Southern Anthropologist
Abstract
(2010 Undergraduate Prize Winner.) While doing ethnographic research in Bayonne New Jersey among my extended Italian-American family over the summer of 2008 I began to see how deeply memories were valued within Italian-American communities. From fall 2008 to fall 2009, I continued my research in Asheville and Chapel Hill, North Carolina, also with people of Italian ancestry. These interviews supported the idea that memory aids in the construction and maintenance of Italian-American identity and works as a defining feature of female agency within the community. While studying gender roles of Italian-American women it became apparent that an important aspect of feminine identity for this group is the role of “memory-keeper”. The women of this cultural group achieve valued roles within the family as they pass on the ways of the native country through their cooking of regional foods, enforcement of the traditions of past generations and through their “kin work,” or keeping up with sometimes distant family members and family lore. The work of Italian-American authors and scholars such as Edvige Giunta make reference to such a memory-keeping function in earlier generations of Italian-American women as well.
Relational Format
journal article
Accessibility Status
Searchable text
Recommended Citation
Burgwyn, Hannah
(2010)
"Memory-Keepers: An Ethnographic Look at Female Agency among Italian-Americans,"
Southern Anthropologist: Vol. 35:
No.
2, Article 6.
Available at:
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/southern_anthropologist/vol35/iss2/6
