Flavia Aiello

Flavia Aiello serves as Associate Professor in the Department of Asia, Africa and the Mediterranean at the University of Naples L'Orientale, where she teaches Swahili language and literature courses across multiple degree programs including Relazioni e Istituzioni dell'Asia e dell'Africa and Lingue e Culture dell'Asia e dell'Africa.

Her academic journey began with a PhD in African Studies (2004) from the University of Naples L'Orientale, where her dissertation examined contemporary developments of taarab sung poetry in Zanzibar. Prior to her current position, she taught African Languages and Literatures as a contract professor at the University of Calabria from 2004 to 2010, and served as a temporary researcher at her current institution from 2013 to 2020.

Her research centers on Swahili literary traditions, with particular emphasis on verbal arts, literary translation, and contemporary African literature including children's and adolescent works. She has made significant contributions through translations of major Swahili texts such as Said Ahmed Mohamed's Utengano (published as Separazione) and Abdilatif Abdalla's poetry collections. Her scholarship demonstrates deep engagement with East African cultural production and linguistic dynamics.

Recent publications (2023-2025) reveal three interconnected research trajectories: intellectual biographies in African studies, Swahili poetic traditions (especially prison and exile literature), and French linguistic/cultural interferences in Africa. This work spans editorial projects, literary analysis, historical poetry studies, children's literature translation, and theoretical examinations of translation frameworks across three centuries of Swahili literary history.