Anna Wainwright

Anna Wainwright is an Associate Professor of Italian Studies and Core Faculty in Women's and Gender Studies at the University of New Hampshire, where she serves as the coordinator for the Italian Studies program. Her academic home is within the Department of Classics, Humanities, and Italian Studies in the College of Liberal Arts.

Dr. Wainwright earned her B.A. from the University of Chicago and completed both her M.A. and Ph.D. at New York University. Her scholarly trajectory demonstrates deep commitment to interdisciplinary approaches that bridge literary analysis with historical and cultural studies.

Her research focuses on gender, race, politics, community and emotion in medieval and early modern Italy, with particular attention to women's writing and the Counter-Reformation period. She has pioneered work on widowhood as a cultural and political phenomenon in Renaissance Italy, examining how widows functioned as both symbols of loss and active participants in community formation. Notably, she explores the intersection of AI, machine learning, and the future of humanities education, bringing contemporary technological concerns to bear on historical scholarship.

Dr. Wainwright's publications reveal consistent engagement with questions of representation, authority, and identity formation in Renaissance Italy. Her work demonstrates how literary texts served as sites for negotiating complex social issues including gender roles, religious identity, and cross-cultural encounters. She has made significant contributions to understanding race in Renaissance literature through careful analysis of texts like Tasso's Armida, while also examining how women writers strategically positioned themselves within patriarchal discourse.

• National Endowment for the Humanities
• Research Council of Norway
• Renaissance Society of America
• Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation

Dr. Wainwright has secured substantial research funding from major granting organizations to support her scholarly work. Her teaching portfolio is extensive, covering courses from elementary Italian language instruction to specialized seminars on topics like 'Mamma Mia! Italian Motherhood' and 'Honors/Feelings.' She has demonstrated commitment to innovative pedagogy, particularly in developing approaches for teaching race in Renaissance contexts. Her editorial work, including 'Teaching Race in the European Renaissance: A Classroom Guide,' reflects her dedication to shaping how these important topics are addressed in university classrooms.

As coordinator of the Italian Studies program, Dr. Wainwright leads curriculum development and faculty collaboration. Her translation of Leonora Bernardi's pastoral tragicomedy 'Clorilli' demonstrates her commitment to bringing understudied women's works to contemporary audiences. Her research projects often involve collaborative networks with scholars across institutions and national boundaries, reflecting her transnational approach to Renaissance studies.