ITL 219, 220 - Italian American Experience

Course unit(s): 1
Meets GAR (students beginning prior to Fall 2024): Meets general academic requirements HU and DE (and is a linked IL course when offered as 220).
This course examines the diverse experiences of Italian Americans beginning with the massive immigration of Italians in the late 19th century to their integration into the American mainstream in the late 20th century. Among the topics addressed in the course are the historical factors that led Italians to leave Italy in the late 19th century; the social, political, and cultural challenges they faced upon arrival in the U.S.; the creation of a distinctive Italian American cultural identity in the Little Italys established throughout the U.S.; the role class, gender, race, and religion play in the formation and representation of Italian American identity; the dissolution of ethnic urban enclaves and the entry of Italian Americans into the American mainstream as white ethnics; and the various ways contemporary Italian Americans resist assimilation by reclaiming their “roots” through art, literature, and politics. This interdisciplinary course will include film, art, and music in addition to literary works, social science, and history. Taught in English.