Dr Giorgio studies Italian identity in New Zealand

19 July 2013

Dr Adalgisa Giorgio, Senior Lecturer in Italian Studies, from our Department of Politics, Languages & International Studies recently returned from a four and half month research visit to New Zealand.

Her research focusses on the intersection of national identities and involved conducting over 160 hour-long interviews with Italians and Maori-Italians in Auckland, Wellington, Porangahau-Hastings and Turangi.

One of her aims is to discover the degree to which a European identity plays a part in how Italian and Maori-Italian communities in New Zealand see themselves.

Dr Giorgio said: “I’m interested in the way people construct their identities – what underpins their sense of being Italian? What makes an Italian also a New Zealander?

“Seeing the way Maori understand themselves as Maori – their being part a of genealogy that is intertwined with ancestral land – has helped me to understand how Italians who left Italy years or generations ago still feel themselves to be Italian. It has also illuminated the links between blood ties, upbringing, language, and cultural and emotional attachment to place.

“This visit has given me a remarkable insight into these areas, and I can’t wait to start working on the data.”

Whilst in New Zealand Dr Giorgio also gave a seminar at Victoria University Wellington and a lecture at the University of Aukland on her findings so far. An article on her research can be found on page seven of the University of Auckland’s UniNews.

She also spoke with Paul Elenio – a second generation Italian, journalist and historian of Italian immigration – from Club Garibaldi: a club for Italians in and around Wellington founded in 1882. You can read her interview on page four of their May newsletter.

Dr Giorgio also presented some preliminary results at the Society for Italian Studies Biennial Conference, held last week at the University of Durham.

Her project is partly funded by the European Union under the Erasmus Mundus Scheme.