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This book focuses on the development of Italian American cultural identity throughout the 20th and early 21st centuries, shifting from a clearly identifiable, expressive form of ethnicity, defined as "emblematic," to a less evident, more fluid form, referred to as "latent." Italian and non-Italian American authors are taken into consideration.

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This book focuses on the development of Italian American cultural identity throughout the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.

Italy is becoming a destination, rather than a starting point for immigrants. Immigration remains a source of tension and debate both in the United States and in Europe. Analyzing the evolution of Italian American identity, from diaspora to globalization, from emblematic to latent ethnicity, can thus prove insightful.

Disparate works, including novels, films and newspaper articles, both by Italian and non-Italian American authors illustrate this paradigm. The catalyst for this transformation is the Second World War, which allowed Italian Americans to take part in the struggle to liberate Italy from Fascism, establishing in this way a connection with their roots while adhering more closely to mainstream American society through participation in the conflict. Post-war expressions of Italian American culture include the development of women´s writing, cinematic interactions with American Jews and African Americans, and the works of two novelists, Don DeLillo and Anthony Giardina, who embody different aspects of latent ethnicity.

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Emblematic Ethnicity: Fictions of the Italian American - Italian Americans from a Mainstream Perspective - Documenting Fascism and World War II in an Italian American Perspective - Fictions and Memoirs of the Italian American War Experience - Representations of Italian American Internment - Domestication of Ethnicity: The Fictions of Women - Italian Americans in Jewish and African American Cinema - Latent Ethnicity: Metamorphoses of Italian American Identity.

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Francesca de Lucia is an Italian and Swiss double national. She is currently teaching at Minzu University of China in Beijing, and has previously worked as an associate professor at Zhejiang Normal University. She holds a PhD from the University of Oxford. The focus of her research is on ethnicity and American identity in literature.

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