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Staying Italian: Urban Change and Ethnic Life in Postwar Toronto and Philadelphia

Online ISBN:
9780226770765
Print ISBN:
9780226770741
Publisher:
University of Chicago Press
Book

Staying Italian: Urban Change and Ethnic Life in Postwar Toronto and Philadelphia

Jordan Stanger-Ross
Jordan Stanger-Ross
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Published online:
21 March 2013
Published in print:
1 February 2010
Online ISBN:
9780226770765
Print ISBN:
9780226770741
Publisher:
University of Chicago Press

Abstract

Despite their twin positions as two of North America's most iconic Italian neighborhoods, South Philly and Toronto's Little Italy have functioned in dramatically different ways since World War II. Inviting readers into the churches, homes, and businesses at the heart of these communities, this book reveals that daily experience in each enclave created two distinct, yet still Italian, ethnicities. As Philadelphia struggled with deindustrialization, the book shows, Italian ethnicity in South Philly remained closely linked with preserving turf and marking boundaries. Toronto's thriving Little Italy, on the other hand, drew Italians together from across the wider region. These distinctive ethnic enclaves, the book argues, were shaped by each city's response to suburbanization, segregation, and economic restructuring. By situating malleable ethnic bonds in the context of political economy and racial dynamics, it offers a fresh perspective on the potential of local environments to shape individual identities and social experience.

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