Graduate Student, Italian Studies
Thesis Title: Watching Italian Queer TV: Representation and Reception 1990-2010
About
I am a third year Ph.D. student at the University of Birmingham under the supervision of Dr Charlotte Ross. Within the Department of Italian Studies I am also a Teaching Assistant, e-leaning instructor and WebCT designer. Outside the University, I collaborate for the Association of the Study of Modern Italy – ASMI (www.asmi.org.uk) as their Development Officer.
Research Project
My Doctoral project investigates the way sexual nonconformity has been portrayed on Italian mainstream television (Rai, Mediaset, La7 and MTV) in the last twenty years, mainly through fiction and infotainment. Contemporaneously, it looks at how these representations have been severely affected by socio-political changes, economical trends and the very way Italian audiences perceive sexual minorities. In particular, I explore the avenues in which both traditional and niche audiences read and are challenged by televisual texts in Italy. Methodologically, my project combines media discourse analysis, qualitative research and ethnography.
Background
I completed a three year degree in Lingue nella Società dell'Informazione at the Università di Roma "Tor Vergata", which merges the study of languages with media studies and Information Technology. In 2006, I gained an MA in Italian Studies: Culture and Communication, the joint programme at the Universities of Birmingham and Warwick, where my dissertation looked at representation and reception of Italian non-heteronormative identities on the Internet.
Contact Information
http://www.italian.bham.ac.uk/postgrad/malici.shtml
