In Brief: Sciorra's "Shrines' is actually a revisited slide-show script, and it reads as such. In the article, he rambles along through the streets of Brooklyn, pausing occasionally to identify a religiously-oriented objet d'art owned and maintained by a well-known local. Allusions are made to Old Country Italian practices to serve as precedent, and a few sweeping generalizations are included to connect the modern-day practices to deeper, more symbolic issues, such as family hierarchy and the seamless interaction of the church in public and private spaces.

Joseph Sciorra was born and raised in Brooklyn. Somewhere along the way, he heard the tired maxim "write what you know," and took it seriously. All of his research has been based in and around the ethnic neighborhoods of Brooklyn, addressing Italian and Puerto Rican folkways and practices. His first study appeared in 1983 in the journal Natural History in an article about Italian-American religious celebrations in Brooklyn. Since then, his work has focused on ethnic folkways in New York City, He has collaborated with Martha Cooper on a number of works, including "I Feel Like I'm in My Own Country," and R.I.P. : Memorial Wall Art.

Sciorra received his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1996. His dissertation involved the analysis of five case studies of Puerto Rican and Italian-American aspects of- and contributions to material culture and community values. Two of the five case studies are included in "Shrines:" yard shrines/altars, and the Mt. Carmel grotto in Staten Island. Of the remaining three cases, only one breaks new, unpublished ground for Sciorra: Christmas house displays and their community attributes. Previous pieces on Brooklyn religious dancing and Puerto Rican casitas were published in 1983 and 1990, respectively.

"Yard Shrines and Sidewalk Altars of New York's Italian-Americans" is, admittedly, a rough sketch for what later becomes a focus of Sciorra's dissertation. At a mere thirteen pages, it pales in comparison to a whopping 226 for the full dissertation, despite the fact that it addresses two of only five topics covered in the dissertation. Obviously, "Shrines" was not written with academia in mind; it is assumed that Sciorra revisited it later on to better research and understand the subjects.

Understanding that "Shrines" is a rough draft of sorts allows the reader to forgive Sciorra for various inconsistencies and oversights. But without the benefit of knowing of his later work, the reader is forced to accept "Shrines" as a stand-alone piece, and the flaws are harder to overlook. Sciorra includes an editor's note early on that the article is a revamp of a slide show of the same title produced the previous year. Unfortunately, his reworking of the text does not show an understanding of a change in audience. The tone of the information, originally passed along in the casual atmosphere of a slide show viewing, changes little in its preparation for the printed page. Herein lies the main problem of the article. It is too familiar; and as a result, it is low on description and high on the local references. Most readers will not benefit from this congenial stroll through Brooklyn because they do not know the personalities or localities involved.

Sciorra also overlooks the relevance of his sources in preparing the article for publication. He is actually bold enough to base an observation about the "longtime involvement" of Italian-Americans in "the art of horticulture and landscaping" on a simple consultation of the local Yellow Pages. He finds that sixteen of twenty-two landscapers listed in the book have Italian surnames. This specious reasoning is quasi-scientific, at best, and would be better left unnoted.

"Shrines" claims that the basis of shrine and altar building in the Brooklyn can be directly traced back to regional practices in Italy. What is not thoroughly discussed is why the practice is continued: surely the construction of altars not only brings the members of the community closer to their religion, but also closer to their memories of Italy. Ethnic folkways in the United States are often over-emphasized in an attempt to hold on to the few ties left to the Old World. The use of the term "Italian-American" alludes to this connection between old world and new, considering that many members of the community discussed are most likely second-, third-, and even fourth-generation "Italians."

The focus of the article takes an obvious turn about three-fourths of the way through, moving from an analytical and descriptive mode to one of theory and symbolism. Sciorra does a fine job of offering ideas about the meaning and social ramifications of altar and shrine culture in Brooklyn, but then falls short in developing them. He gives terse examples of gender roles embodied in various types of construction, and of an implied understanding of family hierarchy, but does not pursue them further than the paragraph that each receives.

When Perspectives in Vernacular Architecture, III was published in 1989, Sciorra's "Shrines" was most likely indicative of his work. Surely the depth and quality of his studies have improved, and to substantiate this, further reading is required. Of special interest should be the yard altar and shrine portion of his 1996 dissertation.

--Brian Michael Lione, 28JAN99.