Thesis (M.A.)--York University, 2006. Graduate Programme in Geography. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 169-176). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:MR29604

Understanding the lives of Italian women who migrated to Canada and Australia in the post-war period is the goal of this thesis. Although governments assigned women secondary roles as dependants and 'followers' in the migration process, I argue that Italian women were central, not marginal, to the migration and settlement experiences of Italian immigrants. By placing Italian women front and centre of this study, I contribute to a small but growing body of work that challenges the male-centred perspective of most literature on Italian-Canadian and Italian-Australian migration and ethnicity. / This thesis is structured within a feminist framework and uses interdisciplinary methods to gather and interpret quantitative and qualitative information about the lives of Italian immigrant women in post-war Canada and Australia. Using government and church archives, personal interviews, ethnic newspapers, legal documents, marriage registers and participant observer fieldwork, I explore three major themes. / Firstly, I examine Italian immigrant women's understanding of power relations within their homes and workplaces. Rather than cast women as either passive victims or all-conquering heroines, I present the complexity of the sources of power and weakness in immigrant women's lives. I argue that Italian immigrant women had to cope with exploitation and disadvantage because of their class, gender and ethnic status. However, they responded to these challenges with resistance and resilience, and were able to affect change and wield power within certain constraints. / Secondly, I compare the experiences of migration and settlement for Italian immigrant women in Canada and Australia and show how women's experiences were united by common gender concerns. I found overwhelming similarities between the family lives and work experiences of Italian-Canadian and Italian-Australian immigrant women, and in the government policies and programs that attempted to direct their migration and settlement in the post-war period. / Finally, I examine how Italian immigrant women helped to construct what it means to be 'Italian' in post-war Canada and Australia. I show how gender roles assigned to, and chosen by, Italian-Canadian and Italian-Australian women, served as boundary markers for ethnic difference. Perceived differences in attitudes towards waged work, mothering, family responsibilities and sexuality were used by Italian immigrant women to distinguish themselves as members of an ethnic collective.

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It all began in the village. We would wake up with the sun, we would rest our laboured bodies underneath the moon. Gli vecchi (old folks) often told us: “In the end, all that will remain is our story. Nothing else really matters.” This thesis “Awakening the Calabrian Story: The Diverse Manifestations of Acquiring Knowledge” will take you into the lives of ten Southern Italian women from Calabria. They will lure you back to their villages: their place of birth, their hearth, to the midst of the olive trees. Their stories will then migrate to Canada, as these women take their first steps on Pier 21. “In the end, all that matters is our stories.” This thesis will give voice to ten Southern Italian women who will tell the world what, to them, matters most. They will tell their tales and pass on the wisdom they have learned along the way. With each breath and each step, they are always growing, never remaining the same. They go along and live out their villages wherever the thread takes them. This thesis itinerary will begin in the village, follow a journey across the Atlantic Ocean to a life in Canada. Chapter One: (Introduction) will outline and describe the background, purpose and objectives, on this journey of awakening. Chapter Two: (Literature Review) will look at pedagogical perspectives in curriculum theory. Chapter Three: (Methodology) will focus on the research methodology applied throughout this thesis process. Chapter Four: (Stories as Data) will lure readers into the personal lives and experiences of participants. Chapter Five: (Interpretation of Stories) will reveal the analysis of acquired knowledge as reported by participants. This thesis itinerary will continue and conclude by the fireside with a collection of Calabrian folktales told by these participants, and translated from the Calabrian dialect into English.

It all began in the village. We would wake up with the sun, we would rest our laboured bodies underneath the moon. Gli vecchi (old folks) often told us: “In the end, all that will remain is our story. Nothing else really matters.” This thesis “Awakening the Calabrian Story: The Diverse Manifestations of Acquiring Knowledge” will take you into the lives of ten Southern Italian women from Calabria. They will lure you back to their villages: their place of birth, their hearth, to the midst of the olive trees. Their stories will then migrate to Canada, as these women take their first steps on Pier 21. “In the end, all that matters is our stories.” This thesis will give voice to ten Southern Italian women who will tell the world what, to them, matters most. They will tell their tales and pass on the wisdom they have learned along the way. With each breath and each step, they are always growing, never remaining the same. They go along and live out their villages wherever the thread takes them. This thesis itinerary will begin in the village, follow a journey across the Atlantic Ocean to a life in Canada. Chapter One: (Introduction) will outline and describe the background, purpose and objectives, on this journey of awakening. Chapter Two: (Literature Review) will look at pedagogical perspectives in curriculum theory. Chapter Three: (Methodology) will focus on the research methodology applied throughout this thesis process. Chapter Four: (Stories as Data) will lure readers into the personal lives and experiences of participants. Chapter Five: (Interpretation of Stories) will reveal the analysis of acquired knowledge as reported by participants. This thesis itinerary will continue and conclude by the fireside with a collection of Calabrian folktales told by these participants, and translated from the Calabrian dialect into English.

Focusing on Montreal Italian social networks, this thesis examines the ideological nature of ethnicity, and its functioning in political processes in urban Quebec. The ideological dynamics of ethnicity are revealed in the process of the creation and re-creation of belief in "Italian family", as a distinctive 'Italian' culture. This first separates Italians into different families and regional groups of paesani, but then brilliantly unites Italians into one group according to necessity. In political processes, various Italian associations and presidents are connected to formal politics through the mediation of Italian political brokers. The extensive construction of suburban residences created Italian economic elites and affected other sectors of the economy. Significantly, Italians attempt to keep business within Italian networks. This 'nationalistic' aspect of networks aims to maximize interests within the group. Such dynamic Italian politico-economic networks extend to the further level of formal politics in which federalist Liberals and separatist Parti Quebecois are principal rivals.

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