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Sicilians dreAmIng Louisiana: Agents of Migration and Labour Recruiters on the Palermo-New Orleans Route (1865-1901)

Descripción del proyecto

Análisis de las primeras migraciones de sicilianos a Luisiana

Entre 1865 y 1901, los campesinos sicilianos emigraron a Luisiana, que necesitaba mano de obra tras la abolición de la esclavitud. Con el apoyo de las acciones Marie Skłodowska-Curie, el equipo del proyecto SAIL cartografiará la presencia de agentes de migración en Sicilia que, en contacto con reclutadores de mano de obra en Luisiana, inscribían a campesinos. El mundo académico y el debate público italianos han considerado a los agentes como traficantes de personas, un chivo expiatorio para justificar la migración. El equipo de SAIL cuestiona esta visión, que coincide con las narrativas populistas y xenófobas, analizando la identidad y los métodos de los agentes y reclutadores, su eficacia al difundir una imagen idílica de Estados Unidos en Sicilia, y su impacto en este flujo migratorio junto con otros factores. Adoptando un método multidisciplinar, el equipo del proyecto integrará la historia social, económica y cultural con la literatura.

Objetivo

SAIL analyses early migration from Sicily to Louisiana between 1865 and 1901. It sheds light on agents of migration who enrolled peasants in Sicily and on their transnational connections with labour recruiters based in Louisiana, who were looking for a labour force after the abolition of slavery at the end of the US Civil War in 1865. On the other side of the Atlantic, the Italian government considered emigration as an issue to be managed or opposed: the 1901 law restricted the activity of agents of migration, who were regarded as people smugglers and used as a scapegoat to justify migration, rather than being studied as one of the interrelated factors triggering it. This simplistic view permeated the public debate in Italy, has not been challenged by scholarship on Sicilian migration, and resonates with current populist and xenophobic narratives.
SAIL offers the first comprehensive study of early Sicilian migration to Louisiana by adopting an interdisciplinary approach combining social, economic, and cultural history with literature. Thanks to a thorough investigation and cross-referencing of untapped Italian and US archival sources and literary works, SAIL maps the presence of agents of migration in Sicily, analysing their identity, background, methods, organisation, and the transnational connections with labour recruiters in Louisiana, gauging their effectiveness in disseminating a dreaming image of the USA among Sicilian peasants and examining the extent to which their activity impacted the migration flow alongside other factors (economic depression, political turmoil, chain migration, remittances).
SAIL will fill a scholarly gap, develop tools for researching migrations, and reflect on Sicilys past and its present as one of the main gateways into Europe. Through activities involving academic and non-academic audiences, SAIL will stimulate a debate and raise awareness around one of Europes most pressing concerns: safeguarding the right to safe migration.

Ámbito científico (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS clasifica los proyectos con EuroSciVoc, una taxonomía plurilingüe de ámbitos científicos, mediante un proceso semiautomático basado en técnicas de procesamiento del lenguaje natural.

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Coordinador

UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI PADOVA
Aportación neta de la UEn
€ 172 750,08
Dirección
VIA 8 FEBBRAIO 2
35122 Padova
Italia

Ver en el mapa

Región
Nord-Est Veneto Padova
Tipo de actividad
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Enlaces
Coste total
Sin datos