Marco Ruggieri is Teaching Fellow in Italian at The University of Edinburgh, where he earned his PhD in Italian (2023).
During his PhD, Marco specialised in the field of Italian contemporary literature and culture, particularly focusing on the work of Umberto Eco and Antonio Gramsci, and their connections with British Cultural Studies scholars like Raymond Williams and Stuart Hall. Marco’s PhD thesis The Young Eco's Library: Mass Culture and Interpretive Freedom sheds new light on Eco’s work by interrogating his representation of fascist culture in the novel The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana (2004). The thesis will soon be published as a book in the series Italian Modernities by Peter Lang. As an MHRA Postdoctoral Research Associate, he worked on Carlo Emilio Gadda and collaborated with Federica G. Pedriali in the Edinburgh Gadda Encyclopedia project.
Marco’s current research has two main strands. The first strand investigates representations and self-representations of non-cisgender subjects in the area of Naples (Italy) in the media, exploring questions of intersectionality and media visibility. The second strand examines the use of intermediality made by the fascist regime and its impact on the creation of the Italian national identity. These two strands provide distinct and yet intertwined contributions to Marco’s long-standing interdisciplinary research on how the media represent and shape identities, and on the interpretative mechanics underlying the audience’s different responses to mass culture.
Since 2018, Marco has been teaching Italian language at the University of Edinburgh, where he has cultivated a strong interest in inclusive teaching practices and the decolonisation of the curriculum. He is also a member of the Executive Committee of the Society for Italian Studies, where he serves as the Website and Social Media Coordinator. Additionally, he occasionally writes about Scottish politics for the historic Italian newspaper Il Manifesto.