About

My PhD, 'Consuming Italy: Contemporary Material Culture and Ethnographic Approaches in Modern Languages', was supervised by Dr. Jennifer Burns as part of the AHRC-funded project 'Transnationalizing Modern Languages: Mobility, Identity and Translation in Modern Italian Cultures' (within the 'Translating Cultures' theme). The thesis considered the experience and expression of historic and contemporary migration between Italy and England by examining the construction of ideas of Italy in and via different sites related to food - public spaces such as bars, cafés, but also celebrity figures, virtual media, recipe books, and language itself. My current research focuses on incorporating everyday material culture and ethnographically-informed approaches into teaching within Modern Languages.

An important and exciting part of the project are the 'Writing Across Languages and Cultures' workshops coordinated by Dr. Naomi Wells and led by writer Shirin Ramzanali Fazel. Details of the workshops and the themes investigated through them can be found on the 'Writing Across' blog.

Together with Gioia Panzarella, I coordinated the Language Learning element of the research project 'Collaborative Translation: A Model for Inclusivity', funded by the Monash-Warwick Alliance (October 2016 - July 2017). The project analysed the use of a specific model of translation in teaching through a series of undergraduate English and Italian language-learning workshops and events. Through this project, I became especially interested in the ways that translation can be used to develop student confidence and critical thinking at beginner level.

Research Interests

• Ethnography and material culture
• Translation in language learning
• Heritage, memory, the everyday

Teaching

IT101 Modern Italian Language for Beginners Tuesday 12-1, Room H3.44

IT113 Introduction to Italian Culture Reading Group Tuesday 2-3, Room B2.03 (Science concourse)

IT301 Modern Italian Language II: Translation (a.a 2015 - 2016)

IT110 Representations of Modern Italy Reading Group (a.a 2015-2016)

Qualifications

• MA by Research: Modern Languages (University of Leeds, 2014)
• BA: Joint Honours Modern Languages, Italian and French (University of Leeds, 2009)

Publications

• 'Putting the Accent on Authenticity: A Case Study of Celebrity Chef Gennaro ‘Gino’ D’Acampo', Modern Languages Open 2018 (1), p. 7.
• with Gioia Panzarella, 'Focus sulla sensibilità linguistica: la traduzione collaborativa nella classe di lingua', Italiano LinguaDue 2016 (8.2), 328-337.
• 'The table gift as a social fact: unwrapping the practice of giving bomboniere in Italy'. Feast 2016 (1.2).
• 'Foodways, Campervans and the Terms of Mobility: Transnational Belonging, Home, and Heritage in the Narrative of “Sud Italia”', Humanities 2016 (5.2), 23.
• 'Authority, Sincerity, Commitment: A comparative case study of narrative relationships in Italy in the era of digital media'. Between 2014 (4.8).

Office hours

Please e-mail me to arrange an appointment.