Decidedly Not Italian Enough

The first thought I had after reading James Barron’s “They Kind of Knew It Wouldn’t Work” in the New York Times was, “Here come the crybabies,” those over sensitive Italian-Americans peeved by every perceived media slight and denigration. While I certainly don’t think my colleague (and Calandra Institute supervisor) Anthony Tamburri falls into the category of whining media police by any stretch of the imagination – on the contrary, he is constantly offering intellectually stimulating challenges to our understanding of Italian-American cultural production – I have to admit I was somewhat taken aback by his recent “too Italian” Giuliani post. The phrase “too Italian” unquestionably raises intriguing questions about perceptions of Italianità in the public sphere that I am thankful Anthony explored on this site and that I would like to augment. Yet I would argue the specific case of this Times article is a non-issue and certainly not worth a letter to the editor.