Job title

Associate Professor, Literary and Cultural History of Modern Europe

Research interests

I have three main research interests. Firstly, I work on the cultural history of Romania and southeastern Europe in the modern period. My book The making of modern Romanian culture (2006) charted the development of writing, print and education in the Romanian lands in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, in the context of nation-building and identity-formation. It was well received in journals and came out in paperback in 2012. This was followed by The traditions of invention (2013), which gathers together studies of Romanian and European cultural interactions and encounters over the long term.
A second major interest is in travel writing, as a rich source for ideas of cultural encounter and difference across European societies. With Wendy Bracewell of University College London, I have published three volumes dedicated to East European travel writing on Europe. These works seek to present east European perspectives on questions of travel experience, cultural identity and the politics of representation. At the same time they furnish important source material for students of cultures and societies across Europe, from the early modern period to the present day.
Thirdly, I research European identity as a whole. Most recently, I have edited European identity. A historical reader, a collection of key historical documents illustrating the theme of European cultural identity, from ancient times to the twenty-first century. This volume, the first of its kind in English, appeared with Palgrave Macmillan in 2013. I have also published articles on the regional identity of southeastern Europe, as reflected in historiography and other academic/disciplinary traditions.

Books

• Drace-Francis, Alex  The traditions of invention. Romanian ethnic and social stereotypes in historical context (Leiden – Boston: Brill Publishers, 2013)
• Drace-Francis, Alex, editor. European identity. A historical reader (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013)

• Bracewell, Wendy and Alex Drace-Francis, editors. Balkan departures. Travel writing from Southeastern Europe (Oxford – New York: Berghahn Books, 2009)
• Bracewell, Wendy and Alex Drace-Francis, editors. Under eastern eyes. A comparative introduction to east European travel writing on Europe (Budapest - New York: CEU Press, 2008)
• Bracewell, Wendy and Alex Drace-Francis, editors. A bibliography of east European travel writing on Europe (Budapest - New York: CEU Press, 2008)
• Drace-Francis, Alex The making of modern Romanian culture. Literacy and the development of national identity (London - New York: IB Tauris, 2006)

Selected articles and chapters in books

• Drace-Francis, A. (2014) All you need is love (review essay). Wasafiri, Journal of contemporary writing 29:2, 80-83.
• Drace-Francis, A. (2013) 'Like a member of a free nation, he spoke without shame': The trope of the foreign traveller in the Romanian literary tradition. In Travel writing and ethics, ed. C. Forsdick, C. Fowler & L. Kostova. London - New York, 183-203.

• Drace-Francis, A. (2013) Beyond the Land of Green Plums: Romanian language and culture in the work of Herta Müller. In Herta Müller, ed. B. Haines & L. Marven. Oxford University Press, 32-48.

• Drace-Francis, A. (2012) Review article: War, politics and culture in Romania and East-Central Europe. European history quarterly 42:1, 105-13.
• Drace-Francis, A. (2009) 'At ten minutes past two I gazed ecstatically upon both lighthouses': Self, time and object in early Romanian travel texts. In Romantism şi modernitate. Atitudini, reevaluări, polemici [Romanticism and modernity. Perspectives, reappraisals, debates], ed. A. Mihalache & A. Istrate. Iaşi, 23-45.
• Drace-Francis, A. (2008) Towards a natural history of East European travel writing. In Under eastern eyes, ed. W. Bracewell & A. Drace-Francis. Budapest - New York, 1-26. 
• Drace-Francis, A. (2008) Everybody's gotta be somewhere: Northernness and Southernness in the European imagination, and in the Basque country. In Imaging the Basques. Foreign views on the Basque country, ed. S. Leone & J. MacClancy. Donostia.
• Drace-Francis, A. (2008) Romania [bibliography]. In A bibliography of east European travel writing on Europe, ed. W. Bracewell & A. Drace-Francis. Budapest - New York, 371-450.
• Drace-Francis, A. (2008) Travel accounts of Europe: an auxiliary bibliography. In A bibliography of east European travel writing on Europe , ed. W. Bracewell & A. Drace-Francis. Budapest - New York, 515-22.
• Drace-Francis, A. & W. Bracewell (2008) Languages of international circulation [bibliography]. In A bibliography of east European travel writing on Europe, ed. W. Bracewell & A. Drace-Francis. Budapest - New York, 487-513.
• Drace-Francis, A. (2006) A provincial imperialist and a Curious Account of Wallachia: Ignaz von Born. European history quarterly 36:1, 61-89.
• Drace-Francis, A. (2005) Cultural currents and political choices: Romanian intellectuals in the Banat to 1848. Austrian history yearbook 36: 65-93. 
• Drace-Francis, A. (2005) Dinicu Golescu's 'Account of my travels' (1826): Eurotopia as manifesto. Journeys 6:1-2, 24-53.
• Drace-Francis, A. (2004) Paradoxes of Occidentalism: On travel literature in Ceauşescu's Romania. In The Balkans and the West, ed. A. Hammond. Aldershot, UK, 69-80. [Reprinted in Travel writing: Critical concepts in literary and cultural studies, ed. T. Youngs & C. Forsdick. 4 vols. Routledge, 2012, vol. 2: 231-46]
• Drace-Francis, A. (2004) Travel writing and society: The Romanian tradition. In Călători români în Occident [Romanian travellers to the West], ed. N. Bocşan & I. Bolovan. Cluj-Napoca.
• Drace-Francis, A. (2004) Four entries ('Constantin Brâncuşi', 'Nicolae Ceauşescu', 'Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej', 'Eugen Ionescu'). In: Biographical dictionary of literary influences , Vol. 2 (Twentieth Century) , ed. J. Hall. Westport, CT.
• Drace-Francis, A. (2004) Four entries ('The Romanians', 'Vasile Alecsandri', 'Mihai Kogalniceanu', 'Ion Heliade Radulescu'). In Encyclopaedia of the Romantic era, 1760-1850 , ed. C. Murray. 2 vols. London - New York.
• Drace-Francis, A. (2003) Zur Geschichte des Südosteuropakonzepts bis 1914 [On the history of the concept of Southeastern Europe up to 1914]. In Wieser Enzyklopädie des europäischen Ostens , 11: Europa und die Grenzen im Kopf , ed. K. Kaser, D. Gramshammer-Hohl & R. Pichler. Klagenfurt, 275-86.
• Drace-Francis, A. (2003) Romanian book production, 1716-1770. Solanus: International journal for Russian and east European bibliographic, library and publishing studies, n.s., 17, 64-80.
• Drace-Francis, A. (2002) Romanian book production, 1770-1830. Solanus: International journal for Russian and east European bibliographic, library and publishing studies, n.s., 16, 5-26.
• Drace-Francis, A. (2000) Sex, lies and stereotypes: British images of Romania since 1945. In Romanian and British historians on the contemporary history of Romania , ed. G. Cipăianu & V. Ţârău. Cluj-Napoca, 87-100.
• Drace-Francis, A. & W. Bracewell (1999) South-Eastern Europe: History, concepts, boundaries. Balkanologie 3:2, 47-66.

Reviews

I have reviewed books for the following scholarly publications: American Historical Review  –  Central Europe  –  Colloquia, A Journal of Central European History  –  East European Jewish Affairs  –  English Historical Review  –  European History Quarterly  –  Journal of Ecclesiastical History  –  Journal of European Studies  –  Journal of Southern Europe and the Balkans  –  Journeys, The International Journal of Travel and Travel Writing  –  Nationalities Papers  –  Nations and Nationalism  – Religious Studies Review  –  Reviews in History  –  Slavic Review  –  Slavonic and East European Review  –  Studies in Travel Writing  –  Twentieth-Century British History  –  Wasafiri

Memberships, academic roles

• Royal Historical Society of Great Britain – Fellow
• Centre for Advanced Study, Sofia – Fellow
• International Society for Cultural History – Member
• Centre for the Study of the Balkans, Goldsmiths, London – Member, Advisory Board
• 'Rethinking Modern Europe' seminar, Institute of Historical Research, London – Convenor
• Oxford English Dictionary – Consultant
• Brill Balkan Studies Library  – Editorial Board Member
• East European Politics and Societies – Editorial Board Member
• Romanian Journal of Modern History – Editorial Board Member

Previous positions, degrees

• 2005-2011: Lecturer, Modern European History, University of Liverpool
• 2001-2004: Postdoctoral research fellow, UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies, London.
• 2000-2003: Lecturer, Romanian Studies, UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies, London.
• 1996-2001: PhD, University of London. Thesis: Literature, Modernity, Nation: The Case of Romania, 1829-1890.
• 1995-1996: MA (Distinction), South-East European Studies, School of Slavonic and East European Studies, London
• 1989-1992: BA (Honours), English and American Studies, University of East Anglia, Norwich.

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