Building Italian Regional Identity in Toronto: Using Space to Make Culture Material

BIFFOs, jackeens and Dagenham Yanks: county identity, “authenticity” and the Irish diaspora

“…36 Harney also notes such practices among the Italian diaspora, whereas Maira has explored similar translocal identities in Indian diasporic communities. 37 A comparison may also possibly be drawn to the 'island chauvinism' noted by Winston James in his analysis of the experience of Caribbean migrants in Britain, although he positions this as something that must necessarily be transcended in order that migrants may "come to recognise their common class position and shared…”

Tangible transnational links in the houses of Italian immigrants in Melbourne

“…The Italian participants in Melbourne use the houses as physical forms that link them not only to the larger Italian community in Melbourne but also to their homeland. This is much like the Abruzzese Canadians who wish to locate their feelings of belonging in a material place (Harney 2002), or Italians in Britain who wish to perform acts that connect them with their roots and sense of community (Fortier 1999). They do this through both symbols and materials.…”

“…A few other studies have examined the materiality of sites of Italian transnational communities. Harney (2002) explores Italian ethnoregional community centres in Toronto. He describes how the design of Casa Abruzzo in Toronto, which represents the Region of Abruzzo, has architectural characteristics that recall the architecture and geography of cities in the region, such as stone supports like the medieval aqueduct in the region and expanses of stone cut to create the feel of a piazza.…”

“…In summer, it was and is still, on special occasions, the space for familial and social gatherings. Participants use building materials that remind them of former buildings and landscapes of Italy, just as Abruzzo Canadians do in their community centre (Harney 2002).…”

The Politics of Urban Space: Modes of Place-making by Italians in Toronto's Neighbourhoods

“…In turn, ways of being Italian become increasingly restricted by the imperatives and ideologies of the dominant institutions. In its simplest and most mundane form, though, the monumentalism is reinforced by the architecture and design features of the buildings which exhibit selective forms of Italianate design -columns, marble and courtyards ornamented with grape arbours or a feature reminiscent of a building or structure from a hometown in Italy (Harney 2002). Inevitably, aloft and next to the Canadian flag is the Italian one, hoisted as if to mark the ethnic attachment of the territory as an outpost of Italianness.…”