Who Migrates, and Who Stays? When the Men Left Sicily (Intro to Global Migration lecture: HIS 19)

In the 1890s, the men left southern Italy for jobs in textiles, automotive work, and small-time commerce in the Americas. But when the men went away, how did Sicilian women back home manage the family's affairs? How did Italian migration reshape gender norms? And do you really have to migrate to participate in migration systems? This lecture answers those questions and more. Originally recorded for an introductory course on "Global Migration and Borders" (HIS 19) in Spring 2020, in the midst of the COVID pandemic. The lecture contextualizes Sicilian migration was part of an unprecedented mass migration of 55 million European workers. Migration historians call this moment the "first-wave globalization" of the 19th century because through new technologies, normalization of international work, and the proliferation of transnational migrant networks, the world became smaller in the 1890s. The lecture corresponds with Linda Reeder's book chapter, "When the Men Left Sutera," which appears in Women, Gender, and Transnational Lives: https://utorontopress.com/us/women-ge...