Joseph Sciorra
@josephsciorra.bsky.social
ethnographer folklorist cultural historian: material culture*italian diaspora*religious studies. presepe builder. director of Academic & Cultural Programs at Calandra Institute, a CUNY-wide research institute
More news about the book ‘Rituals of Migration: Italians and Irish on the Move’ with my article “The Visual Culture of Italian Migrant Return: Snapshots at the Crossroads of Home Visits and Touristic Itineraries”
"The Objects That Immigrants Packed Tell a Story About What It Meant to Leave Home Forever." @irpinaingiro.bsky.social @hidehirota.bsky.social @grainnemcevoy.bsky.social @ciantmcmahon.bsky.social @josephsciorra.bsky.social @tedsmyth.bsky.social @nyupress.bsky.social ⬇️⬇️⬇️
www.nyu.edu/about/news-p...
www.nyu.edu/about/news-p...
The Objects That Immigrants Packed Tell a Story About What It Meant to Leave Home Forever
A new collection co-edited by NYU scholar Kevin Kenny explores the things Irish and Italians carried with them to the New World during historic waves of migration
www.nyu.edu
October 17, 2025 at 12:13 PM
More news about the book ‘Rituals of Migration: Italians and Irish on the Move’ with my article “The Visual Culture of Italian Migrant Return: Snapshots at the Crossroads of Home Visits and Touristic Itineraries”
Two talks! See you in Madison.
October 14, 2025 at 5:17 PM
Two talks! See you in Madison.
I co-edited this special issue of the ‘Italian American Review’ on the topic of periodicals in the Italian diaspora
Italian American Review Vol. 15, No. 1, a special issue on periodicals in the Italian Diaspora, also contains three new book reviews and a film review. cc: @calandrainstitute.bsky.social and @josephsciorra.bsky.social scholarlypublishingcollective.org/uip/iar/issu...
September 26, 2025 at 2:36 AM
I co-edited this special issue of the ‘Italian American Review’ on the topic of periodicals in the Italian diaspora
What a treat gathering with contributors to present my article “The Visual Culture of Italian Migrant Return: Snapshots at the Crossroads of Home Visits and Touristic Itineraries” in this exciting new book
Video of our launch of Rituals of Migration @gihnyu.bsky.social @nyupress.bsky.social is now up on YouTube www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Qh1...
@irpinaingiro.bsky.social @hidehirota.bsky.social @grainnemcevoy.bsky.social @ciantmcmahon.bsky.social @josephsciorra.bsky.social @appalachianphilly.bsky.social
@irpinaingiro.bsky.social @hidehirota.bsky.social @grainnemcevoy.bsky.social @ciantmcmahon.bsky.social @josephsciorra.bsky.social @appalachianphilly.bsky.social
Launch of Rituals of Migration: Italians and Irish on the Move
YouTube video by Glucksman Ireland House NYU
www.youtube.com
September 26, 2025 at 2:31 AM
What a treat gathering with contributors to present my article “The Visual Culture of Italian Migrant Return: Snapshots at the Crossroads of Home Visits and Touristic Itineraries” in this exciting new book
Cool 3D rendering of an exhibit I co-curated!
Check out the 3D model of the Calandra Institute's exhibit "Creativity and World War II Italian POWs in the United States" curated by Laura E. Ruberto and Joseph Sciorra. @laura-e-ruberto.bsky.social @josephsciorra.bsky.social
August 19, 2025 at 5:37 PM
Cool 3D rendering of an exhibit I co-curated!
Resisting Italian American identity and politics as racist and xenophobic.
“The protest on Monday gave voice to some of the more virulent lines of attack against Mr. Mamdani, including some that seemed xenophobic and anti-immigrant. […]
The counterprotesters sought to dispel the notion that all Italian Americans were politically aligned.”
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/21/n...
The counterprotesters sought to dispel the notion that all Italian Americans were politically aligned.”
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/21/n...
Italian Americans, for and Against Mamdani, Square Off in New York
www.nytimes.com
July 22, 2025 at 5:08 PM
Resisting Italian American identity and politics as racist and xenophobic.
July 17, 2025 at 8:20 PM
My chapter in ‘Rituals of Migration: Italians and Irish on the Move’ (out this month with @nyupress.bsky.social) looks at family photos and the #visualculture of Italian migrant home visits.
@kevinkenny.bsky.social @irpinaingiro.bsky.social
@kevinkenny.bsky.social @irpinaingiro.bsky.social
June 4, 2025 at 3:36 PM
My chapter in ‘Rituals of Migration: Italians and Irish on the Move’ (out this month with @nyupress.bsky.social) looks at family photos and the #visualculture of Italian migrant home visits.
@kevinkenny.bsky.social @irpinaingiro.bsky.social
@kevinkenny.bsky.social @irpinaingiro.bsky.social
I’m excited to have an article in this collection about photos of Italian migrant home visits.
🗃️ 👏 To all the contributors to "Rituals of Migration": Jill Bender @braun-strumfels.bsky.social Donna Gabaccia @hidehirota.bsky.social @grainnemcevoy.bsky.social @ciantmcmahon.bsky.social Linda Reeder @appalachianphilly.bsky.social @josephsciorra.bsky.social Bernadette Whelan Clara Zaccagnini 🧵2/5
Rituals of Migration
Italian and Irish immigrant experiencesWhen people migrate, they often perform social and cultural rituals along the way. The idea of rites of passage—with...
https://nyupress.org/9781479825134/rituals-of-migration/}}
May 13, 2025 at 10:18 PM
I’m excited to have an article in this collection about photos of Italian migrant home visits.
Reposted by Joseph Sciorra
Call for Papers for the Institute's 2026 annual conference on the theme of "Religions, Beliefs, and the Supernatural in Italy and across Italian Mobilities." DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS: SEPTEMBER 15th.
May 7, 2025 at 3:21 PM
Call for Papers for the Institute's 2026 annual conference on the theme of "Religions, Beliefs, and the Supernatural in Italy and across Italian Mobilities." DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS: SEPTEMBER 15th.
Reposted by Joseph Sciorra
May 1 the exhibit @josephsciorra.bsky.social & I curated opens: CREATIVITY AND WORLD WAR II ITALIAN POWS IN THE UNITED STATES
I was happy to be in NYC to celebrate it w/colleagues, friends, former students and a curators-selfie!
pics/info @calandrainstitute.bsky.social
shorturl.at/JeC1f
I was happy to be in NYC to celebrate it w/colleagues, friends, former students and a curators-selfie!
pics/info @calandrainstitute.bsky.social
shorturl.at/JeC1f
April 29, 2025 at 1:02 PM
May 1 the exhibit @josephsciorra.bsky.social & I curated opens: CREATIVITY AND WORLD WAR II ITALIAN POWS IN THE UNITED STATES
I was happy to be in NYC to celebrate it w/colleagues, friends, former students and a curators-selfie!
pics/info @calandrainstitute.bsky.social
shorturl.at/JeC1f
I was happy to be in NYC to celebrate it w/colleagues, friends, former students and a curators-selfie!
pics/info @calandrainstitute.bsky.social
shorturl.at/JeC1f
A broadcast of the @radiopopolare.bsky.social program "Sacca di diavolo" on the subject of European #Easter #folkmusic with hosts Giancarlo Nostrini and Marco ??, April 18, 1992. youtu.be/-BlWJllhrp0?...
April 18, 2025 at 12:38 PM
A broadcast of the @radiopopolare.bsky.social program "Sacca di diavolo" on the subject of European #Easter #folkmusic with hosts Giancarlo Nostrini and Marco ??, April 18, 1992. youtu.be/-BlWJllhrp0?...
Reposted by Joseph Sciorra
Our exhibit, opening May 1st, “Creativity and World War II Italian POWs in the United States,” curated by Laura E. Ruberto and Joseph Sciorra, and designed by Polly Franchini, is coming together. @laura-e-ruberto.bsky.social @josephsciorra.bsky.social
April 17, 2025 at 6:13 PM
Our exhibit, opening May 1st, “Creativity and World War II Italian POWs in the United States,” curated by Laura E. Ruberto and Joseph Sciorra, and designed by Polly Franchini, is coming together. @laura-e-ruberto.bsky.social @josephsciorra.bsky.social
Martin Wong, the “Cosimo de’ Medici of the aerosol set.” His collection is highlighted in “Above Ground,” an exhibition at the Museum of the City of New York, until August 10th
www.nytimes.com/2025/04/10/a...
www.nytimes.com/2025/04/10/a...
Martin Wong, Medici of the Aerosol Art Set (Gift Article)
A patron saw the beauty in graffiti when most of the world thought it was mere nuisance. Now the writing (of Lee Quiñones, Rammellzee, Futura and others) is on the museum wall.
www.nytimes.com
April 12, 2025 at 12:52 AM
Martin Wong, the “Cosimo de’ Medici of the aerosol set.” His collection is highlighted in “Above Ground,” an exhibition at the Museum of the City of New York, until August 10th
www.nytimes.com/2025/04/10/a...
www.nytimes.com/2025/04/10/a...
Reposted by Joseph Sciorra
I’m sorry to read of Lou Nasti’s passing. I interviewed him in 2006 for my chapter on Christmas house displays for my book ‘Built with Faith’ (2015). He made Dyker Heights, Bklyn, the mecca of holiday lights.
www.nytimes.com/2025/03/25/n...
www.nytimes.com/2025/03/25/n...
Lou Nasti, Who Brought Christmas Displays to Extravagant Life, Dies at 79 (Gift Article)
A robotics specialist, he animated puppets and dolls for displays worldwide. His “Toyland,” with a two-story-high Santa, drew sightseers to a Brooklyn home for years.
www.nytimes.com
March 26, 2025 at 10:28 AM
I’m sorry to read of Lou Nasti’s passing. I interviewed him in 2006 for my chapter on Christmas house displays for my book ‘Built with Faith’ (2015). He made Dyker Heights, Bklyn, the mecca of holiday lights.
www.nytimes.com/2025/03/25/n...
www.nytimes.com/2025/03/25/n...
Reposted by Joseph Sciorra
The next time you see me, I'll be handing you one of these: bookmarks for our edited volume on unauthorized European migrations to the United States (forthcoming May 2025) @dbattisti.bsky.social @illinoispress.bsky.social
March 3, 2025 at 3:19 PM
The next time you see me, I'll be handing you one of these: bookmarks for our edited volume on unauthorized European migrations to the United States (forthcoming May 2025) @dbattisti.bsky.social @illinoispress.bsky.social
My research informs the new podcast “La Grande Famiglia” about a US radio program that recorded the voices of Italian relatives and aired them.
www.raiplaysound.it/programmi/la...
www.raiplaysound.it/programmi/la...
La grande famiglia | RaiPlay Sound
Anni '50, una radio di New York crea La grande famiglia, un programma per italoamericani sponsorizzato da un'azienda di pomodoro. Il meccanismo è semplice, ma geniale: in cambio di dieci etichette com...
www.raiplaysound.it
January 17, 2025 at 7:53 PM
My research informs the new podcast “La Grande Famiglia” about a US radio program that recorded the voices of Italian relatives and aired them.
www.raiplaysound.it/programmi/la...
www.raiplaysound.it/programmi/la...
reading Chabon’s ‘The Yiddish Policemen’s Union’ (2007) in the morning then Cohen Bros’ ‘Inside Llewyn Davis’ (2013) at night and noticed something….
January 11, 2025 at 4:33 AM
reading Chabon’s ‘The Yiddish Policemen’s Union’ (2007) in the morning then Cohen Bros’ ‘Inside Llewyn Davis’ (2013) at night and noticed something….
I’m curious about the significance of the image of a tired, resting, or sleepy St. Joseph in Italian paintings of the Nativity. This is not the prone St. Joseph who while sleeping receives divine messages before the Nativity.
December 2, 2024 at 10:27 AM
I’m curious about the significance of the image of a tired, resting, or sleepy St. Joseph in Italian paintings of the Nativity. This is not the prone St. Joseph who while sleeping receives divine messages before the Nativity.
Thinking about family photos: “What an image can really reveal, and how memories shift and shape our sense of self. ‘Is a photograph actually a record of something, or is it meaningless without interpretation?’ she asks.”
www.nytimes.com/2024/11/21/m...
www.nytimes.com/2024/11/21/m...
‘A Photographic Memory’ Review: The Imperfect Past (Gift Article)
A daughter hunts for the mother she never knew in an extraordinary, elegiac documentary.
www.nytimes.com
November 27, 2024 at 12:34 AM
Thinking about family photos: “What an image can really reveal, and how memories shift and shape our sense of self. ‘Is a photograph actually a record of something, or is it meaningless without interpretation?’ she asks.”
www.nytimes.com/2024/11/21/m...
www.nytimes.com/2024/11/21/m...
So many amazing new books by colleagues! Where to begin?
November 22, 2024 at 7:57 PM
So many amazing new books by colleagues! Where to begin?