Italian American identity: A hermeneutic examination of Tampa's Italian community.

Abstract

This study focuses on how diverse interpretations of ethnicity within the United States produce meaning for Italian Americans. Research regarding Italian Americans and the effects of negative stereotypes, cultural products, and organized crime is plentiful, but the dialogue concerning the de-ethnicizing effect of assimilation on Italian American culture is limited (Barolini, 1985; Tamburri, 1998). Assimilation carries a specific discourse that functions as both an ideology and a system of control. As an ideology, it offers a positivistic solution to the dilemma of human difference. As a system of control, it organizes peoples' lives into a one-size-fits all framework. Moreover, the communication field, and the social sciences in general, lack a clear understanding of what it means to be both Italian and American at the same time because there is no consensus on its singular definition (Krase, 2005). The object of this study is to develop insights that allow communication scholars to understand the intercultural complexity associated with an "assimilated status" and to explore the dynamics of this culturally produced truth. This study attempts to look beyond the external signs of pragmatic assimilation and reveal the internal expression of Italian American culture. This study is a hermeneutic examination of the assimilated status of Italian Americans and the application of the assimilation narrative told by and for the Italian American community. Finally, this research builds and extends on research in cultural fusion and contributes to our understanding of the culturally fused experience of Italian American Identity.