{"product_id":"built-with-faith-joseph-sciorra-9781621903833","title":"Built with Faith: Italian American Imagination and Catholic Material Culture in New York City","description":"\"No one knows the world of Italian American Catholicism in contemporary New York better than Joseph Sciorra. In the five brilliant case studies that make up this book, Sciorra explores how Italian Americans construct, by hand, their religious environment--in their homes, in the streets, backyards, and sidewalks of the city--in a kind of sacred sweat equity. Like the artisans he writes about, Sciorra is a master craftsman, and \u003ci\u003eBuilt with Faith\u003c\/i\u003e shows him at the height of his powers.\" \u003cbr\u003e --Robert A. Orsi, Grace Craddock Nagle Chair of Catholic Studies and Professor of Religious Studies and History at Northwestern University and author of \u003ci\u003eThe Madonna of 115th Street: Faith and Community in Italian Harlem, 1880-1950\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Over the course of 130 years, Italian American Catholics in New York City have developed a varied repertoire of devotional art and architecture to create community-based sacred spaces in their homes and neighborhoods. These spaces exist outside of but in relationship to the consecrated halls of local parishes and are sites of worship in conventionally secular locations. Such ethnic building traditions and urban ethnic landscapes have long been neglected by all but a few scholars. Joseph Sciorra's \u003ci\u003eBuilt with Faith \u003c\/i\u003eoffers a place-centric, ethnographic study of the religious material culture of New York City's Italian American Catholics. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Sciorra spent thirty-five years researching these community art forms and interviewing Italian immigrant and U.S.-born Catholics. By documenting the folklife of this group, Sciorra reveals how Italian Americans in the city use expressive culture and religious practices to transform everyday urban space into unique, communal sites of ethnically infused religiosity. The folk aesthetics practiced by individuals within their communities are integral to understanding how art is conceptualized, implemented, and esteemed outside of museum and gallery walls. Yard shrines, sidewalk altars, Nativity \u003ci\u003epresepi\u003c\/i\u003e, Christmas house displays, a stone-studded grotto, and neighborhood processions--often dismissed as kitsch or prized as folk art--all provide examples of the vibrant and varied ways contemporary Italian Americans use material culture, architecture, and public ceremonial display to shape the city's religious and cultural landscapes. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Written in an accessible style that will appeal to general readers and scholars alike, Sciorra's unique study contributes to our understanding of how value and meaning are reproduced at the confluences of everyday life. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eJoseph Sciorra\u003c\/b\u003e is the director of Academic and Cultural Programs at the John D. Calandra Italian American Institute, Queens College. He is the editor of \u003ci\u003eItalian Folk: Vernacular Culture in Italian-American Lives\u003c\/i\u003e and co-editor of \u003ci\u003eEmbroidered Stories: Interpreting Women's Domestic Needlework from the Italian Diaspora.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Joseph Sciorra\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1621903834\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781621903833\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University of Tennessee Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 05\/15\/2018\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 304\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.20lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.90h x 6.90w x 0.70d","brand":"Joseph Sciorra","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":46795393892607,"sku":"9781621903833","price":32.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_50edc18f-dffc-47f7-b014-f1e0cff437bb.jpg?v=1744947465","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/built-with-faith-joseph-sciorra-9781621903833","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}