Giuseppe Marcocci

Giuseppe Marcocci serves as Professor of Early Modern Global History at the University of Oxford and holds the position of Official Fellow at Exeter College. His academic career spans institutions across Italy and the United Kingdom, with a focus on transnational historical frameworks connecting Iberian empires to global developments.

Marcocci completed his undergraduate education at the University of Pisa before earning his PhD from the Scuola Normale Superiore in 2008. His doctoral research examined early modern Portuguese imperial ideology, establishing the foundation for his subsequent scholarly trajectory.

His research interrogates power dynamics within Iberian global empires through three interconnected lenses: imperial ideology and visual dissent (particularly political iconoclasm in colonial contexts), religious transformations (centering on the Inquisition, missionary activity, and convert agency), and global knowledge production. Marcocci employs microhistorical approaches to reveal transnational networks, as evidenced by his current projects on Portuguese mercenary systems in India and the material dimensions of heresy.

Analysis of his publication record reveals a consistent methodological innovation—bridging archival discoveries from five continents with theoretical frameworks that challenge Eurocentric narratives of early modernity. His work consistently demonstrates how marginalized voices and visual practices shaped imperial structures across Portuguese and Spanish domains.

Marcocci actively mentors the next generation of historians through supervision of eight doctoral candidates whose research spans Iberian global history. He contributes significantly to Oxford's academic infrastructure as Chair of the Oxford Centre for European History and convenor of the Iberian History Seminar series.

His collaborative initiatives—including international workshops on visual dissent and material culture—demonstrate commitment to building interdisciplinary research communities. Current projects examining same-sex marriage memory distortion and revising Portuguese Inquisition historiography further extend his impact across gender studies and religious history.