Areas of interest
I am a Classicist whose work foregrounds the Roman empire鈥檚 conception of itself and its Others, and how these dynamics of representation have been received in post-classical periods. My Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship project homes in on a particular moment in the development of such discourses of self and Otherness by looking at a fourteenth-century Latin epic about the Second Punic War: Petrarch鈥檚 Africa. I am currently writing a book for Bloomsbury Press鈥 Neo-Latin Studies series on the role of Petrarch鈥檚 Africa in reshaping and transmitting ideas about Africa and Africans, as well as empire and 鈥榥ationality鈥, drawn from classical Latin literature.
I am also writing a book based on my PhD thesis which looks at modern Italy鈥檚 ideological use of the Roman empire during its colonial endeavours in Africa in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
More generally, I am interested in ideas of 鈥榬ace鈥 in the ancient world, and the use of the ancient world in medieval, early modern, and modern ideologies of 鈥榬ace鈥 and nationhood.
Teaching
Undergraduate
鈥楻ace鈥 in the Ancient
Greek and Roman Worlds
Roman History: Late
Republic
Research centres and groups
Centre for the History of Racism and Anti-Racism in Modern Italy
New Signs of Antiquity: The Uses of Latin in the Public Culture of Italian Fascism, 1922-1943
Claiming the Classical
Awards and honours
2022-2025 Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship.
2021-2022 British School at Rome, Rome Fellow (converted to Rome Award, April-June 2022).
2016-2019 AHRC Doctoral Studentship (London Arts and Humanities Partnership).
Selected publications
Peer-reviewed articles
- 鈥楶别迟谤补谤肠丑鈥檚 Sophonisba between Antiquity and Modernity鈥, Nordic Journal for Renaissance Studies, Special Issue on Sophonisba [accepted pending revisions, revisions submitted]
- 鈥楽mash the Thing: William Kentridge, Classical Antiquity, and his Refusal of Time in O Sentimental Machine鈥, Classical Receptions Journal, 14:2, 264鈥287. (2022)
- 鈥楻omanit脿 and nostalgia: Italian travel writing in Libya and Tunisia, 1905-1912鈥, CompLit, 2, 145-167. (2021)
- 鈥楾he Reception of Petrarch鈥檚 Africa in Fascist Italy鈥, International Journal of the Classical Tradition, online first. (2021)
- 鈥楳are Nostrum: Italy and the Mediterranean of Ancient Rome in the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries鈥, Fascism: Journal of Comparative Fascist Studies, 8:2, 250-274. (2019)
- 鈥楾he Arco dei Fileni: A Fascist Reading of Sallust's Bellum Iugurthinum鈥, Classical Receptions Journal, 11:2, 157-177. Editor鈥檚 choice. (2019)
Peer-reviewed Book Chapters
- 鈥樷淭he Return of Rome鈥: Empire, Epic, and Twentieth-Century Italian Imperialism in Africa鈥, The Epic World, ed. Pamela Lothspeich (Routledge) [submitted]
- 鈥樷淏iting the Hand that Feeds You鈥: Responding to Racialisation in UK Classics鈥, Diversity and the Study of Antiquity in Higher Education, ed. Daniel Libatique and Fiona McHardy (Routledge) [submitted]
- 鈥楽cipio Africanus and the Construction of Fascist Italian Masculinities鈥, Toxic Masculinity in the Ancient World, ed. Aven McMaster and Melanie Racette-Campbell (Edinburgh University Press) [submitted]
- 鈥楶别迟谤补谤肠丑鈥檚 Africa鈥, Classics and Race: A Historical Reader, ed. Sarah Derbew, Dan Orrells and Phiroze Vasunia (UCL Press) [submitted]
- 鈥楢 Question of Sport? C.L.R. James, Greek Tragedy and Popular Culture鈥, Class and Classics. Trend in Classics 鈥 Supplementary Volumes, ed. Anna Maria Cimino et al. (De Gruyter) [submitted]
Peer-reviewed editions, translations, or commentaries
- 鈥楢rco dei Fileni, 1937, Giorgio Pasquali鈥, Fascist Latin Texts online database. Edition, translation, and commentary. (2022)
Reviews
- David Withun, Co-Workers in the Kingdom of Culture: Classics and Cosmopolitanism in the Thought of W.E.B. Dubois. Times Literary Supplement. [forthcoming]
- Adam Lecznar, Dionysus after Nietzsche: The Birth of Tragedy in Twentieth-Century Literature and Thought. Rhea Classical Reviews. October 2021.
- Aristotle Kallis, The Third Rome: 1922鈥 1943, The Making of the Fascist Capital. Journal of Modern Italian Studies, 26:2, 234-236 (2021)
- Hans Lamers and Bettina Reitz-Joosse, The Codex Fori Mussolini: A Latin Text of Italian Fascism. Thersites, 10 (2019)
- Matthew Loar, Carolyn MacDonald and Dan-el Padilla Peralta (ed.), Rome, empire of plunder the dynamics of cultural appropriation, Bryn Mawr Classical Review, 2019.10.53
- Louise H. Pratt, C. Michael Sampson (ed.), Engaging Classical Texts in the Contemporary World: From Narratology to Reception. Bryn Mawr Classical Review, 2019.07.03
Other publications
- 鈥楥lassics and Italian Colonialism: An Outsider鈥檚 Perspective鈥, Italian Studies in Southern Africa, 35:1, 29-32 (2022)
- 鈥楾he Sword of Ancient Rome. Classics, Colonialism, And Racism in Italy鈥, Centra: Centre for the History of Racism and Anti-Racism in Modern Italy: News (online) (2021)
- Mac Sweeney, N. et al. [including S. Agbamu]. 鈥楥laiming the Classical: The Greco-Roman World in Contemporary Political Discourse鈥, Council of University Classical Departments Bulletin, 48. (2019
May 2022 : British School at Rome blogpost. 鈥楻ethinking Rome: Cityscapes of Empire, Ancient and Modern鈥
November 2021 : SCS blogpost. 鈥榃hose Aeneid? Imperialism, Fascism, and the Politics of Reception鈥.
July 2021 : Latin Work(ing Class)shop. Guest lecture on William Kentridge and Classics.
June 2021 : BBC Radio 4: Detoxifying the Classics with host Katherine Harloe. Contributor.
June 2020-ongoing : Sportula Europe blog.
