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.
Authors
- Bibliography, etc. Note
- Includes bibliographical references and index
- Control Number Identifier
- CaOOCEL
- Description conventions
- rda
- Dewey Decimal Classification Number
- 305.85/1071331
- Dewey Decimal Edition Number
- 23
- Distributor
- Canadian Electronic Library (Firm),
- General Note
- Issued as part of the desLibris books collection
- Geographic Area Code
- n-cn-on
- ISBN
- 9780773554696 9780773555853
- LCCN
- F1059.5.L436
- LCCN Item number
- T45 2019eb
- Modifying agency
- CaBNVSL
- Original cataloging agency
- CaBNVSL
- Physical Description | Extent
- 1 electronic text (xix, 709 pages)
- Published in
- Ottawa, Ontario
- Publisher or Distributor Number
- CaOOCEL
- Rights
- Access restricted to authorized users and institutions
- System Control Number
- (CaBNVSL)thg00979249 (OCoLC)1106535402 (CaOOCEL)455620
- System Details Note
- Mode of access: World Wide Web
- Transcribing agency
- CaBNVSL
Table of Contents
- Cover 1
- Title Page 4
- Copyright Page 5
- Dedication 6
- Contents 8
- Foreword 10
- Preface 14
- Acknowledgments 18
- Introduction: The “Oral History Method”: Advantages and Disadvantages 24
- 1 A Unique Italian Canadian Community 38
- 2 Clandestine Emigration and the South 58
- 3 The Second Expedition: The Ordeal of the First Molisani 86
- 4 1925–1945: The Slow Growth of Solid Roots 107
- 5 1925–1945: L’unione fa la forza (Strength in Unity) 127
- 6 The War Years: “Good Canadians” and “Bad Italians” or Vice Versa? 152
- 7 Postwar Growth 180
- 8 The Settlement Pattern 212
- 9 Employment 235
- 10 Marriage and the Family 290
- 11 Social Life: Homemade Fun, Food, and Festivals – the Family, the Roma Club, and the Church 323
- 12 Ethnic Identity: Italian Canadians or Canadianized Italians? 362
- 13 Ethnic Identity and the Community: Individualism and Solidarity, Parochialism and Interaction 404
- 14 Community Self-Identity: What Is an Italian Canadian? 430
- 15 The Universal Values of Ethnicity: Nino Ricci’s Lives of the Saints and the Leamington Italian Community 449
- APPENDICES 540
- A Leamington Italians 1920s–1980, and Date of Entry in Canada 542
- B Italians in the Leamington Area (Southeast Essex County): 1920s–1945 551
- C Reproductions of Passports/Military Discharge Papers 556
- D Farm Purchases by Leamington Italian Immigrants (1920s–1960s) 570
- Notes 576
- Bibliography 680
- Index 720
