Cultural Studies and the Intermittence of Ethnicity in Italian Diaspora Studies

First contribution to the Serialized Forum New Perspectives on the Italian American Diaspor

Creative Expression and the Material Culture of Italian POWs in the United States During World War II

This study concerns the history of Italian prisoners of war in the United States during World War II through an analysis of the art and architecture they created. These crafted expressions highlight how Italian culture was transported and reshaped during the war and suggest alternate understandings of Italian diasporic culture and wartime experiences. They reinforced cultural heritage, mediated personal and community identities, and negotiated some of the atrocities of war. As a cultural studies scholar engaging with Italian transnational concerns, my approach emerges from an interest in the use of space, place-making, and the meanings ascribed to the material world

Migration and material culture: legacy, ethnicity, hybridity

This interview with Laura E. Ruberto (Berkeley City College) and Joseph Sciorra (Queens College) offers a cultural approach to migration by taking into consideration the full range of Italian migrations to the United States from the late nineteenth century to the twentieth-first century. The two scholars discuss their thoughts on material culture and various forms of cultural expression by focusing on the social and historical dynamics of aesthetic practices. Ever attentive to transnational dimensions as well as hybridic formations, Ruberto and Sciorra reveal how identity and ethnicity are reconfigured

Influence of nutrients addition and bioaugmentation on the hydrocarbon biodegradation of a chronically contaminated Antarctic soil

Complexity involved in the transport of soils and the restrictive legislation for the area makes on‐site bioremediation the strategy of choice to reduce hydrocarbons contamination in Antarctica. The effect of biostimulation (with N and P) and bioaugmentation (with two bacterial consortia and a mix of bacterial strains) was analysed by using microcosms set up on metal trays containing 2·5 kg of contaminated soil from Marambio Station. At the end of the assay (45 days), all biostimulated systems showed significant increases in total heterotrophic aerobic and hydrocarbon‐degrading bacterial counts. However, no differences were detected between bioaugmented and nonbioaugmented systems, except for J13 system which seemed to exert a negative effect on the natural bacterial flora. Hydrocarbons removal efficiencies agreed with changes in bacterial counts reaching 86 and 81% in M10 (bioaugmented) and CC (biostimulated only) systems. Results confirmed the feasibility of the application of bioremediation strategies to reduce hydrocarbon contamination in Antarctic soils and showed that, when soils are chronically contaminated, biostimulation is the best option. Bioaugmentation with hydrocarbon‐degrading bacteria at numbers comparable to the total heterotrophic aerobic counts showed by the natural microflora did not improve the process and showed that they would turn the procedure unnecessarily more complex.Fil: Ruberto, Lucas Adolfo Mauro. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay; ArgentinaFil: Dias, Romina Laura. Provincia de Buenos Aires. Gobernación. Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Lo Balbo, A.. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica; ArgentinaFil: Vázquez, Susana Claudia. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay; ArgentinaFil: Hernandez, E. A.. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica; ArgentinaFil: Mac Cormack, Walter Patricio. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica; Argentina. Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores, Comercio Interno y Culto. Dirección Nacional del Antártico. Instituto Antártico Argentino; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin