From Nonna with Love: Talk Events

Nonnas 2.0: Stories from behind the black apron - Sunday Seminar

On International Women's Day, hear stories of the struggles, strength and resilience of Italian migrant women that go beyond the stereotyped caricature of the Italian Nonna. 

In popular Australian culture, the character of the loving, generous, no-nonsense Nonna matriarch looms large in social media and in advertising where Nonnas sell everything from pasta sauce to pork. In this talk, historian Susanna Iuliano encourages us to look beyond the stereotype of the black-clad Nonna. Drawing on the complex stories of Italian migrant women against the background of Australia's post-war immigration policies and practices, Susanna argues how the role and impacts of Italian migrant women in Australia extended far beyond the kitchen table.

Dr Susanna Iuliano is a historian, librarian and heritage professional with decades of experience in the community history and collections sector. Susanna is a former Commonwealth Scholar whose PhD dissertation was a comparative study of Italian migrant women's roles and experiences in post-war Australia and Canada. She is the author of three books on Italian migration history (The Blessing of the Fleet; Fremantle's Italians and the award winning Vite Italiane:  Italian Lives in Western Australia).  She has worked in different roles in federal and state governments leading projects and programs in the areas of immigration and multicultural policy. She currently works in local government in the area of heritage promotion.

Beyond Arrival: Migration stories and the hard realities of 'fitting in' - Panel event plus Q&A 

Many people who arrived and grew up in WA as migrants have experienced the challenges and difficulties of 'fitting in' to Australian schools and communities. The experience of discrimination can create quiet scars that mark us as adults: from experiencing racist slurs, to having the wrong contents in a school lunchbox, being told that your way of being doesn't 'fit' is an acute experience for young people. In this panel discussion, we explore the Italian community experience of being 'the other', and what kind of resilience is built up through the harmful intolerances that migrant communities struggle with. 

Topics we look forward to addressing include:

• Italian war-time internment: women's experience of hardship and racism, perceptions of Italians being on the 'other side'
• WA's apology for Italian internment
• Reclaiming the meaning of 'wog'
• The tension between fitting in and selling out: walking in two cultures
• Reflections on racism, harm and resilience
• Keeping children safe from racism and harmful intolerance

Nonnas Talking - Panel Event plus Q&A

Join us for a community panel as we open up the conversation to give our Nonnas the floor. Look out, Nonna's got the talking stick! Join us for a lively discussion of topics including:

• Early expectations and adjustments
• Setting up networks, building community in WA
• Friendships: the importance of women's networks, intercultural friendships
• Italian comare and compare networks, how did this tradition support family life?
• Fostering Italian culture and maintaining traditions