The Pitfalls of the “Italian Diaspora”

STEFANO LUCONI teaches U.S. history at the University of Padua and specializes in Italian immigration to the United States with specific emphasis on Italian Americans’ political experience and transformation of ethnic identity. His publications include From Paesani to White Ethnics: The Italian Experience in Philadelphia (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2001); The Italian-American Vote in Providence, Rhode Island, 1916-1948 (Madison, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2004); and La questione razziale negli Stati Uniti dalla Ricostruzione a Barack Obama (Padua: Cleup, 2008). He also co-edited, with Dennis Barone, Small Towns, Big Cities: The Urban Experience of Italian Americans (New York: American Italian Historical Association, 2010).