When Italian immigrants began shifting their focus of practical identity from the old country to the new, they created a change in consciousness that resulted in a loss of cultural memory that would be vital for the continuation of Italian identities in the United States. This condition is similar to what Benedict Anderson addresses in his study Imagined Communities: "All profound changes in consciousness, by their very nature, bring with them characteristic amnesias.

Out of such oblivions, in specific historical circumstances, spring narratives" (204). Typically, such have become the basis for studying ethnic identity in classrooms from Kindergarten through graduate school, and they often become the foundations upon which new identities are forged.

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Fonte: La Voce di New York