Italian-Canadian Narratives and Indigenous Presence in Public Memory

This lecture investigates the entangled commemorative landscapes that emerge at the intersection of Italian-Canadian and Indigenous relations, with a focus on how public memory is constructed and contested through naming practices, monuments, and symbolic narratives. Drawing on discourse-analytical and sociolinguistic approaches, the project explores how names - of places, people, and holidays - function as instruments of ideology, reinforcing colonial narratives while often marginalizing Indigenous presence in Canada and beyond. Celebratory references to figures such as Giovanni Caboto/John Cabot and Cristoforo Colombo/Christopher Columbus are examined not only as markers of Italian-Canadian heritage, but also as discursive tools that shape historical memory and impact intercommunity relations.

Based on recent research conducted at the University of Naples “L’Orientale” and in collaboration with the Frank Iacobucci Centre for Italian-Canadian Studies, this lecture presents both theoretical reflections and empirical developments within the broader project on Italian-Canadian and Indigenous connections, co-directed by Prof. Paolo Frascà and Dr. Angela Nardozi.

Finally, the lecture considers how alternative naming and commemorative practices might foster new forms of solidarity and shared responsibility across communities, contributing to a more inclusive and decolonial cultural memory.

Anna Mongibello, PhD, is Associate Professor of English Language and Translation at the University of Naples “L’Orientale” (Italy), and Emilio Goggio Research Fellow at the Department of Italian Studies, University of Toronto (Canada). She is  the  Director  of  the  I-Land  Research  Centre,  the  Italian interuniversity research centre for the linguistic investigation of identity and diversity in discourse, and a member of the Board of the Italian Association for Canadian Studies. Her research interests include the intersections of language, ideology and power explored through Corpus-based Critical Discourse Analysis, with a focus on the discursive constructions of gender and ethnic identities and on media representations of Indigenous peoples in Canada. She has also published on digital resistance and new media discourse. She is the author of two books and several book chapters and articles published in national and international journals. Her publications include “#alleyesonwetsuweten: An Analysis of the Wet’suwet’en protest on Twitter” (Anglistica, 2022) and “(Re-)shaping Italian-Canadian and Indigenous Connections Through Naming Practices” (Italian-Canadiana, 2022).