essay

Funerals, family and forefathers: Italian-American funeral practices

Italian American through the generationsStaten Island, New YorkPublished In 1986 • Pages: 237-253

By: Cowell, Daniel David.

AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
Although there is an abundance of literature on the Italian immigration experience, there is little information on funeral ceremonies and practices. In this paper Cowell examines some of the prominent English language sources on general funeral practices in the Old World, with particular emphasis on those relevant to the Italians. Cowell then describes how these traditional practices have changed in the New World. The final sections of this report relates the experience of home funerals in the author's own family of origin to that of the larger societal practices described in the text (p. 238).
SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
Acculturation and culture contact
Sociocultural trends
Burial practices and funerals
cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
Italian Americans
HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
2000
RegionThe area the document pertains to
North America
Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
Regional, Ethnic and Diaspora Cultures
Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
essay
Evaluation
Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
Physician
Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
4: Excellent Secondary Data
5: Excellent Primary Data
AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
John Beierle ; 1991
Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
No date
Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
ca. 1850 - 1950s
Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
United States
NotesAdditional notes
[by] Daniel David Cowell
Includes bibliography
LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
Italian Americans