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Faculty Spotlight: Pina Gemboni

Giuseppina Gemboni is an assistant teaching professor of Italian studies and coordinator of the Italian studies program in Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences’ Department of Languages, Cultures & Applied Linguistics. Gemboni’s scholarly work explores the richness of Italian language, culture, cinema, literature and history.

Tell me about your scholarly work.

My research focuses on postcolonial literature and cinema. I analyze texts by authors and filmmakers who come from former Italian colonies in Africa, or whose families arrived from Ethiopia, Libya, Eritrea and Somalia.

In my earlier research, I focused on space and place, using these categories to demonstrate how these authors used space to decolonize the narrative in the Italian discourse, but also to denounce some problems related to Italian society, such as discrimination, issues with citizenship, racism and problems related to migration, or, for example, the alienation of domestic work. These are all things that emerge from these texts. The cultural production of authors who come from these countries is called direct postcolonial literature. 

Whereas in my latest project, I'm focusing on monsters and monstrosity. I've also expanded my corpus, so I'm still analyzing Afro-Italian literature and cinema, but with fewer geographical restrictions. I want to investigate why, in this cultural production, the presence of monsters and monstrosity is increasingly emerging, and what this tells us about the experience of the migrants or second generations in Italy. 

How is your scholarly work adding to the greater field?

While postcolonial studies is a well-established field in Italian studies, in combination with cultural studies and Mediterranean studies, it's also true that many texts and documentaries or films have been overlooked in this field because they are not yet considered part of the Italian canon. So, by expanding my corpus and including other categories in my research, I'm investigating some areas that have been overlooked, but also some texts that have not yet received the attention they deserve.

How did you become interested in this topic?

While I was in Italy, I studied English and French literature. Postcolonial studies entered Italy mainly through English departments. When I was in my BA, there wasn't a class dedicated to Italian postcolonial studies, but still, through other countries' cultural production, I discovered that this was an actual field, and I started wondering who was writing these novels and who was making these films in Italy, because, sadly, we had colonies, too. So, I did my research, and I found out that there were some authors who were writing about this, although at the time they were not very famous. I decided to dedicate more time to this field because Italy needs to hear more about these experiences to face its past and see how much it is connected to the present.

What are you most excited to accomplish as a faculty member at Â鶹´å?

At Â鶹´å, I'm an assistant teaching professor, but also the coordinator of the Italian studies program and I hope to expand the program, create a minor, but also a community of students who are interested in Italian language and culture, who want to study abroad, meet people and see the country beyond the stereotypes that we all see from abroad.

I also teach a class that overlaps with my research, which is called Black Italy. It allows me to have students read Afro-Italian literature and discuss with them racism, language, citizenship and all the difficulties related to migration in Italy, particularly migrations through the Mediterranean Sea. I am really happy I have the opportunity to teach this class. 

I teach the Introduction to Italian Cinema class, too. We watch films that go from the fascist era to today's Italy, and as we learn about different stages and different directors, we learn about Italian history. So that's a really good introduction to Italian contemporary society.

We also organize events such as the Tavola Italiana, a conversation group. We meet every other week, have some snacks and try to speak Italian. We go to the opera and have movie nights.

As a faculty member, I wish to continue to contribute to my field of research and expand it in the future, but also collaborate with colleagues from my department and other departments to develop courses and curricular activities that might be of interest to our students and provide the skills they need for the job market and as global citizens.

What are your goals for the next generation of scholars?

In a world and a job market that are so focused on STEM disciplines and AI, I hope future scholars will still engage with the study of different languages and cultures, philosophical inquiries, history, art in all its forms and the humanities in general. I hope all future scholars will study literature and will be interested in cinema, as through these media we can reflect on our society, on today’s global events, and, ultimately, on the human experience at large. Humanities helps us develop more empathy, see the people beyond the data, and ask ethical questions that are as essential as scientific knowledge. This is what I try to do through my classes at Â鶹´å. My goal for students and future scholars is to integrate the perspectives and skills they gain through the humanities in their future work and see how thinking through the humanities can enrich their projects and their research.