Federica Parodi

Federica’s research delves into the connection between subjectivity and space during the tumultuous 1960s and 70s in Italy, examining it through the prism of performance. Her dissertation, tentatively titled “A Space Within: 1968, Selfhood, and the Politics of Performance,” concentrates on cultural artifacts and their interplay with physical spaces where the evolution of new subjectivities unfolds. Streets, squares, occupied classrooms, prisons, and working-class neighborhoods serve as not only gathering spots for protesters but also as arenas where political activism imagines cultivating fresh forms of consciousness.
Given Italy’s close ties with numerous European and global counterparts experiencing similar upheavals, Federica’s work aims to underscore the importance of transnational inquiry into challenging established authority and reshaping societal structures. Her research intertwines politics, theory, and aesthetics, highlighting the interconnectedness between Italy, Europe, and the wider world.

She is the co-founder and an active member of the Yale Diversity and Italian Studies Working Group (https://italian.yale.edu/diversity/diversity-italian-studies). The group’s main goal is to showcase scholarship in Italian Studies that challenges the notion of Italy as a homogeneous nation and cultural entity, and to reflect on the the Italian Studies curriucla by examining the topics we research, our methodologies, and our teaching approaches.