Stefano Nicastro
PhD Student - History
- School of History, Classics and Archaeology
- School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures
Contact details
- Email: s1792516@ed.ac.uk
Background
I studied History at the University of Milan (Italy) and I spent a semester abroad in Istanbul (Turkey) at the Yıldız Teknik Üniversitesi via the Erasmus programme. Subsequently, I completed a MSc in Middle Eastern Studies with Arabic at the University of Edinburgh and I further studied Arabic in Egypt at the International House Cairo – ILI. I am currently a PhD Student in History at the University of Edinburgh funded by the School of History, Classics and Archaeology Doctoral Scholarship.
Qualifications
MA (Hons.) in History, University of Milan.
MSc in Middle Eastern Studies with Arabic, University of Edinburgh.
Responsibilities & affiliations
2021-ongoing – President of the Late Antique, Islamic and Byzantine Studies Society (LAIBS), University of Edinburgh.
2021-ongoing – Committee member of the Edinburgh Early Modern Network (EEMN), University of Edinburgh.
Undergraduate teaching
2022-2023 – Medieval Worlds: A Journey through the Middle Ages (Undergraduate Course).
2021-2022 – Medieval Worlds: A Journey through the Middle Ages (Undergraduate Course).
2020-2021 – Early Modern History: A Connected World (Undergraduate Course).
Research summary
Diplomatic and economic relationships between Genoa and Mamluk Egypt.
Cross-cultural and trans-regional interactions between Muslims and Christians in the Mediterranean during the later Middle Ages.
Movements of people, goods and ideas.
Current research interests
My work aims to deepen and re-evaluate our understanding of Mamluk-Genoese diplomatic and commercial exchanges.Organiser
2021 – 5th Edinburgh International Graduate Conference in Late Antique, Islamic and Byzantine Studies. ‘Sites of Encounter and Cultural Exchange (500-1500 CE)’.
Papers delivered
2021 – ‘Genoa in the Middle Ages: The Use of Arabic Sources to Reconstruct the History of a Latin City’ at the Medieval Mediterranean Exchanges Workshop, Woolf Institute, Cambridge.
2021 – ‘Genoa and Mamluk Egypt: Return of Captives in 14th Century Alexandria’ at Pre-Modern Migrations: Communities, Ideas and Materials on the Move, University of Edinburgh.
2019 – ‘Islamic perceptions of Genoa in fourteenth century Arabic literature’ at the 3rd Edinburgh International Graduate Conference in Late Antique, Islamic and Byzantine Studies. ‘Historical Inertia: Continuity in the Face of Change 500—1500 CE’.