Wesley Health Care Resident, Jo Danna, Author of “The Sicilian Project”

January 19, 2012

Jo Danna, Springs resident at Wesley Health Care Center in Saratoga Springs, NY, has published her book, “The Sicilian Project”. Dedicated to Margaret Mead, anthropologist, and others, Jo tells what happens when ancient ways collide with the modern world.

After enrolling in a graduate program, Jo found anthropology a fascinating subject and took course after course until it was time to submit a research proposal for the dissertation.

Dr. Mead had a hunch that culture has a strong influence on how intelligence develops. Jo’s proposal was to find clues which would shed light on why immigrant children from rural pre-industrial communities do poorly on standard written IQ tests and how immigrants adapt to cultural change.

Dr. Mead got a grant and sent Jo to Petralia Soprana, the land of her ancestors, for doctoral research. She knew that Jo’s parents immigrated from a remote pre-industrial mountain commune in Sicily and her extended family still lived there. “The Sicilian Project” is in two parts, “My Life in America” where Jo makes reference to “Real Americans” and immigrant Americans, and “My Life in Sicily” where she finishes the Sicilian project for Dr. Margaret Mead.

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