This study investigated the effects of family structure on Italian grandmothers' perceptions of their level of involvement, role conceptualizations and their positions on common familial issues. The sample consisted of Italian grandmothers from two groups of families: intact families (N = 30) in which grandmothers' adult children were in first marriages; and divorced families (N = 23) in which grandmothers' adult children were permanently separated or divorced. Level of involvement was operationalized in terms of contact, specifically frequency of visitation and telephone calls, between a grandparent and a grandchild. Variables that have been found to influence contact (a grandparent's custodial and kinship relationships, geographic distance, age of both grandparent and grandchild, and grandparent-parent accord) were also assessed. A grandparent's role within the family was operationalized in terms of their level of agreement to statements made by grandparents about their roles as involved family members, special protectors of grandchildren, available family members, conveyers of cultural traditions, and family "watchdogs". A grandparent's view with respect to contemporary family issues was assessed through their responses to statements about contemporary family life. The results indicate that contact was significantly greater between grandmothers and grandchildren in the intact as opposed to the divorced group. Grandmothers' roles within the family as well as their attitudes towards various family issues were not found to differ across family type. The findings were discussed in light of cultural and ethnic perspectives on divorce.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Toronto, 2006. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 67-06, Section: A, page: 2352. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M. Ed.)--University of Adelaide, 1992? / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 396-404).

Thesis--Bordeaux, 1928. / Bibliography: p. [207]-209.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Northwestern University, 2002. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 63-11, Section: A, page: 4050. Adviser: Jonathon P. Glassman.

Orientadora: Zélia Lopes da Silva / Banca: Janete Leiko Tanno / Banca: Paulo Cesar Gonçalves / Resumo: No final dos anos 1980, a comunidade de descendentes de imigrantes italianos vivia um momento de perda gradual da sua memória desagregando-se das suas raízes enquanto grupo cultural, levando alguns membros proeminentes da comunidade de famílias descendentes de imigrantes italianos a se reunirem com o objetivo de fundarem uma instituição que tivesse por alvo a revisitação dessa memória deixada pelos imigrantes, propiciando o seu não desaparecimento e levando à fundação do Circolo Italiano di Jundiaí. Dentre as medidas executadas pelo Circolo Italiano di Jundiaí, para o não desaparecimento das memórias das famílias de descendentes de imigrantes italianos, estão as homenagens feitas baseadas nas narrativas orais. Destaca-se, nesse processo, a participação das mulheres na questão do ato de guardar e repassar estas memórias que são contadas pelas famílias homenageadas, levando à revisitação desta memória e do estreitamento dos laços entre estas famílias e seus ancestrais. O objetivo da pesquisa é o estudo sobre a importância do Circolo Italiano di Jundiaí na revisitação da memória das famílias descendentes de imigrantes italianos, analisando os tipos de memórias escolhidas por esta instituição e estratégias utilizadas na construção e revisitação de uma memória imigrantista italiana em Jundiaí. O recorte temporal abarca os anos entre 1992, quando o Circolo foi fundado, dentro das preocupações com a conservação de uma memória em vias de desaparecimento, e o ano de 2015, quando... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: In the late 1980s, the descendants community of Italian immigrants was experiencing a gradual loss of memory, disaggregating from its roots as a cultural group, leading some prominent members of the descendant families community of Italian immigrants to meet with the objective of founding an institution that aimed to revive this memory left behind by the immigrants, propitiating its non-disappearance and leading to the foundation of the Circolo Italiano di Jundiaí. Among the measures implemented by the Circolo Italiano di Jundiaí, for the non-disappearance of the families memories of Italian immigrant descendants, there are homages based on the oral narratives. In this process, the participation of women in the issue of keeping and passing on these memories that are told by the honored families, leading to the reviving of this memory and the strengthening of the bonds between these families and their ancestors. The purpose of this research is to study the importance of Circolo Italiano di Jundiaí in reviving the memory of families descended from Italian immigrants by analyzing the types of memories chosen by this institution and strategies used in the construction and revisiting of an Italian immigrant memory in Jundiaí. The time frame covers the years between 1992, when Circolo was founded, within preoccupations with the conservation of a memory in the process of disappearing, and the year of 2015, when the institution ends its partnership with Radio Difusora de Jundiaí. This rupture causes changes in conservation strategies and dissemination of this memory by the Institution that initiates a new phase of its activities. The research sources were diverse, including Jundiaí newspapers, oral testimonies of Circolo founders, official documents of Jundiaí City Hall, reports of memorialists who wrote about the presence ... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre

It has been observed that Italian immigrants in Vancouver do not make use of community resources such as the community centres, library, and the Young Women's Christian Association. This thesis investigates the reasons for this phenomenon by studying the acculturation of Italian immigrant families, with special reference to the use of leisure time. Twenty-two immigrant families were interviewed, and responses were recorded on a questionnaire by the interviewer. It was not possible to obtain a random sample, consequently the respondents tend to represent the economically more successful or those more active in church affairs. The results of the study tend to confirm the initial assumption that the Italian immigrant perpetuates an old world pattern familiar to him by confining his social, cultural and recreational activities to his family, kinship group, his church, and his ethnic organizations. However, the study also shows that these patterns are undergoing a gradual change. Mothers are participating in such strictly New World activities, as the Parent-Teacher Association. Some children take part in community centre activities. These initial steps towards using community resources are particularly noticeable in those first generation Italian immigrants who have been settled in their present neighbourhood for ten years or more, and in the second generation. The study will, it is hoped, be of interest to community planners. The use of typical North American resources is part of a cultural pattern to which some immigrant groups, at least, are not accustomed, and which they adopt only gradually. The speed of acculturation probably varies with the ethnic and cultural background of the groups. / Arts, Faculty of / Social Work, School of / [other author Rosenbluth, Annemarie] / Graduate

No description available.

This thesis studies migration, work and community among Italian speakers in the Walhalla (situated in Victoria, Australia) gold mining district between 1865 and 1915, and analyzes the outcomes for those who either lived here for a time (as ‘sojourners’ in conventional historical parlance) or settled permanently in the district. It proposes to look way from the ‘big picture’ historical approach to Italian settlement in Australia, with its focus upon the large migrant communities in the capital cities, and instead examines the finer texture of small places and particular lives. The thesis offers a reconstructed history of Walhalla’s Italian community that challenges the prevailing emphasis of the district’s Anglo-centric history by using seemingly small and ‘insignificant’ events in order to develop broader themes which test and re-define ‘big picture’ history. In doing so, the thesis seeks to push the boundaries of understanding about what early Italians may have made of their lives, in terms of the experiences of specific individuals and family groups. / Firstly, the thesis questions the adequacy of contemporary understanding of what it means ‘to migrate’, and its use in historical analysis. It employs the Walhalla study in order to re-assess and re-apply the term ‘migration’ so as to provide a broader and better understanding of its meaning to Italians in a nineteenth century context. Has the word ‘migration’ changed over time, or has its use oversimplified and formularized a complex and diverse process in time, place and belonging? Is there a useful place for re-applying the term in a more constructive and inclusive way? / Secondly, the thesis re-examines and reconsiders the concepts of ‘migrant’, ‘sojourner’ and ‘work/migrant cluster’ and their application in our historiography. In particular, it focuses on the role of sojourners and their place within the migration process. A distinction between ‘migrant’ and ‘sojourner’ can only be drawn artificially and with hindsight and the use of these expressions in conventional historiography is unhelpful. Their application is problematic as strategies put into place prior to emigration could shift after arrival and the decision to settle permanently could be an imperceptible process made on an individual basis over time. / Thirdly, the thesis evaluates Charles Price’s well-accepted theory that migrant settlements often developed in certain Australian districts because pioneer migrants were involved in the same type of work which, in turn, led to the ‘accidental’ development of migrant communities. Should Price’s theory be re-formulated to address the possibility that early migrant settlements may have been more complex than previously understood, and that there were many facets contributing to the evolution of a migrant community not exclusively attributable to one occupational group? / Fourthly, the thesis reviews and examines the concept of ‘community’, its construction and what it may have meant to an early settler society and Italians within it. It explores the possibility that our national history may have been more inclusive, fluid and open ended than previously understood and that to completely separate, or isolate, different national or ethnic groups may be an incorrect modelling of early Victorian settlements. The thesis questions whether a broader theory should be applied to challenge the idea of a dominant British versus a non-British position towards the construction of ‘community’. By re-constructing an Italian community, the thesis teases out the dynamics at work within the Italian migrant settlement and its interaction and dialogue with Walhalla’s wider society. / My thesis emphasizes the relevance of micro-studies of this nature and its findings need to be extended by studies of other minority groups in other small places. Their accumulated implications should influence the broader historical understanding of the national and international patterns of Italian immigrant settlement in Australia and other New World countries.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Toronto, 2006. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 67-06, Section: A, page: 2030. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 323-329).