Tuesday,
December 12, 2006
It's Not Easy Being
Italian and/or Catholic, Including Academia
The
ANNOTICO Report
Being
Disparaged and lLooked Down
Upon for being BOTH Italian and Catholic up until the 1950s, prevents Italian
Academics from Professorships in most Colleges, and Shuts them completely out
of the Elite and
To
heap Insult on Injury, in even the Catholic Colleges, Irish are given
overwhelming preference.
It
hasn't been, and continues "Not to Be Easy", Being Italian!!!!!!
:(
Professor
Richard Alba just published an article entitled "Diversitys Blind Spot: Catholic
Ethnics on the Faculties of Elite American Universities"
which uses data about Italian Americans to make its case.
The
article appears in the December, 2006, issue of Ethnicities, with commentaries
by
The
argument, in a nutshell, is that the deeply entrenched anti-Catholicism of
elite universities, which reigned openly until the middle of the 20th century
at least, has left behind a culture that views potential faculty from Catholic
ethnic backgrounds skeptically.
In
recent decades, it has combined with the flourishing stereotypes about Italian
Americans, which disparage their intellectual abilities.
The
data show that Italian Americans are now only slightly underrepresented on US
faculties as a whole, but they are more significantly underrepresented on the
faculties of elite universities and, at the elite "Ivies" they are
scarcely to be found at the head of the classroom. Certain
disciplines--history, most notably--are also very difficult for scholars with
Italian names.
Alba:
Ethnicities. 2006; 6: 518-536 Sage
Journals Online: Full Article Free for Members. $25 for One
Time Users.
The
ANNOTICO Reports
Can
be Viewed, and are Archived at:
Italia
Italia Mia: http://www.ItaliaMia.com
Annotico
Email: annotico@earthlink.net