The selected essays gathered in these pages are inspired by the range and depth of the forty-second annual conference of the American Italian Historical Association, held October 29-31, 2009, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The general title of the conference, Southern Exposures: Locations and Relocations of Italian Culture, focuses attention on the themes of Italian immigration and ethnicity in the American South. The large response to the theme of Southern Exposures in the many panels was a welcome surprise; so too were both the variety of thematic approaches to the topic and the numerous research styles and methods. This diversity is further proof of the liveliness of Italian American Studies in the United States.
