On the first day of class, we discussed the importance of tradition in immigrant communities. Familiarity, identity, and order/stability were a few explanations given as to why traditions play such a significant role. The festa della Madonna del Monte Carmelo in East Harlem seems to encompass most, if not all, of these features. According to Orsi, the custom resulted from a tension that existed between the continuity of Italian tradition and the immigrants’ deeply felt pain of separation. As Orsi writes, there was “continuity within the context of disruption” and this practice emerged in the interstices between them. In this sense, the festa linked Italian immigrants to the old paese (familiarity), while also serving as a practice essential to the community’s understanding of its own history (identity).

Orsi concludes the second chapter by describing Italian Harlem as a “theater of extremes.” It was a place of hope and ambition, yet it was also a place of despair, unemployment, overpopulation, crime, and disease. It seems rather difficult to understand how a place with such hardship and struggle can be so beloved to its inhabitants. It becomes quite sensible, however, as one begins to understand the extent to which Italians valued family and, therefore, community. Emigration was a family decision for family preservation. Loyalty to a place was family-centered. Only when most family members emigrated or passed away did an immigrant’s attention shift to the new world. Orsi uses an interesting choice of words to describe these immigrants: “Americans by attrition.” The place itself did not matter as much as the people within. As someone who is extremely family-orientated, I can definitely relate to this seemingly absurd attachment to a place with so much conflict.

Also, like Zoe, I always sympathized with the efforts of the labor movement and understood their frustration with “strikebreakers.” Now, however, I have a better understanding of why Italians had little choice but to take whatever work they could get.