This session explores the intertwined roles of language, identity, and education within the context of the Italian diaspora in North America, spanning from the Great Emigration to the mid-20th century. By examining how Italian was taught, transmitted, and politicized in diasporic spaces, the panel investigates how language shaped immigrant subjectivity, informed educational practices, and mediated racial hierarchies in both Canada and the U.S. The session foregrounds interdisciplinary approaches—drawing on cultural history, linguistic analysis, educational theory, and archival research—to illuminate the transnational dimensions of Italian diasporic life.
The rationale for organizing this session arises from the need to reframe traditional narratives of Italian immigrant assimilation. Rather than viewing Italian language maintenance and education as marginal or secondary to integration, this panel positions them as central to understanding how communities negotiated belonging, race, and cultural citizenship. In doing so, the session contributes to a growing body of scholarship in Italian American and Italian Canadian studies that emphasizes transnational, multilingual, and racialized frameworks.
This topic builds on and critically engages with existing work by scholars such as Donna Gabaccia, Jennifer Guglielmo, Nancy Carnevale, and Francesco Loriggio, who have examined the cultural politics of Italian immigrant life. However, the session expands these conversations by specifically centering education and language as sites of cultural mediation and racial negotiation. In doing so, it contributes to broader conversations in diaspora studies, race and ethnicity, and the history of education.
The session will include three 15-minute presentations, followed by a 15-minute moderated discussion and 15 minutes of unstructured audience Q&A. This format allows for both the development of individual case studies and collective engagement around shared themes.
Presentation 1 – Mattia Ragazzoni (University of Toronto):
Ragazzoni investigates Italian language teaching during the early stages of the diaspora to Canada (1910–1940). His paper analyzes how religious institutions, lay associations, and pedagogical texts collaborated to establish a diasporic Italophony. He emphasizes how language instruction was not merely about maintaining linguistic continuity but also about cultivating a transnational identity through educational innovation.
Presentation 2 – Matteo Brera (Università degli Studi di Padova / Seton Hall University):
Brera examines the Italian-language press in the U.S. South and its role in mediating race and cultural diplomacy. Focusing on how newspapers addressed education and promoted the establishment and benevolent societies’ cultural agenda in large Italian diasporic communities such as those of New Orleans (LA) and Birmingham (AL), his work reveals how Italian periodicals operated as tools of both resistance and accommodation within the racialized landscape of the American South.
Presentation 3 – Carmen Petruzzi (Università degli Studi di Foggia):
Petruzzi revisits the educational theory of Leonard Covello, one of the first Italian American educators to develop a bicultural pedagogical model. Her paper situates Covello’s work within a broader critique of assimilationist paradigms and advocates for curricula that reflect immigrant heritage. In doing so, the scholar connects historical practices to ongoing debates about multicultural education and inclusion.
Together, these presentations offer a comparative and transnational perspective on how Italian diasporic communities in North America engaged with questions of language and education in relation to race and identity. The session highlights multilingualism not as a deficit to be overcome but as a strategy of cultural negotiation and resilience.
The panel features a diversity of scholarly voices and institutional affiliations, including researchers based and operating in Italy, Canada, and the United States. The panelists bring to the table a varied methodological set of approaches—from archival research to textual analysis and educational theory—and address different geographic and cultural contexts. This diversity enriches the conversation and models the kind of transnational scholarly collaboration the panel seeks to promote.