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Professor Federico Faloppa

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 I will be on research leave for Semester 1 of 2024-2025
REF Impact Lead for Modern Languages and Linguistics
Academic co-coordinator of the University of Sanctuary initiative

Office

Miller 125

Building location

Miller building

Areas of interest

My main areas of interest are focused on:

  • history of the Italian language
  • sociolinguistics
  • discourse analysis
  • intercultural communication
  • language policy
  • migration and refugee studies
  • intellectual networks
  • migrant writings
  • Italian contemporary literature.

Research interests

My research interests include:

  • linguistic construction and representation of otherness
  • language and power
  • language policies
  • language and migration
  • migrant writings
  • intercultural communication
  • miscommunication in multilingual contexts
  • migration, healthcare and language.

Postgraduate supervision

I supervise postgraduate study in Italian linguistics, media and migration, discourse analysis, and migrant writings. For my expertise, I have also been appointed PhD external examiner at Birmingham, Leeds, Cardiff and Sheffield.

Current supervisions:

  • Marina Kracht (PhD in Comparative and Intercultural Studies): Cross cultural response to the Coronavirus pandemic and its impact on the North- South divide of Europe in the case of Germany, France and Spain. 
  • Azizah Abdullah Al Thenyan Althunayyan (PhD in Comparative and Intercultural Studies):  Investigation into Effectiveness of UK-based Migration and language Policies in Promoting the Linguistic and Social Inclusion of Syrian Refugee. 
  • Surya Devkota (PhD in Comparative and Intercultural Studies): Cultural Transformation of Nepalese Diaspora in the UK and Impact of Cultural Remittance to the Ethnic Minority at Home

Completed supervisions:

  • Giulia Bassi: Il concetto di ‘popolo’ tra storia politica e semantica storica nel partito comunista italiano(2016).
  • Michael McDermott : A Tradition in the Making: An Examination of the 1861 Romanesco Translation of the Gospel of St. Matthew by Giuseppe Caterbi (2017).

Research projects

My research has focused on the study of ethnic stereotypes, the linguistic construction of otherness, the relationship between language and power, multilingualism in migratory settings, and hate speech. I have published several monographs, articles, surveys and reports, and has combined teaching and research activities with dissemination and public engagement by collaborating with institutions and non-governmental organizations in Italy and across Europe. 

My monographs Parole contro. La costruzione del diverso in italiano e nei dialetti (2004), Razzisti a parole (per tacer dei fatti) (2011), Sbiancare un etiope. La costruzione di un immaginario razzista (2013; new revised edition 2022) and #Odio. Manuale di resistenza alla violenza delle parole (2020) have received wide media coverage and have been adopted as reference books in several Italian universities. I have also co-edited Destination Italy. Representing migration in contemporary media and narratives (2015) and Myths and Facts about Multilingualism (2024), and am currently working on two monographs, respectively on ecolinguistics and language and power, which will be published respectively by Einaudi and Bollati Boringhieri in 2025 and 2026. 

I have been the recipient of several research grants as both PI and Co-I for studying hate speech and multilingualism in refugee and migrant contexts for projects fynded by the Council of Europe, the Greek Ministry of Education, UKRI-GCRF Strategic Fund, Erasmus Plus KA2 strategic partnership for adult education, Horizon 2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Networks, ESRC-GCRF Networks Competition.

Academic qualifications

  • Laurea (BA) in Letters and Philosophy (Turin, 1997)
  • PhD in Italian (University of London, 2008)

Professional bodies/affiliations

I currently coordinate the Italian national network for combating hate speech and phenomena (www.retecontrolodio.org), of which I was one of the founders, and I hold a consultancy position with the Council of Europe. 

I was a member of the scientific board of Amnesty Italy from 2018 to 2022, and I has recently collaborated – as an appointed member of the Knowledge Committee – with the European Commission for the Citizens’ panel on hatred in Society. I am a member of the boards of directors of the global NGO Cospe in recognition for my work on tackling discriminations and decolonising discourse and language in Italy and beyond.

I have also been a visiting professor at the Universities of Turin, Catania, Palermo, and Università Cattolica di Milano.

Selected publications

I am the author of four monographs:

  • Lavare un etiope. La pelle cangiante di un topos antico, Rome: Aracne (300 pages).
  • Razzisti a parole (per tacer dei fatti), Rome: Laterza, 2011 (144 pages).
  • Parole contro. La rappresentazione del diverso nell’italiano e nei dialetti, Milan: Garzanti, 2004 (252 pages).
  • Lessico e alterità: la formulazione del diverso, Alessandria: Edizioni dell’Orso, 2000 (168 pages).

Publications

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