Elisa Vivaldi

Biography

Background

I am a current PhD candidate and tutor in Italian at the University of Edinburgh, working in co-supervision (Joint Degree/cotutelle) with KU Leuven, Cultural Studies Research Unit, under the supervision of prof. Federica Pedriali (UoE) and prof. Sascha Bru (KUL), within the context of the Una-Her-Doc programme in Cultural Heritage promoted by Una Europa. My current research interests are concerned with the production of hegemonic and counter-hegemonic discourses on European cultural heritage and the relationship between crisis and aesthetic practices in 20th century literary culture, with a particular focus on the role of historical avant-gardes. 

I graduated from both my bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the University of Pisa, where I specialised in Contemporary Italian Literature and still serve as assistant examiner (culture della materia) for the same subject. My PhD research proposal was awarded the prestigious College Research Award by the University of Edinburgh, which will fund my work for the duration of the programme. I am a member of the executive committee of the Society for Italian Studies (SIS) serving as postgraduate representative for the UK and Northern Ireland.

While my main research interests are concerned with Contemporary Italian Literature and Thought, I always favoured a comparative approach. My work thus intersects the fields of Literary Theory, Aesthetics, Continental Philosophy, Biopolitics and Mimetic Theory, thriving in interdisciplinarity and a marked theoretical drive. 

CV

PDF icon cv_vivaldi_academic_feb23.pdf

Qualifications

  • 09/2022 – current    University of Edinburgh, School of Languages Literatures and Cultures (UK) [Joint Agreement/cotutelle] Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Faculty of Arts (Belgium) Ph.D. Candidate, Italian/Literary Studies (Letterkunde)  First Supervisor: prof. Federica G. Pedriali (UoE) Second Supervisor: prof. Sascha Bru (KU Leuven)    
  • 10/2019 – 12/2021  University of Pisa  Master’s degree in Italian studies, LM-14 (Modern Philology) Final grade: 110/110 cum laude. Relevant Courses: Philosophy, Contemporary Italian Literature, Hermeneutic and Rhetoric, History and Techniques of Literary Criticism, Italian Philology, History of the Italian Language. Thesis title: «Una straordinaria confessione attuale». Soggettivazione e realismo nel discorso letterario, il caso di Menzogna e sortilegio. (eng: «An extraordinary actual confession». Subjectification and realism in the literary discourse, the case of Menzogna e sortilegio)    
  • 09/2016 – 10/2019      University of Pisa   Bachelor’s degree in Humanities, L-10 (Humanities) Final Grade: 110/110 cum laude Relevant Courses: Comparative Literature, Theory of Literature, Romance Philology, Medieval and Humanistic Philology, Italian Philology.  Thesis title: Storie di donna. L’autobiografia finzionale da Jane Eyre a Una donna. (eng: Women’s tales. The fictional autobiography from Jane Eyre to Una donna    
  • 06/2022  University of Trento Summer School – Summer School LETRA Summer School organized by the "LETRA" laboratory, section of the Literary Laboratory (LaborLeT) of the Center of Advanced Studies in the Humanities (CeASUm), Dipartimento di Lettere e Filosofia, University of Trento.    

  • 09/2020 – 12/2020  University of Edinburgh Erasmus Programme Visiting Student – College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences.    

  • 07/2018 – 08/2018      King’s College London  Summer School – Credit Hours Undergraduate  Fully funded award to attend KCL’s Summer School Literature in the city granted after a comparative procedure between applicants based on merit and performance.

Responsibilities & affiliations

I am the current PGR representative for the Society for Italian Studies (SIS).

Conference details

  • '‘Uccidiamo il chiaro di luna!’, Crisis, Critique and Aesthetic Practices from Futurismo to the Neoavaguardia', talk for Mutamenti. Overcoming Crises (Graduate Symposium Johns Hopkins University - Yale University) October 27-28 2023, Yale University.

  • : '‘La caffeina d’Europa’: the scandal of Futurismo in a European Context', talk for Art Without Borders: The Avant-Garde Networks of the Twentieth Century, (Graduate Conference, University of Leeds - University of York) June 20 2024, University of Leeds.

  • 'Concrete, visual, electro-phonic: Ekphrastic experimentations and the legacies of Futurismo', talk for panel titled Ekphrasis as Transmedia Creating Mimesis from Antiquity to the Digital Age (The Society for Italian Studies Biennial Conference) June 19-21 2024, Royal Halloway, University of London.

  • 'Erinyes, Amazons, Cleopatras: Rhetoric of Femininity and Conflict in Italian Futurism', talk for panel titled Futurism and War (9th Conference of the European Network for Avant-Garde and Modernism Studies (EAM)) September 17-19 2024, Jagiellonian University.

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