 2009, he has produced two documentaries and two short films, which have been aired by RAI International; Canal Vox ; Tv5 Afrique; Planete Italia and Repubblica TV. In 2012 he was a member of the international jury at the festival Vues d’Afrique in Montreal. Princigalli’s essential contribution will be to bring to life the memories and voices of Italians who migrated to Montreal in the 1950s. His special talent lies in his ability to elicit compelling stories from his interviewees, stories that we all need to hear to grasp an experience of migration that is both distant in time and yet incredibly pertinent to contemporary society.
For further information: https://thelongfifties.wordpress.com/2017/01/07/italian-migration-and-modernity-in-1950s-montreal/