Italian Communities in Canada: Heritage, Cultural, and Ethnographic Studies

Italian Communities in Canada: Heritage, Cultural and Ethnographic Studies offers annual projects by undergraduate students at the University of Guelph from the School of Languages and Literatures in the course HUMA3800/ITAL3800: Italian Heritage and Digital Applications.

Students share their research of the study of Italian people in Canada in their own environment through methods of ethnographic interviewing and consider the relationship of the Italian people and tangible and intangible heritage through data collection and data analysis of historical and cultural documents discussed in the course. Students further analyze topics such as immigration and World War II internment in their historical context and in light of political and historical dynamics of contemporary culture. The digital site was initiated in September 2021 with the first ethnographic interviews and story maps by Lauren Prezio, Antonio Spadafora, Kristie Braley, and Dana Berthiaume under the supervision of Dr. Teresa Russo. Since the inaugural year the site has grown with many oral histories of Italian immigrants to Canada and narrative of legendary figures and events in Canadian history, and the site will continue to grow with new research each year, showcasing interviews, private collections and photo galleries, story maps, academic posters, videos, and recordings.