Portuguese Diaspora and Lusophone Studies | North American Migration and Ethnic History | Construction Workers and Labour Unions | Public History
My first book This Pilgrim Nation: the Making of the Portuguese Diaspora in Postwar North America is coming out this Winter with the University of Toronto Press. The official publication date is December 9, 2019; just in time for Christmas. But you can pre-order your copy now at a 25% discount on the University of Toronto Press’ website: https://utorontopress.com/us/this-pilgrim-nation-2
Details about the book launch coming soon.
See the list of nominees here: https://www.heritagetoronto.org/what-we-do/heritage-toronto-awards/2019-public-history/
Last month I sat down for a conversation with Will Sloan about my City Builders project, which was featured in the York University’s Faculty of Graduate Studies podcast series Grad Life. You can listen to the podcast below.
The City Builders’ exhibit at the Columbus Centre, part of this year’s Myseum of Toronto Intersections festival, was launched on March 24 with a reception held in that Italian-Canadian community space. About 50 guests attended the event, which started out with a series of brief speeches from Emanuele Lepri (Villa Charities/ Columbus Centre), Jeremy Diamond (Myseum of Toronto), Jason Ottey (LIUNA Local 183), Gabriele Scardellato (Mariano A. Elia Chair in Italian Canadian Studies), and a presentation by the project manager Dr. Gilberto Fernandes. After the audience members toured the exhibit, they were able to ask questions directly to Dr. Fernandes and Marino Toppan – a retired construction worker, union organizer, and key interviewee in the City Builders documentary. Members of the press were also present, including CityNews and OMNI TV (Italian programming), which reported about the event in their evening news.
Photos by Vincenzo Pietropaolo
The CBC (radio and online) also interviewed me for a story about the City Builders exhibit. You can read the article here. Unfortunately, the article attracted white supremacist and anti-immigration remarks in the comments section, which I addressed in Twitter thread, here.
Given the large public interest and turnout, we extended the length of the exhibit for an extra week. The end date is now April 7.
The City Builders project was one of this year’s recipients of the Lieutenant Governor’s Ontario Heritage Award for Excellence in Conservation. The awards ceremony was held at the Provincial Legislative Building, Queen’s Park, on Friday, February 22, presided by the Honourable Elizabeth Dowdeswell, Lieutenant Governor of Ontario. Thank you Ontario Heritage Trust for this wonderful distinction. It is a honour to share this with all the other great projects and individuals awarded that day.
Thanks to Daniel Ross and Laura Madokoro for taking the initiative, and for inviting me to co-author a Canadian Immigration syllabus with some of the leading migration historians in Canada. The purpose of this open syllabus is to assist educators and students interested in disseminating information and knowledge “that can shed light on lies, falsehoods and mythologies” that animate many contemporary discussions and public policy debates on refugees and immigration.
See the open syllabus here.
My City Builders project was featured in an episode of the show “Hora dos Portugueses” on Portugal’s international public TV broadcaster RTPi. You can watch it here (starting at 9’15”).
O meu projeto City Builders foi foco de uma reportagem no programa “Hora dos Portugueses” na RTPi. Pode ver o episódio aqui (início ao minuto 9’15”).
On September 28, 2018, at York University, I launched the various outputs of my City Builders’ project, including a travelling multimedia exhibition with 80 QR code-activated digital labels; a website packed with digital content, including interactive maps, timelines, videos, audio recordings, photos, and biographies; an oral history series with 19 short videos about retired construction workers and labour organizers; and a two-part documentary totalling nearly 2 hours. All digital contents are freely available on the City Builders’ website: http://toronto-city-builders.org
