Veronica Barfucci
Teaching Fellow in Politics and International Studies
Email: veronica.barfucci.1@warwick.ac.uk
Room: E1.15
Advice & Feedback hours
Mondays 11.30-12.30
Tuesdays 15.30-16.30
Profile
I am currently a Teaching Fellow in Politics and International Studies. I completed my PhD in Politics and International Studies at PAIS, Warwick, in September 2025. I was funded by the University's Chancellor's International Scholarship. I hold a BA with Honours in East Asian Languages, Markets and Cultures (2017) and a MA with Honours in International Relations (2019), both from the University of Bologna.Research interests
My PhD thesis analysed the politics of Japan's remilitarisation by bringing together feminist IR theory, particularly Judith Butler's work on gender performativity, and the literature on ontological security. Through a qualitative discourse analysis and a visual analysis of the representation of the Japan Self-Defense Forces deployed overseas (2009-2023) on the government’s social media accounts, the thesis identified a process of remasculinisation of the image of the military, which goes together with a remasculinisation of Japan as a military power in the international system. The thesis showed that Japan is seeking to renegotiate its image away from its post-Cold Wa ‘feminised’ and benevolent identity and that status, standing, and honour are increasingly associated with performances of masculinity.
I am happy to supervise undergraduate dissertations on international relations, security studies, critical security studies, feminist IR, gendered militarism, social media and media research, and the politics of East Asia (not limited to Japan).
Teaching
In 2025/2026, I convene seminars for PO131: World Politics and PO231: International Security.
Previously, I have been Senior GTA for PO131: World Politics (2022-2024) and for the module International Relations, Security, and Development of the 2025 Warwick Summer School.
Publications
Barfucci, V. (accepted and forthcoming) "Militarising Femininity on Social Media: Female Empowerment and Heteronormative Logics in the Representation of the Japan Self-Defense Forces" International Political Sociology.
Edited volume
La nuova era di Xi Jinping. Assertività e contraddizioni della politica estera cinese. (Edifir - Edizioni Firenze, 2022). With Lorenza Scaldaferri.
Awards and scholarships
- University of Warwick, PAIS Department Conference Funding (£ 670) – May 2025
- Japan Foundation Endowment Committee, Fieldwork Grant (£ 2,830) – Jun 2024
- Political Studies Association James Thomas Memorial Prize (£ 100) – Oct 2023
- University of Warwick Chancellor’s International Scholarship (approx. £ 130,000) and Research Training and Support Grant (£ 5,000) – Feb 2020
- University of Bologna, Merit Award for GPA (approx. € 1,500) – Jul 2019, 2017, 2015
Other activities
- Social events coordinator of the East Asia Study Group Link opens in a new window(2023-ongoing)
- Panel member of the January 2022, 2024, and 2025 EASG MA Thesis Review PanelLink opens in a new window
- Co-Convener of the Student Conference "Europe-East Asia-US Media and Politics", organised by the University of Bologna and Toyo University
- Invited Speaker at the Winter School "Exploring the Media and Politics Landscape in Europe, East Asia and the US" organised by the University of Bologna, Toyo University and University of California Los Angeles (UCLA)
- Co-convener of the Critical International and Political Studies (CRIPS) Working GroupLink opens in a new window for 2022
Outside academia
I have been Vice-Director of LoSpiegone, an online news outlet dealing with international politics, as well as Chief-Editor of its Asia-Pacific Editorial Board from 2020 to 2025. I have also written several contributions for AffarInternazionali, the online news outlet of Istituto Affari Internazionali, a leading Italian think-tank in international politics.