PhD dissertation

Cultural Promotion and Imperialism. The Dante Alighieri Society and the British Council Contesting the Mediterranean in the 1930s (University of Amsterdam, June 2011). Due to be published.

Supervisor: prof. dr. P. den Boer / Co-supervisor: prof. dr. R. van der Laarse

Research interests

• The history of (cultural) nationalism
• International cultural policy
• Cultural heritage: policy, theory and intellectual history
• Italian nineteenth- and twentieth-century history
• Cultural identity and politics in the Mediterranean area
• European cooperation between North and South
• Italian Fascism and European history of the interwar period
• Secularization and the role of the intellectual

Teaching

• Since August 2011 teaching as Assistant Professor for both the BA and the MA Cultural Sciences, as well as for the MA Heritage Studies.
• Practical course 'Erfgoedpraktijk', guiding students putting heritage theory into practice in a project for the historical gardens of Beeckestijn, master programme Heritage Studies, University of Amsterdam (Spring/Summer 2011).
• Seminar 'Kunstwerelden: Theorie en Beroepspraktijk' on sociology of the arts, bachelor Cultural Sciences, University of Amsterdam (Autumn/Winter 2010 & 2011).
• Lectures on 'Culture and the Makeability of Society', master programme Cultural Sciences, University of Amsterdam (Autumn/Winter 2010 & 2011).
• 'De Dante Alighieri Vereniging en de constructie van 'italianità' in het buitenland' as part of 'Monumenten en symbolen van italianità', Dante Alighieri Society Utrecht (Utrecht, 29 April 2010).
• External examiner for five students graduating from the bachelor programme Museology at the Reinwardt Academy (4 en 6 November 2008).
• Accompanied students of the bachelor Cultural Sciences, University of Amsterdam, on an excursion to Rome as part of their course on 'Centres of European Culture' (24-29 March 2007).
• Lecture 'Intangible heritage: contested property' as part of 'Heritage: theory and practice' for students of Heritage Studies, University of Amsterdam (30 November 2006).

Conferences

• 'Empire, Cultural Politics and European Heritage: the British Council and the "Latinisation" of Egypt inthe 1930s', Seventeenth International Conference of the Council for European Studies (Montreal, 15-17 April 2010).
• 'Cultural Diplomacy and National Self-Representation during the Interbellum: 'Italianità' and 'Britishness' as promoted abroad', presented in the panel session 'Projecting Nations: Culture and Character in International Relations' at the conference We The Peoples: Democratizing International Relations in Britain and Beyond, 1870-1950 organized by Peter Mandler (St. John's College, Cambridge, 8-9 January2010).
• 'Italian Colonialism and Cultural Propaganda: The Società Dante Alighieri in Addis Abeba', presented in the panel session 'Italian Studies from the Low Countries: Modern and Contemporary Italy' (coordinated by the Werkgroep Italië Studies), Biennial Conference of the Society for Italian Studies (Londen, Royal Holloway University, 16-19 April 2009).
• 'Promoting national culture in the Mediterranean: the Dante Alighieri Society and the British Council in the 1930's', Fifth International Conference on Cultural Policy Research , organized by the Istanbul Metropolitan Univeristy & Yeditepe University in cooperation with the International Journal of Cultural Policy (Istanbul, 20-24 August 2004). Also intervened as moderator.
• 'British life and thought: a global model? The British Council's representations of 'Britishness' on the eve of the Second World War', at the conference Britishness, Identity and Citizenship: The View from Abroad (Huddersfield, University of Huddersfield, 5-6 June 2008).
• 'Italianitá wereldwijd: de Dante Alighieri Vereniging in de jaren dertig', Royal Netherlands Institute in Rome, for students of Cultural Sciences (University of Amsterdam) on excursion in Rome, 3 April 2008.

• No ancillary activities
• No ancillary activities