A construção da identidade no Brasil Meridional: italianos na capital do Rio Grande do Sul

Abstract

In this text, the author applies the analytical model of the formation of ethnic identity, devised in the eighties by Conzen et. al. for the United States. Observing that urban immigration in southern Brazil is a chapter still overlooked by the historiography, she examines the case of Porto Alegre, reconstructing the history of the italian community, showing how certain features of Italian culture, such as the capacity to work hard, helped the italians to integrate in the country even in some of the most difficult moments in its history. As far as the ties with the culture of origin are concerned, during the twentieth century the interest in Italy and its symbols was intertwoven from time to time by regional and parochial ties. Today there is a renewal of attention for Italianness linked.