Valentina Parisi

Valentina Parisi is a Researcher (SLAV-01/A) in the Department of Humanities - Languages, Mediation, History, Arts, Philosophy at the University of Macerata. She previously held research positions at the University of Pavia (2019-2022) and has taught Russian literature at the Civica Scuola Interpreti e Traduttori in Milan (2009-2019). She is also a visiting professor of Contemporary Art History at the Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti in Milan (NABA), focusing on Eastern European countries, and has taught at several other Italian universities including Pisa and Macerata.

Parisi graduated cum laude in Russian language and literature from the University of Milan in 2000 and received her PhD from the same university in 2005. Her doctoral research led to her book Il lettore eccedente. Edizioni periodiche del samizdat Sovietica 1956-1990 (Bologna, Il Mulino, 2013), developed through archival research in Bremen, Moscow, and St. Petersburg supported by a scholarship from the University of Milan (2005-2007) and a postdoctoral fellowship from the Italian Institute of Human Sciences (2009-2011).

Her research focuses on Soviet underground literature (samizdat), Russian dissident culture, and the intersection of literature and visual arts in the Soviet and post-Soviet context. She has made significant contributions to understanding the networks, infrastructures, and transnational dimensions of Soviet underground culture. Her work bridges literary studies, cultural history, and art history, with particular attention to how texts circulated outside official channels and how dissident voices found expression despite censorship. She has also explored themes of Jewish identity, migration, and multiculturalism in contemporary Eastern European literature.

Analysis of her recent publications reveals a consistent focus on samizdat and underground cultural production, with increasing attention to transnational dimensions and contemporary manifestations of dissident culture. Her work demonstrates interdisciplinary breadth, connecting literary analysis with art history, gender studies, and migration studies while maintaining a strong foundation in Slavic philology and textual scholarship.

• Russia-Italy. Through the Centuries Award for best debut translation
• Shortlisted for the 2017 Gorky Prize
• Marie-Curie Award as part of EU-IAS-FP
• EURIAS Fellowship at Central European University in Budapest (2012-2013)
• Paul-Celan Fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna (2022-2023)

Parisi has received significant research funding including a two-year postdoctoral fellowship from the Italian Institute of Human Sciences, a Marie-Curie Award through the EU-IAS-FP program, and has been a visiting researcher at numerous prestigious institutions including the Garage Archive Museum of Contemporary Art in Moscow. She serves on the International Editorial Board of the Immigrant Worlds & Texts series and is a member of the International Scientific Committee for the research project "Free Voices in the USSR" at the University of Pisa. While her primary focus has been on research rather than formal student supervision, she has mentored numerous students through her teaching positions at multiple institutions.

Her editorial work connects her to broader scholarly networks, particularly through her involvement with the "Free Voices in the USSR" research project and her contributions to academic journals. Her translations and cultural journalism (including regular contributions to Il Manifesto since 2007) extend her scholarly impact beyond academia into public discourse about Russian and Eastern European culture.