Mara Josi

Mara Josi is an Assistant Professor in the School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics at University College Dublin, specializing in Italian 20th and 21st-century literature and culture. She holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge and has held postdoctoral fellowships at UCD and Ghent University, as well as a lecturing position at the University of Manchester.

Her educational background includes:

• BA in Comparative Literature, University of Turin
• MA in Comparative Literature, University of Turin
• PhD in Italian Studies, University of Cambridge

Mara Josi’s research centers on the intersections of literature, history, and memory, with a focus on Holocaust studies, cultural memory, trauma theory, and women’s writing. Her work explores how literature functions as a medium of memory, particularly in representing the Nazi occupation of Italy and Jewish resistance. She investigates commemorative landscapes, both physical and medial, and emphasizes the role of women in resistance movements and Holocaust narratives.

Her recent publications reflect a strong trend in interdisciplinary Holocaust scholarship, combining literary analysis with historical, gender, and cultural studies. She examines texts like Elsa Morante’s La Storia and Maurizio Molinari’s Duello nel ghetto, analyzing how sensory perception, prosthetic memory, and narrative strategies shape collective remembrance. Her research also delves into adaptation theory and the representation of neutral spaces during wartime.

Mara Josi was awarded the Premio Internazionale Ennio Flaiano di Italianistica in 2024 for her book Rome, 16 October 1943. History, Memory, Literature. Her research has been supported by grants such as The Literature of Hiding: A New Category of Holocaust-related Literary Production.

She actively contributes to academic mentorship and teaching, coordinating modules such as Contemporary Italian Texts, Italian Language III, and Italian Short Stories. Her teaching spans Italian literature, culture, and history from the 19th to the 21st century, including classical authors like Dante and Machiavelli. She is also a Teaching Associate of the Higher Education Academy (HEA) from the University of Cambridge.

Mara Josi is involved in major editorial projects, including co-editing the special issue Fifty Years of La Storia: Elsa Morante Beyond History, and regularly contributes to scholarly discourse through journal articles and book chapters.