The Special Session “Tongues of Belonging: Language, Race, and Education in the Italian Diaspora in North America (1910–1967)” was held with great success at the 2026 Modern Language Association Annual Convention in Toronto, bringing together scholars working at the intersection of linguistic history, migration studies, and educational theory.
Chaired by Franco Pierno, the panel opened with Mattia Ragazzoni whoe turned to the Canadian context, analyzing Italian language instruction in early-20th-century Toronto. Drawing on textbooks, community initiatives, and educational institutions, his presentation traced the emergence of a distinctly diasporic form of Italophony rooted in transnational cultural self-definition.
Matteo Brera then examined Italian-language newspapers published in the US South as crucial sites of racial mediation and cultural diplomacy. His paper highlighted how the ethnic press promoted Italian language instruction, negotiated racial hierarchies, and operated within the ideological constraints of the Jim Crow era.
The panel concluded with Carmen Petruzzi, who revisited Leonard Covello’s educational philosophy. Her paper positioned Covello’s bicultural approach as a precursor to contemporary multicultural pedagogy, emphasizing reciprocal integration and the curricular inclusion of immigrant heritage.
Together, the presentations offered a comparative and interdisciplinary perspective on how language and education functioned as powerful tools of belonging, resistance, and cultural negotiation within Italian diasporic communities across North America.
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