La Mamma: Italian Mothers Past and Present

Drawing on the issues aired and discussed in the workshops and public events organized by the interdisciplinary AHRC-funded project “La Mamma: Interrogating a National Stereotype,” this chapter explores some of the differing ways that Italian mothers, both in Italy and in its diaspora, have been represented over the last century and a half. It focuses in particular on one of these many representations, the stereotype of mammismo—the overbearing mother figure who spoils her children, particularly sons, and in return demands their unquestioning devotion. The chapter considers both the origins of the stereotype and its role in present-day Italy as well as offering some reflections on the study of stereotypes.