[responsive_youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=CoR2E9VaIak]
Dr. Augusto Ferraiuolo discussed his book, Religious Festive Practices in Boston’s North End, to a community audience at an event sponsored by the North End Historical Society. Ferraiulo is a native of Italy and a visiting lecturer at Boston University, Department of Anthropology. The lecture was held on April 26, 2012 at the Sacred Heart Church Hall in North Square.
Ferraiuolo analyzed how Italian immigrants settled in the North End and established a variety of identities, reflecting their Italian regional origins and expressed through their religious feasts. As an anthropologist, he carried out fieldwork in the North End between 2002 and 2005, comparing the feasts in Boston to each other as well as to those in Italy.
In his lecture and discussion period, Ferraiuolo shared his conclusions about the role of the church, religious societies, cultural symbols, and what they say about Italian-American identity in the historic North End.
