"This book examines how a group of transnational British-Italian women affiliated with the exiled patriots of the Italian Left repurposed traditionally feminine activities, such as fundraising, gift-giving, maternity, and memory collection, to make a substantial contribution to Italian Unification and state-building. Through their actions, Mary Chambers, Sara Nathan, Giorgina Saffi, Julia Salis Schwabe, and Jessie White Mario transcended the boundaries of acceptable behavior for middle-class women and participated in the broader female emancipation movement. By drawing attention to their activities, this book reveals how nineteenth-century female activists achieved their most revolutionary goals by using conservative, domestic, or anti-Catholic language. Adding to the growing understanding of the Italian Risorgimento as a transnational phenomenon, it also shows how non-Catholic and non-Italian women participated in the creation and development of the Italian state. Finally, the book argues for the continuing importance of religion in both politics and philanthropy throughout the nineteenth century."
Author(s): Diana Moore
Series: Italian and Italian American Studies
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Year: 2021
Language: English
Pages: 297
City: Cham
Acknowledgments
Contents
Archival Abbreviations
Chapter 1: Introduction: British Women in the Italian Risorgimento
British Women and Italian Unification
The Importance of the Italian Risorgimento to Victorian Feminism
Parameters of the Book
Primary Figures
Time Frame
Sources
Chapter Outlines
Chapter 2: Presents and Passports: Friendship and the Formation of Revolutionary Networks
The Formation and Maintenance of Revolutionary Networks
Connections and Consumerism: Gift-Giving and Financial Support in the Exile Community
Emotional Support, Alternative Families, and Networks of Trust
Atypical Revolutionaries in Revolutionary Endeavors
The Rights of a British Subject: Jessie White Mario and the Pisacane Conspiracy
A Devoted Mother: Sara Nathan’s Revolutionary Family
Conclusion
Chapter 3: Bazaars for Bullets: Fundraising for the Revolution
British-Italian Mazzinian Women in the 1850s
Revolution Becomes Reality
The Questionable Legality of Fundraising for the Risorgimento
A Woman’s Mission in Warfare
Continuing or Celebrating the Risorgimento? Competing Agendas After Unification
Continuing Mazzinian Techniques for Rome and Venice
A Revolutionary Bazaar
A Memorial Bazaar
Private Fundraising for Garibaldi
The Triumph of Realpolitik, Female Agency, and the Language of Moderatism
Conclusion
Chapter 4: Reforming Revolution: Cultural Translation in the Propaganda Campaign
Transnational Identities
Self-Perceptions of Britishness
Perceptions by Italians
Religion and National Identity
Newspapers and the Italian Propaganda Campaign
Translation and Facilitation of Publication
Authorship of Newspaper Articles
Financial and Organizational Support for the Mazzinian Press
Translation of Memoirs and Other Literary Works
White Mario’s Translation of Orsini’s Memoirs
Translation of Garibaldi’s Works
Jessie White Mario’s Lecture Tours
White Mario’s Lecture Tours
A Female Lecturer
Anti-Catholicism as a Veil for Radical Politics
Politics on a Personal Level
Political Hostessing in Garibaldi’s 1864 Visit to Britain
Advising Moderation
Conclusion
Chapter 5: Emancipating Education: Primary Education in the New Italian State
Early Childhood Education in the New Italian State
An Introduction to the Schools
Julia Salis Schwabe’s Neapolitan Project
Mary Chambers’ Industrial Schools in Sardinia
Sara Nathan’s Mazzini School in Rome
Education as a Feminist Act
The Professionalization of Primary Education
Assuming Leadership in Private Institutions
Education as an Alternative to Socialism
Non-traditional Religious Education
The Contested Issue of Religion in Public Education
Secular and Nondenominational Education in the Schools
Religious Education in the Culture Wars
Continuing the Dream of the Risorgimento
Orientalism and British Prejudice
Affiliation with Italian Patriots and the Italian State
Education as Uplift in Britain
Conclusion
Chapter 6: The Personal is Political: Companionate Marriage, Republican Motherhood, and the Campaign Against State-Regulated Prostitution
Radically Companionate Marriages
Entering into Marriage
Marital Partnerships Toward Shared Political Goals
Maintaining Independence Within Marriage
Feminist Motherhood
Embracing Motherhood
Mazzinian Motherhood
Progressive Education Within the Home
Republican Motherhood and the Campaign against State-Regulated Prostitution
Mazzinian Opposition to State-Regulated Prostitution
Congresses and Conferences
Writing Against Prostitution
Conclusion
Chapter 7: From Scrapbooks to State Archives: Memorializing the Radical Risorgimento
Women at the Intersection of Familial and National Memory
Archiving the Risorgimento: The Preservation of Memory
Family Archives on a National Stage
Collecting Mazzini’s Letters
Publishing Collections of Letters and Writings
The Publication of Mazzini’s Letters
Schwabe’s Reminiscences of Richard Cobden
Writing the Risorgimento: Shaping the Memory of Italy
Defending the Legacy of Friends and Colleagues
The Business of Female Authorship
Conclusion
Chapter 8: Conclusion: Continuing the Legacy After 1890
Revolutionary Domesticity
Bibliography
Archives Consulted
Newspapers, Journals, and Other Periodical Sources
Italian Papers
British and U.S. Papers
Secondary Sources
Index
