Stefania ARCARA

Stefania ARCARA is an Associate Professor of English Literature at the Department of Humanities, University of Catania, where she has been teaching since the 1999-2000 academic year. She is based in room 138 and holds office hours on Tuesdays via Teams and Fridays in person, by appointment. Her academic affiliation includes leadership in gender studies through her role as President of the Interdisciplinary Center for Gender Studies (GENUS), which she co-founded in 2014.

• University: University of Catania
• School: Department of Humanities
• Department: Department of Humanities
• Academic Rank: Associate Professor
• Email: arcara@unict.it

Stefania ARCARA's research is deeply rooted in feminist literary criticism, women's studies, and gender studies, with a focus on English literature from the 17th century to the contemporary era. Her interests span literary translation, travel literature, Victorian poetry and Pre-Raphaelitism, late Victorian Hellenism, discourses on sexuality, English suffragism, and 1970s Anglophone feminism. She has mentored numerous students on topics centered around Virginia Woolf, Aphra Behn, Judith Butler, and feminist theory, guiding theses on feminist science fiction, gender norms, and postmodern rewritings. Her teaching includes Gender Studies (LM37), Comparative English Literatures and Cultures (LM37), and English Literature from Chaucer to the Restoration (L11), previously taught at both Catania and Ragusa campuses.

She is actively engaged in academic leadership and public scholarship, notably as co-founder and co-editor of the feminist blog Manastabal, which promotes materialist feminism. She has coordinated the interdepartmental project 'GenderLab' (2013–2016) and organized public conferences such as the 'R/esistenti - GenderLab' series. Her institutional service includes membership on the Department of Humanities Board (2020–2022) and national scientific qualification for Associate Professor (2020).

• Professional Memberships: AIA, ANDA, ESSE, SIL, History and Translation Network
• Editorial Roles: International Advisory Board, INTRALINEA; Scientific Committee, lumen book series

She supervises a wide range of undergraduate and graduate theses, emphasizing methodological rigor, critical engagement with feminist theory, and original research grounded in primary texts. Her guidance includes strict protocols on academic integrity, source citation, and gender-aware language use, referencing Sabatini’s guidelines on non-sexist Italian. She requires original-language citations and discourages reliance on non-academic sources like Wikipedia.

Stefania ARCARA has built a sustained academic career centered on feminist epistemologies, institutional advocacy for gender studies, and interdisciplinary pedagogy. Her work bridges literary scholarship with social critique, fostering student engagement with radical feminist texts and contemporary gender debates.