Francesca Southerden

Professor Francesca Southerden is a Professor of Italian at the University of Oxford and Tutorial Fellow at Somerville College. She holds a D.Phil in Italian literature from Hertford College, Oxford, and previously taught as Assistant Professor at Wellesley College. Her research focuses on medieval Italian poetry, particularly Dante and Petrarch, with a critical lens on ecocriticism, affect studies, and queer theory. She co-edited The Oxford Handbook of Dante (2021) and authored Dante and Petrarch in the Garden of Language (2022), exploring Edenic imagery in their works. Current projects involve ecological approaches to medieval lyric. She teaches widely on medieval Italian literature and advises graduate students on interdisciplinary topics.

Her academic roles include Lecturer at St Catherine’s College and Lady Margaret Hall. She collaborates frequently with scholars like Manuele Gragnolati and has published across monographs, co-authored works, and peer-reviewed articles. Languages spoken include French, German, Spanish, Italian, Russian, and others. Research themes emphasize lyric forms, critical theory, and medieval studies.