Autori: Sciorra, Joseph, Ruberto, Laura E.
Titolo: Italian American Columbuses. Contested Spaces, Unstable Identities and Public Memories
Periodico: Memoria e ricerca
Anno: 2026 - Volume: 81 - Fascicolo: 1 - Pagina iniziale: 13 - Pagina finale: 34

In this essay we build on our previous research on Columbus monuments and shifting Italian American identities by considering ongoing debates and actions involving Columbus statuary and celebrations in the United States. We review some of the basic histories of Italian Americans’ relationship to Columbus, highlighting different key eras throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries (i.e., fin-de-siecle, fascism, 1970s). We also focus attention on the immediate past decade and what we recognize as elevated tensions around Columbus celebrations. We are particularly interested in how some contemporary Italian Americans position themselves through language and action in relationship to the symbol of Columbus within the context of class and race and how, for some, the mask of ethnic identity seeks to cover and obfuscate the cultural politics of whiteness in the present moment, while for others the positioning acts to reinforce their status as allies to communities of color. Our essay concerns itself especially with several informal entities and established organizations that self-identify as Italian American and that position themselves on either side of this debate. These organizations – and their spokes-people – thus participate in larger (trans)national actions around contested spaces, identities, and memories. While we invoke a binary of pro- versus anti- Columbus Italian American voices, we also attempt to underscore and recognize from the start that there is not and has never been a unified Italian American community. What has been historically understood as a European immigrant success story in the United States and elsewhere has increasingly been reframed within the context of white supremacy and settler colonialism. Foundational to our current project is thinking about some of the ways Italian Americans respond to such dismantling of hegemonic narratives and systems of power vis-à-vis the figure of Columbus.




SICI: 1127-0195(2026)81:1<13:IACCSU>2.0.ZU;2-Q
Testo completo: https://www.rivisteweb.it/download/article/10.14647/120212
Testo completo alternativo: https://www.rivisteweb.it/doi/10.14647/120212

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