Emma Grootveld is a University Lecturer at the Leiden University Centre for the Arts in Society.

More information about Emma Grootveld

As an assistant professor of Italian language and culture at Leiden University, I employ my text analysis skills to examine the societal significance and functioning of Early Modern Italian literature. Over the past years, I have also developed a particular interest in Ecocriticism and Translation Studies.

Research

My work focuses primarily on rhetorical, pragmatic and ethical aspects of Italian Renaissance poetry. I obtained a PhD from KU Leuven (Belgium) with a doctoral project on imperialist discursivity in Italian poems about Habsburg wars of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

While departing from, but not limited to, this historical period, I am also interested in understanding the role and functions of non-human agency in Italian literature (e.g., the non-human world in epic poetry and cinegetic literature).

My research topics often have a transmedial or adaptational component (e.g., Sweelinck’s Italian madrigals; literary and audiovisual representations of migration in the Mediterranean area) or an interdisciplinary focus (e.g., a translation of Luca Pacioli’s mathematical treatise "De divina proportione"). Other topics of interest to me are: medievalisms, cultural memory, Dante, lyrical poetry of the sixteenth century, discourse analysis.

Teaching activities and supervision

At Leiden University, I primarily teach courses on Italian literature from 1200 to 1800. In addition to BA-courses on Medieval and Renaissance literature and history, I offer a third-year module on literary translation (Italian to Dutch) and adaptation theory, as well as an MA module on ecocriticism. I am also part of the ResMA Epic Course team. I supervise BA and MA theses in these disciplines.

CV

2018-Present: Assistant Professor, LUCAS, Leiden University.

Commitments: teaching; research; membership Board of Examiners Fr-Ger-It; membership Program Committee MA Literary Studies; coordination Minor Medieval and Early Modern Studies; coordination LUCAS Graduate Journal; coordination Pre-University College & Classes.

I also teach Italian and Business communication in Italian at UGent (VTC) and am a member of the editorial board of the journal "Incontri. Rivista europea di studi italiani".

2018 (April-June): Research Assistant, KU Leuven (Faculty of Architecture). Project: Study and Dutch translation of Luca Pacioli’s treatise "De divina proportione".

2013-2017: PhD-candidate, KU Leuven; Fellow Flanders Research Foundation. Project: Autorità e 'auctoritas'. Un approccio discorsivo al dinamismo politico-letterario dei poemi eroici italiani sulle guerre asburgiche in Europa (1530-1630).

2012-2013: Research Assistant, KU Leuven (Department of History). Project: “News on the Low Countries. Italian avvisi, reflections en histories about the Eighty Years’ War (1560-1640)”.

Education: BA Italian language and Culture (Leiden University), BA French language and literature (KU Leuven), MA Language and Culture, Teacher's training (SLO; KU Leuven), PhD Literary Studies (KU Leuven).

Grants and awards

2013-2017: FWO PhD Fellowship fundamental research.

Since appointment in 2018: LUCDH Small Grant (2019).

Publications