Not only is Snooki going to Yale — or at least to a club this weekend on the outskirts of the New Haven, Conn., campus, according to the Yale Herald — but MTV’s reality show “The Jersey Shore” is also inspiring an academic conference on guidos.
Queensboro Community College sociologist Donald Tricarico, who has written such scholarly works as “Guido: Fashioning an Italian American Youth Style” in his 20 years of researching the subculture, is speaking today at the John D. Calandra Italian American Institute, but declined to speak with Metro beforehand. “I have not been satisfied with the media interviews and the controversy surrounding my work,” he wrote in an e-mail.
Like MTV’s show, which outraged some Italian-American groups with a cast who proudly identify as “guidos” and “guidettes,” Tricarico’s work has also inspired anger.
“Professor Tricarico should not be taken seriously promoting demeaning stereotypes,” Arthur Piccolo wrote on the Italian/American Digital Project’s Web site. ““What [the] Calandra [Institute] is doing is a slap in the face to the Italian-American community,” John Fratta wrote.
