Recap: The Bronx Italian American History Initiative

On February 16, Jacqueline Reich, professor and chair of the Communication and Media Studies department, and  Kathleen Lapenta, co-director of the Bronx Italian American History Initiative, discussed the oral history project and some of their preliminary findings.

Founded in 2016, the Bronx Italian American History Initiative (BIAHI) is a collaborative oral history research project that studies the history of Italians and Italian Americans in the Bronx in the 20th century. In addition to the cultural and geographic specificity of the project, the BIAHI is also unique in that there is no particular goal or answers the organizers are looking for when interviewing subjects. Instead, the interviewees drive their own narrative, while researchers ask questions to dive deeper into their stories.

Learn more about the Bronx Italian American History Initiative here.