New Faith, New Family
Contadini, Pentecostalism, and the Struggle for Social Identity in the New World
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/pent.36220Keywords:
Contadini, mass migration, social psychology, Catholicism, PentecostalismAbstract
During the mass migration of 1870-1920, the peasantry of southern Italy flooded the urban centres of America. Accustomed to a rural-agrarian lifestyle and steeped in traditional religious beliefs, contadini (Italian peasants) found themselves isolated in the industrial centres of America. Separation from kin and the faith of their ancestors contributed to a psychological void that led contadini to seek new forms of Christianityfor religious fulfilment. This article explores the social psychology of the contadini during the mass migration. It examines the historico-cultural conditions that drove peasants from Catholicism, the mental and emotional dimensions of being in tension with their new environment, and the suitability of other faith contexts, particularly Pentecostalism, to mitigate the experience of isolation.
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White, G. 1961. The Suburban Captivity of the Churches: An Analysis of Protestant Responsibility in the Expanding Metropolis. Garden City, NY: Doubleday.
Zucchi, J. E. 1988. Italians in Toronto: Development of a National Identity, 1875-1935. Kingston, ON: McGill-Queens University Press.
Anderson, R. M. Vision of the Disinherited: The Making of American Pentecostalism Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1979.
Banfield, E. C. 1967. The Moral Basis of a Backward Society. New York: Free Press.
Bongiovanni, G. 1971. Pioneers of the Faith. Farrell, PA: Sound Ministries.
Brown, M. E. 2000. “Religion”. In S. J. LaGumina, F. J. Cavaioli, S. Primeggia, and J. A. Varacalli (eds.), The Italian American Experience: An Encyclopedia. New York: Garland: 538-42.
Bruce, S. 2005. Conservative Protestant Politics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Bureau of the Census. 1910. Religious Bodies: 1906. Pt. 1. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office.
— 1941. Religious Bodies: 1936. Vol. II, pt. 1. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office.
Chessa, P. 1934. “A Survey Study of the Evangelical Work Among Italians in Chicago”. B.Div thesis, Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Chicago.
Colletti, J. 1990. Ethnic Pentecostalism in Chicago: 1890-1950. PhD diss., University of Birmingham.
Cox, H. 1995. Fire from Heaven: The Rise of Pentecostal Spirituality & the Reshaping of Religion in the Twenty-First Century. Reading, MA: Addison Wesley.
Cruz, S. 2003. “A Rereading of Latino (a) Pentecostalism”. B. Valentin (ed.), New Horizons in Hispanic/Latino (a) Theology. Cleveland, TN: Pilgrim: 201-216.
Cucchiari, S. 1990. “Between Shame and Sanctification: Patriarchy and Its Transformation in Sicilian Pentecostalism”. American Ethnologist 17 (November): 687-707.
Cumbo, E. C. 2000. “‘Your Old Men will Dream Dreams’: The Italian Pentecostal Experience in Canada, 1912-1945”. Journal of American Ethnic History 19 (Spring): 35-81.
Di Franco, P. J. 1988. The Italian American Experience. New York: RGA.
Gabaccia, D. 1984. “Kinship, Culture, and Migration: A Sicilian Example”. In Journal of American Ethnic History 3 (Spring): 39-53.
Guglielmo, T. A. 2004. White on Arrival: Italians, Race, Color, and Power in Chicago, 1890-1945. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Handlin, O. 1951. The Uprooted: The Epic Story of the Great Migrations that Made the American People. Boston: Little, Brown and Co.
Hutchinson, M. P. 2014. “The Forgotten Front: The Palermo Brothers and American Evangelical Expansion in Post-War Italy”. Canadian Journal of Pentecostal-Charismatic Christianity 5 (November): 1-27.
Iorizzo, L. J., and Salvatore Mondello. 1971. The Italian-Americans. Boston: Twayne.
Land, S. J. 2010. Pentecostal Spirituality: A Passion for the Kingdom. Cleveland, TN: CPT Press.
Mangano, A. 1917. Sons of Italy: A Social and Religious Study of the Italians in America. New York: Methodist Book Concern.
Mangione, J., and B. Morreale. 1992. La storia: Five Centuries of the Italian American Experience. New York: HarperCollins Publishers.
Martino, D. 1986. “The Emergence and Historical-Theological Development of the Christian Church of North America”. Master’s thesis, Ashland Theological Seminary.
Nelli, H. S. 1970. Italians in Chicago: A Study in Ethnic Mobility. New York: Oxford University Press.
— 1981. “Italians”. In S. Thernstrom (ed.), Harvard Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Groups. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press: 545-60.
Author. In G. T. Kurian and M. A. Lamport (eds.), Encyclopedia of Christianity in the United States. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, PDF e-book: 1220-22.
Parsons, A. 1965. “The Pentecostal Immigrants: A Study of an Ethnic Central Church”. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 4 (Spring): 184-97.
Pitrè, G. 1880. Proverbi Siciliani. 3 vols. Biblioteca delle tradizioni popolari Siciliane. Palermo, It.: Luigi Pedone Lauriel.
Robeck, C. M., Jr. 2006. The Azusa Street Mission and Revival: The Birth of the Global Pentecostal Movement. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson.
Sartorio, E. C. 1974. Social and Religious Life of Italians in America. Clifton, NJ: Augustus M. Kelley.
Shaughnessy, G. 1969. Has the Immigrant Kept the Faith: A Study of Immigration and Catholic Growth in the United States: 1790-1920. New York: Arno.
Solivan, S. 1998. Spirit, Pathos, and Liberation: Toward an Hispanic Pentecostal Theology. Sheffield, Eng.: Sheffield Academic.
Sowell, T. 1981. Ethnic America: A History. New York: Basic Books.
Toppi, F. 1999. E mi sarete testimoni: Il movimento Pentecostale e le Assemblee di Dio in Italia. Rome, It.: ADI Media.
Vecoli, R. J. 1964. “Contadini in Chicago: A Critique of the Uprooted”. Journal of American History 51 (December): 404–417.
— 1969. “Prelates and Peasants: Italian Immigrants and the Catholic Church”. Journal of Social History 2 (Spring): 217-68.
Villari, L. 1903. Italian Life in Town and Country. New York: G. P. Putman’s Sons.
Villifañe, E. 1993. The Liberating Spirit: Toward an Hispanic American Pentecostal Social Ethic. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.
White, G. 1961. The Suburban Captivity of the Churches: An Analysis of Protestant Responsibility in the Expanding Metropolis. Garden City, NY: Doubleday.
Zucchi, J. E. 1988. Italians in Toronto: Development of a National Identity, 1875-1935. Kingston, ON: McGill-Queens University Press.
Published
2018-10-26
Issue
Section
Articles
How to Cite
Palma, P. (2018). New Faith, New Family: Contadini, Pentecostalism, and the Struggle for Social Identity in the New World. PentecoStudies, 17(2), 116-133. https://doi.org/10.1558/pent.36220
