The Fascist racial turn: the view from the Italian-American community in the United States

ABSTRACT

This article examines Italian-Americans’ reaction to the Fascist embrace of anti-Semitism in 1938, primarily by means of a perusal of the Italian-language press in the U.S. It argues that the newcomers and their offspring usually failed to distance themselves from the regime’s racial turn because of pre-existing rivalries and resentment towards U.S. Jews. It also holds that, although Italian-Americans hardly subscribed to the Fascist ideology, which cannot be confined to anti-Jewish theories only, the notion that the Italian people were a race of their own helped the immigrants and their descendants strengthen a sense of ethnic identity based on their common national extraction and, thus, further allowed for the penetration of anti-Semitic propaganda into the Little Italies.     

Straight subjectivities in homonormative spaces: moving towards a new, ‘dynamic’ heteronormativity?

Although scholars have explored geographies of heterosexuality for a relatively long time, experiences of heterosexual subjects have been under-researched. Contributing to the discussions around how homo/straight spaces are negotiated, this study analyses how heterosexuals experience and define both homonormative and heteronormative spaces in Seattle. Through a series of interviews and focus groups with self-identified heterosexuals, I explore how these subjects interact with spaces that they recognize as being either straight or gay, and how they negotiate their own identities in relation to those spaces. I also describe how, while refusing to reject heterosexuality, the vast majority of participants expressed discomfort at being defined as someone with a fixed, stable sexual identity, and how they assumed gayness to be non-transgressive and fixed. The results show a paradoxical, complex picture, in which gayness is described as stable and normative, and heterosexuality is depicted as fluid and dynamic. The study illustrates an instance in which homo/straight binaries still shape people’s imagination, while also offering an example of the messy interaction between homonormativity and heteronormativity. What is also suggested is that, experiencing homonormative spaces and performing ‘dynamic’ identities, the respondents renegotiate what being heterosexual means for them reinforcing, however, heterosexual dominance through the definition of a new ‘dynamic’ heteronormativity.     

Santa Maria di Collemaggio Church (L’Aquila,Italy): Historical Reconstruction by Non-Destructive Testing Techniques

The main goal of this work was the non-destructive testing (NDT) of an ancient fresco (15th century) preserved in the Santa Maria di Collemaggio Church (L’Aquila, Italy) and damaged after the 2009 earthquake. Active infrared thermography (IRT), near-infrared (NIR) reflectography and ultraviolet imaging (UV) were used. In addition, the state of the fresco prior to the earthquake was analyzed by electronic speckle pattern interferometry (ESPI), digital speckle correlation (DSC), raking light, tap, and chemical NDT techniques. The use of these techniques was important for the monitoring of new damages and for a comparison between the results over the years. Square heating thermography (SHT) data were processed using principal component thermography (PCT) and pulsed phase thermography (PPT) algorithms, in order to improve the defects’ signature and to reduce the impact of non-uniform heating and emissivity variations due to the painting’s pigments. A multi-analysis approach, segmentation operators and a specific data correlation method emphasize the overall study of the fresco. Furthermore, the facade and the high altar area were inspected by passive thermography and ground-penetrating radar (GPR), respectively. In the present case, the combined use of NDT techniques was useful to fill in the gaps in the construction history of the building.     

Age estimation by tooth/pulp ratio in canines by peri-apical X-rays: reliability in age determination of Spanish and Italian medieval skeletal remains

Estimation of age at death is an unavoidable step in the process of human identification, both in forensic practice and in the anthropological and palaeopathological study of skeletal remains. In several cases, in which medical or demographic records are completely lacking, a reliable estimation of the age at death becomes very important. Skeletal remains from archaeological contexts suffer from several biasing factors such as post-mortem changes, taphonomy and various burial practices depending on age, sex and social status of the deceased persons.     

The face of the poet Dante Alighieri reconstructed by virtual modelling and forensic anthropology techniques

This paper describes the multi-disciplinary approach to reconstruct the face of Dante Alighieri (1265–1321). Since Dante's sepulchre will be opened in 2021, the reconstructive process is based on morphological and metric data collected on the poet's cranium during the formal identification of his remains in 1921 by the anthropologist Fabio Frassetto, as well as on the resulting plaster model. Starting from this plaster model and a morphologically compatible reference mandible, since the original mandible was never found, a 3D digital model of the complete skull was obtained by reverse engineering and virtual modelling techniques. The most important aspect in this work was the method of virtual modelling proposed for the ex novo generation of the mandible. The physical model of the skull (cranium + mandible) was then produced by means of a rapid prototyping system. This model was finally used to recreate Dante's face via traditional facial reconstruction techniques currently used in forensic anthropology.     

Methods and Challenges for the Seismic Assessment of Historic Masonry Structures

ABSTRACT

Despite the high vulnerability of historic structures to earthquakes, the approaches for evaluating seismic demand and capacity still appear inadequate and there is little consensus on the most appropriate assessment methods to use. To develop an improved knowledge on the seismic behavior of masonry structures and the reliability of analysis tools, two real-scale specimens were tested on a shake table, and several experts were invited to foresee failure mechanism and seismic capacity within a blind prediction test. Once unveiled, experimental results were simulated using multi-block dynamics, finite elements, or discrete elements. This article gathers the lessons learned and identifies issues requiring further attention. A combination of engineering judgment and numerical models may help to identify the collapse mechanism, which is as essential as it is challenging for the seismic assessment. To this purpose, discrete modeling approaches may lead to more reliable results than continuous ones. Even when the correct mechanism is identified, estimating the seismic capacity remains difficult, due to the complexity and randomness of the seismic response, and to the sensitivity of numerical tools to input variables. Simplified approaches based on rigid body dynamics, despite the considerable experience and engineering judgment required, provide as good results as do advanced simulations.     

PRODUCTIVITY GROWTH IN THE OLD AND NEW EUROPE: THE ROLE OF AGGLOMERATION EXTERNALITIES

As Europe is currently characterized by huge disparities in the economic performance of “old” and “new” states, we investigate whether this is the result of local agglomeration—specialization and diversity—externalities. Our spatial econometric analysis focuses on total factor productivity dynamics over the period 1996–2007 for 13 industries located in 276 European regions. Consistently with the “nursery cities” theory, we find that diversity exerts a positive effect in the knowledge‐intensive services of the “old” Europe urban areas, while specialization is still effective in the “new” Europe low‐tech manufacturing. Human and technological capital has also a positive impact.