Diaspora Italy

Know about the book -

Diaspora Italy is written by Catherine Dewhirst and published by Routledge. It's available with International Standard Book Number or ISBN identification 1472433440 (ISBN 10) and 9781472433442 (ISBN 13).

On unifying in 1861 Italy faced a series of challenges. Politicians struggled to implement unity across a country that was unprepared for nationalism, whose cultural diversity and social structure had defined what it meant to be âe~Italiansâe(tm) for centuries. The government also failed to deal with mass unemployment and poverty. It is in this context that emigration increased to unprecedented and permanent levels. By the First World War 14 million Italians had left their homes. Such a loss at an embryonic stage in nation-building was catastrophic for Italyâe(tm)s imperial designs, but gradually the government recognized the diaspora as an untapped source of potential wealth and patriotism. Investing in the development of diaspora colonialism transformed emigration from a negative problem to a positive solution. Diaspora Italy asks why Italian migrants responded to opportunities emerging from Italyâe(tm)s imperial ambitions, and how. The Italian government developed initiatives to cultivate patriotism abroad and a number of events, infrastructure and subsidies spoke to conceptions of the diasporaâe(tm)s centrality to its imperial ambitions. Originating from diverse regional and class backgrounds, a minority of migrant community representatives demonstrated enthusiasm abroad through expressions of italianità (Italianness) albeit for different reasons from those planned by the Italian government. Exploring these perspectives from the frame of transnational politics and cultures in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada and the United States, amongst other countries, this study argues that many migrant communities embraced Italyâe(tm)s diaspora colonialism, suspending their differences in the process, to solve problems at a local level. Doing so lent them legitimacy for contesting discriminatory and prejudicial treatment, particularly prevalent in white settler societies.