Italian-American Experience Lecture Series

Fall 2018

Hofstra University gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Long Island Regional Chapter of the Italian American Studies Association and the Association of Italian American Educator, Cav. Josephine Maietta, president.

All events are FREE and open to the public, unless otherwise indicated. Advance registration is requested.

Reservations will be honored on a first-come, first-serve basis. For more information, please contact the Hofstra Cultural Center at 516-463-5669.

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ITALIAN-AMERICAN WOMEN, POLITICS, AND RECENT IMMIGRATION

Tuesday, October 23, 7 p.m.
The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire and Monument
Speaker: Dr. Mary Anne Trasciatti
Associate Professor, Department of Writing Studies and Rhetoric
Hofstra University
Director, Superstorm Sandy Oral History Project
Long Beach, NY
President, The Triangle Factory Fire Coalition Inc.

Tuesday, October 30, 7 p.m.
Frank Serpico (2017)
A Film by Antonino D’Ambrosio

In his own words, Frank Serpico tells the story of his one-man crusade for police reform in the NYPD during the early 1970s.

Speaker: Antonino D’Ambrosio
Filmmaker, Author, Visual Artist
“A finely etched and fascinating documentary.” – Owen Gleiberman, Variety
“A wondrous portrait.” – Richard Brody, The New Yorker
Released by IFC Films Sundance Selects, playing in theaters, on-demand and on Hulu now!

Thursday, November 1, 7 p.m.
Monuments, Memory, and the Italian-American Community:
Columbus, Italo Balbo, and Beyond
Events in Charlottesville, Virginia, have reignited a longstanding debate over how the past should be remembered in public spaces. Italian-Americans have a responsibility to participate in the larger national conversation about how to remember their history and experiences in the United States. Professor Fraser Ottanelli will explore the relationship between memory, identity, and politics by focusing the debate surrounding statues of Christopher Columbus and the ancient Roman column commemorating the 1933 transatlantic flight of fascist aviator Italo Balbo in Chicago.

Speaker:  Fraser Ottanelli
University of South Florida

Tuesday, November 13, 7 p.m.
New Italian Migrations to the United States From 1945 to Present
The presentation will highlight the two-volume collection, New Italian Migrations to the United States (University of Illinois Press, 2017), which offers a radical rethinking of the history of Italian-Americans. The books’ editors will discuss how the continual immigration from Italy over the past 70 years has influenced immigration laws, impacted local communities, contributed to consumer culture, and continues to reboot Italian-American and U.S. culture in still-unfolding ways.

Speakers: Laura E. Ruberto
Berkeley City College
Joseph Sciorra
Queens College, CUNY

The Italian-American Experience Lecture Series is presented by the Hofstra Cultural Center and supported, in part, by the Association of Italian American Educators.

Location for all lectures, unless otherwise noted: Guthart Cultural Center Theater, Axinn Library

FOR MORE INFORMATION

For more information please contact the Hofstra Cultural Center at (516) 463-5669, M-F, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.

LECTURE SERIES DIRECTOR

Stanislao Pugliese
Professor of History
Hofstra Cultural Center Fellow
Queensboro UNICO Distinguished Professor of Italian and Italian American Studies

SPONSOR

Long Island Regional Chapter of the Italian American Studies Association

Register for Hofstra Cultural Center Events by Credit Card Online »

• Spring 2018

  Spring 2018

  Hofstra University gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Long Island Regional Chapter of the Italian American Studies Association and the Association of Italian American Educator, Cav. Josephine Maietta, president.

  All events are FREE and open to the public, unless otherwise indicated. Advance registration is requested.

  Reservations will be honored on a first-come, first-serve basis. For more information, please contact the Hofstra Cultural Center at 516-463-5669.

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  Bread, Roses, and Fire: Italian American Women at Home and Abroad

  Tuesday, February 27, 7 p.m.
  

  A film screening of Brooklyn Roses by Christine Noschese. Professor Christine Noschese is an Emmy award-winning writer, director and producer of both narrative and documentary films.   In Brooklyn Roses, Professor Noschese blends documentary and fiction to re-examine her childhood and her mother’s feminist struggles in 1950s and ’60s working class Brooklyn.  The film had its world premiere at the 2017 Fic Autor (Author’s International Film Festival) in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, where it was awarded best documentary feature.

  Read more about Brooklyn Roses

  Speaker:  Christine Noschese, Associate Professor, Department of Radio, Television, Film at Hofstra University

  Room 211 Breslin Hall, South Campus

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   Tuesday, March 13, 7 p.m. – POSTPONED
  The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire and Monument

  Speaker:  Dr. Mary Anne Trasciatti
  Associate Professor and Chair, Department of Writing Studies and Rhetoric, Hofstra University
  Director, Superstorm Sandy Oral History Project, Long Beach, NY
  President, The Triangle Factory Fire Coalition Inc.

  Guthart Cultural Center Theater, Axinn Library

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  Tuesday, April 3, 7 p.m.
  When the War Came to Pulcherini: Italian Americans and the Italian Campaign, 1943-1945

  Speaker:  Dr. Angela Danzi
  Professor Emerita of Sociology, Farmingdale State College, SUNY
  Author, From Home to Hospital: Jewish and Italian American Women and Childbirth, 1920-1940 

  Guthart Cultural Center Theater, Axinn Library

  The Italian American Experience Lecture Series is presented by the Hofstra Cultural Center and supported, in part, by the Association of Italian American Educators and the Long Island Regional Chapter of the Italian American Studies Association.

• Fall 2017

  Fall 2017

  Hofstra University gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Long Island Regional Chapter of the Italian American Studies Association and the Association of Italian American Educator, Cav. Josephine Maietta, president.

  All events are FREE and open to the public, unless otherwise indicated. Advance registration is requested.

  Reservations will be honored on a first-come, first-serve basis. For more information, please contact the Hofstra Cultural Center at 516-463-5669.

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  Celebrates the publication of
  THE ROUTLEDGE HISTORY OF ITALIAN AMERICANS

  

  Edited by William J. Connell and Stanislao G. Pugliese

  The Routledge History of Italian Americans is a new, multi-authored history of one of the largest ethnic groups in America. Concentrating on themes ranging from immigration to religion, and labor rights to women’s rights, this collection reflects the field of Italian American studies as it exists now, and brings out aspects of Italian American culture that make this ethnic group one of the most interesting in the American experience.

  Tuesday, October 31, 7 p.m.
  Italian American Studies After 50 Years
  Speaker: Dr. Salvatore LaGumina
  Professor Emeritus of History,
  Nassau Community College, SUNY

  Tuesday, November 14, 7 p.m.
  Why Italian Americans Need a New History
  Speaker: Dr. William J. Connell
  Professor of History and Joseph and Geraldine LaMotta Chair in Italian Studies
  Seton Hall University

  Tuesday, November 21, 7 p.m.
  The Future of Our Past
  Speaker: Dr. Stanislao G. Pugliese
  Professor of History and Queensboro UNICO Distinguished Professor of Italian and Italian American Studies
  Hofstra University  

  Location for all lectures: Guthart Cultural Center Theater, Axinn Library

  Presented by the Hofstra Cultural Center and supported, in part, by the Association of Italian American Educators.

• Spring 2017

  SPRING 2017

  Hofstra University gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Long Island Regional Chapter of the Italian American Studies Association and the Association of Italian American Educator, Cav. Josephine Maietta, president.

  All events are FREE and open to the public, unless otherwise indicated. Advance registration is requested.

  Reservations will be honored on a first-come, first-serve basis. For more information, please contact the Hofstra Cultural Center at 516-463-5669.

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  FROM ELLIS ISLAND TO YANKEE STADIUM:
  ITALIAN AMERICAN IMMIGRATION,FAMILIES AND SPORT

  

  Tuesday, March 7,7 p.m.
  DiDonato and Puzo Classics: La Famiglia, From Cities to Suburbs

  Tuesday, April 4, 7 p.m.
  Generations: From Immigrant to Second, Third, Fourth — and Beyond "Salad Bowl" to "Melting Pot"

  Tuesday, May 2, 7 p.m.
  How the "Low" People Moved Up: Sports as Pathways to Wealth, Celebrity (Respect?)

  Speaker for all three lectures: Michael D'Innocenzo, distinguished professor emeritus, Hofstra University.

  Professor D'Innocenzo was named the Eugene Asher National Distinguished Teacher by the American Historical Association in 2008. Growing up in an immigrant enclave (13 people sharing his home), he went on to attend Columbia University and was named a Danforth Scholar and an Edward John Noble Leadership Fellow. He came to Hofstra in 1960 and developed the University's first course on immigration history, which led to the book American Immigration and Ethnicity: "Melting Pot" or "Salad Bowl"? (which he co-edited). Location for all lectures: Guthart Cultural Center Theater, Axinn Library

  Presented by the Hofstra Cultural Center and supported, in part, by the Association of Italian American Educators.

  FOR MORE INFORMATION

  For more information please contact the Hofstra Cultural Center at (516) 463-5669, M-F, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.

  LECTURE SERIES DIRECTOR

  Stanislao Pugliese
  Professor of History
  Hofstra Cultural Center Fellow
  Queensboro UNICO Distinguished Professor of Italian and Italian American Studies

  SPONSOR

  Long Island Regional Chapter of the Italian American Studies Association

  Register for Hofstra Cultural Center Events by Credit Card Online »
• Fall 2016

  IN A DIFFERENT LIGHT
  ITALY AND AMERICA IN FILM, MEMOIR AND ACTIVISM

  Tuesday, October 25, 7 p.m.
  Author and Activist: The Daniela Gioseffi Story

  A docu-drama portraying a life-affirming struggle to make art of civil rights, democratic equality and climate justice by prize-winning filmmaker,Anton Evangelista. Daniela Gioseffi, a pioneer of Italian American culture, recipient of an American Book Award and author of 16 books of prose and poetry. Her career as a journalist in Selma, AL, during the Civil Rights Movement. She was among the first to integrate Deep South TV and was abused by the KKK for her activism. Ms. Gioseffi’s immigrant father, an inventor in the electronics industry, inspired her tenacity. As a poor, hardworking young man, he was among the first Italian immigrants to win a Phi Beta Kappa and Sigma Psi from Union College. Speakers: Daniela Gioseffi, Writer and Anton Evangelista, Filmmaker, authorandactivist.com

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  Tuesday, November 1, 7 p.m.
  Blaxploitalian 100 Years of Blackness in the Italian Cinema

  BlaxploItalianis a documentary that uncovers the careers of a population of entertainers seldom heard from before: Black actors in Italian cinema.BlaxploItalian cleverly discloses the personal struggles classic Afro-Italian and African diasporic actors faced, correlating it with the contemporary actors who work diligently to find respectable and significant roles. More than an unveiling of history, it is a call-to-action for increased diversity and esteem in international cinema.

  Speaker: Fred Kuwornu, Writer and Director

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  Tuesday, December 6, 7 p.m.
  Journey to the Heart’s Waters  

  “Louisa Calio’s Journey to the Heart Waters is a searing personal work of eternal return and transformation. Calio sets out on a quest that unites southern Italy and east Africa through the image and bodies of the black madonnas who encourage her to seek, to question, to love, to grieve, to revel and to dance. These poems are a profoundly poignant and well-earned liberation from all that is oppressive in the modern world.”—Stanislao Pugliese

  Speakers:  Louisa Calio, Author; Gaetano Cipolla, Publisher; Nino Provenzano, Poet

• Spring 2016

  THREE DOCUMENTARIES
  ON
  HISTORY, CRAFTSMANSHIP AND CONTEMPORARY ITALY

  

  Tuesday, February 23, 7 p.m.
  The Peasant and the Priest

  The story of two elderly men whose ways of life have survived from medieval Italy. Sergio, a sharecropper, uses ancient farming methods that have become overshadowed by corporate agriculture, and Father Oreste Benzi, a Roman Catholic priest, fights the tide of sexual slavery. Both represent ways of life that are rapidly fading as the modern world closes in. The point of departure for exploring their parallel lives is the 14th-century fresco, The Allegory of Good and Bad Government, by Ambrogio Lorenzetti.

  Speaker: Esther Podemski, Producer and Director

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  Tuesday, March 1, 7 p.m.
  My Italian Secret: The Forgotten Heroes

  Directed by Oren Jacoby and narrated by Isabella Rossellini

  With Robert Loggia as the voice of Gino Bartali

  The story of how World War II bicycling idol Gino Bartali, physician Giovanni Borromeo and other Italians worked with Jewish leaders and high-ranking officials of the Catholic Church, risking their lives by defying the Nazis to save thousands of Italy’s Jews.

  Speaker: Stanislao G. Pugliese, Professor of History, Queensboro UNICO Distinguished Professor of Italian and Italian American Studies, Hofstra University

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  Tuesday, March 15, 7 p.m.
  Men of the Cloth: Three Master Tailors A Vanishing Craft

  Directed by Vicki Vasilopoulos

  This film offers an inspiring portrait of three Italian master tailors who confront the decline of the apprentice system as they navigate their challenging roles in the twilight of their careers. The film unravels the mystery of their artistry and reveals how their passionate devotion to their Old World craft is akin to a religion.

  Speaker: Vicki Vasilopoulos, Director

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  Location for all lectures: Guthart Cultural Center Theater, Axinn Library

  The Italian American Experience Lecture Series is presented by the Hofstra Cultural Center and supported, in part, by the Association of Italian American Educators.

• Fall 2015
  

  Hofstra University gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Long Island Regional Chapter of the Italian American Studies Association and the Association of Italian American Educator, Cav. Josephine Maietta, president.

  All events are FREE and open to the public, unless otherwise indicated. Advance registration is required.

  Reservations will be honored on a first-come, first-serve basis. For more information, please contact the Hofstra Cultural Center at 516-463-5669.

  FALL 2015
  HOFSTRA CELEBRATES SINATRA

  A century after his birth, Frank Sinatra still looms large in the American imagination and in our popular culture. Join us as we celebrate his 100th birthday and his extraordinary life and career with a series of lectures, interviews, and a master class followed by musical interludes by Hofstra students, professional singers and musicians from The Great American Song Book. Featuring legendary musicians who played and toured with Frank Sinatra: Jerry Bruno, bass, D’Addario Foundation Visiting Artists; and Grammy Award-nominated jazz vocalist Jane Monheit; authors and biographers James Kaplan, David Evanier and Will Friedwald; scholars John Gennari, University of Vermont, and Shalom Goldman, Middlebury College; journalists Sandy Kenyon, WABC-TV, Carol D’Auria, 1010 WINS, and Mark Rotella, Publishers Weekly; multimedia journalist and founding member Greg Dunmore, National Association of Black Journalists; and Sal Scognamillo, Patsy’s Italian Restaurant.

  Advance registration is required where indicated:

  Tuesday, November 10, 7 p.m.
  Gay Talese (Frank Sinatra Has a Cold and Other Essays) and Pete Hamill (Why Sinatra Matters) discuss “Sinatra As American Icon.”
  Register

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  Wednesday, November 11
  Bassist Jerry Bruno, who played and toured with Sinatra, will be interviewed at 5 p.m. by John Bohannon, host of WRHU-FM’s The Jazz Café. The interview is followed by an 8 p.m. master class.
  Register

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  Thursday, November 12, 4 p.m.
  “Racism, Civil Rights and Israel” focuses on Sinatra as a champion of civil rights and a staunch supporter of Israel. There will also be a screening of 1945’s The House I Live In, a short film opposing anti-Semitism, starring Sinatra.
  Register

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  Thursday, November 12, 7 p.m.
  The Great American Songbook: Past, Present and Future is a panel that features musician, record producer and songwriter David Finck; musical director, pianist and arranger Tedd Firth; Grammy-nominated jazz vocalist Jane Monheit; and Debbi Whiting, president of My Ideal Music.
  Register

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  Wednesday, November 18, 4 p.m.
  “Lessons Learned From Sinatra” is a lecture and master class with radio personality Mark Simone.
  Register

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  Wednesday, November 18, 8 p.m.
  Will Friedwald, music critic and author of Sinatra! The Song Is You: A Singer’s Art, presents “Sinatra: The Television Factor,” with an introduction by Robert Foster, executive director of the Hoboken Historical Museum.
  Register

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  Thursday, November 19, 4 p.m.
  “Frank Sinatra and Italian American Culture” features University of Vermont Professor John Gennari; Joe Scognamillo and Sal Scognamillo of Patsy’s Restaurant in New York City; author Mark Rotella; and scholar Rocco Marinaccio.
  Register

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  Thursday, November 19, 7:30 p.m.
  “Assessing Frank Sinatra” features celebrity journalist Sandy Kenyon, music critic and author Will Friedwald, Sinatra biographer James Kaplan, radio host Ron Forman, and Bronx Opera Company Artistic Director Michael Spierman.
  Register

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  Sunday, November 22, 7 p.m.
  The Peter B. Clark Memorial Scholarship Fund Concert Sinatra
  Past, Present and Future

  Legendary Guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli
  WILL NOT BE PERFORMING
  (due to health reasons)
  with Guest artist, the Legendary Jazz guitarist extraordinaire, Rick Stone
  featuring the
  Hofstra Jazz Ensemble
  Hofstra Vocal Jazz Quartet
  and the
  Sinatra Future Singers

  (A free master class and open rehearsal with Rick Stone will be given at
  4 p.m. prior to the evening performance. Interaction is limited to Hofstra students only)
  Register

  This performance takes place at The Helene Fortunoff Theater.
  Tickets are $10, $8 for senior citizens (over 65) or non-Hofstra students with ID.
  This event is sold out.

• 2014/2015 Academic Year
  • Spring 2015

    SPRING 2015

    ITALIAN AMERICAN EXPERIENCE SERIES
    Divertimenti: From a Female Renaissance Painter to Soccer in War-Torn Palermo to the Recipes of Italian American South Brooklyn

    Tuesday, March 10, 7 p.m.
    Sofonisba Anguissola: Neglected Renaissance Female Painter
    Speakers:
    Louis Barrella, NYC Department of Education; Louis Leonini, St. John’s University; Snjezana Smodlaka, Rutgers University

    Recognized by Michelangelo, Sofonisba Anguissola became a court painter for King Philip II of Spain and lady-in-waiting to the king’s third wife, Elisabeth of Valois. This presentation explores Sofonisba Anguissola’s expertise as an artist, as well as her intelligence, determination and independent spirit. Historical perspectives and a connection to Verdi’s Don Carlo round out this diverse presentation of art, music, history, culture and real-life escapades.

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    Tuesday, April 21, 7 p.m.
    The Macaroni’s in the Basement: Stories and Recipes, South Brooklyn 1947
    Speaker:
    Fran Claro, Independent Author

    You can almost smell the aroma of roasting garlic and hear the laughter of the nonnas punctuating their daily conversations about the truly important things in life – family, faith, and the best way to prepare roast pork! Fran Claro serves up a savory slice of Americana, complete with mouth-watering recipes straight from the nonnas of Brooklyn. The Macaroni’s in the Basement is a treat for the soul and for the taste buds. 

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    Tuesday, April 28, 7 p.m.
    Life Is a Great Game
    Speaker:         
    Salvatore Cottone, Independent Author

    A work of historical fiction based on an actual soccer match that occurred near Palermo on July 10, 1943, the same day the Allied forces nvaded Sicily during World War II – based on a story retold by the only player still alive among both teams. Many factual details are included on subjects ranging from ancient mythology, art history and literature, to the sociological bases and consequences of emigration across many decades of the Sicilian experience. 

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    Location for all lectures: Guthart Cultural Center Theater, Axinn Library

  • Fall 2014

    FALL 2014
    ITALIAN AMERICAN EXPERIENCE SERIES New Books on Italian Americana
    Luigi Bianco, Chief Carver of Mount Rushmore (1933-1940) Speaker: Douglas Gladstone The author speaks about his book, Carving a Niche for Himself: The Untold Story of Luigi Del Bianco (Bordighera Books, 2014) and the Italian immigrant's largely forgotten role in creating the monument. Tuesday, September 16, 7 p.m.
    Orange Peels and Cobblestones Speaker: Rose Marie Calicchio Dunphy, Independent Author In her debut novel, Orange Peels and Cobblestones (2013) the author follows Marietta, "who from her early childhood days in Italy to her life as a young wife and mother in Brooklyn… is haunted by hard questions from her past." Tuesday, October 7, 7 p.m.
    The Kennedy Assassination and Organized Crime Speaker: Stefano Vaccara, Lehman College/CUNY, Editor-in-Chief, "La Voce di New York" Over 50 years after the assassination of JFK questions linger as to the identity of his assassin. The author delves into the alleged role of the reputed New Orleans organized crime boss in his book, Carlos Marcello: The Man Behind the JFK Assassination (Enigma Books, 2013) Tuesday, October 14, 7 p.m.
    Tweeting Da Vinci Speaker: Ann Pizzorusso is a geologist-naturalist whose first book uses the Renaissance genius to explore Italy’s underground secrets that have confounded people since the dawn of time: from the gateway to the underworld to the stairway to heaven and the gems described by Dante in the Divine Comedy. Wednesday, November 19, 11:30 a.m.
    Clash of Civilizations in Italy Speaker: Amara Lakhous, author, Clash of Civilizations Over an Elevator in Piazza Vittorio, examines the theme of identity through the descriptions of idiosyncrasies in multicultural Italy by way of a story of a murder in Rome. Tuesday, December 2, 9:30 a.m.

• Spring 2014

  SPRING 2014
  ITALIAN AMERICAN EXPERIENCE SERIES The Italian American Past: The Personal and the Political
  Waiting for Yesterday A revealing picture of Parenti's early years as a youth in New York's East Harlem, along with some of the influences that helped shape his lifelong commitment to activism and social justice. Speaker: Michael Parenti, political scientist, historian, and cultural critic Author, Waiting for Yesterday: Pages from a Street Kid's Life, 2013 Date: Tuesday, February 11
  ETHNICITY AND MULTICULTURALISM IN CONTEMPORARY ITALY Film Viewings led by Italian Ghanaian Filmmaker Fred Kuwornu Fred Kuwornu, film director and activist, will present two of his acclaimed documentaries and conduct a question and answer period after each screening. Date: Wednesday, February 12
  Finding the Motherlode: Italian Immigrants in California Through stories set in seven Italian communities throughout California, this film examines how economic and social mobility became possible for many Italians in the Golden State. It is also a look at how immigrant identity is maintained and transformed as immigrants become assimilated into mainstream America. Speakers: Gianfrano Norelli and Suma Kurien, directors Date: Tuesday, March 11
  Umberto E Award-winning filmmaker Anton Evangelista's heart-warming documentary about the epic story of Umberto Evangelista, a dynamic and charming ninety-year-old Italian immigrant. Speaker: Anton Evangelista, filmmaker and director Date: Tuesday, April 1
  Time and location for all lectures: 7 p.m. Leo A. Guthart Cultural Center Theater Joan and Donald E. Axinn Library, First Floor, South Campus Admission: Free Hofstra University gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Long Island Regional Chapter of the Italian American Studies Association (www.italianamerican studies.net) and the Association of Italian American Educators, Cav. Josephine Maietta, President.