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GIANNA ALBAUM
About
I teach Italian at Smith College, where I specialize in the intersections of literature, film, and medicine in modern Italy. My research explores intoxication, addiction, and altered states in Italian literature and cinema.
My current book project, Bad Medicine: Drugs and Literature in Modern Italy, examines Italy’s drug literature tradition and its global connections.
My publications have appeared or are forthcoming in California Italian Studies, The Italianist, Italian Quarterly, Italica, and the Journal of Modern Italy, exploring addiction, contagion, and medicine in literary and scientific narratives, with a focus on late 19th and early 20th c. authors such as Annie Vivanti, Pitigrilli, Ippolito Nievo, and Paolo Mantegazza.
I teach courses in Italian and World Literature, including Italian Narcofictions, Banned! Art and Censorship, Black Italia, and Made in Italy. This year, I am also teaching a first-year seminar on travel writing.
My research and teaching has been supported by numerous fellowships and grants, including a Fulbright Award. In 2024, I received a Kahn Fellowship to explore new approaches to teaching college writing in the age of generative AI.
Beyond the classroom, I run an annual summer book club for Italian students and serve as faculty advisor for several student groups on campus, including The Pink Flamingos, a student group dedicated to free expression and censorship studies.
Education
Ph.D, Italian Studies, New York University (2021)M.A., Italian Studies, New York University (2017)BA, Italian and Comparative Literature, UC Berkeley (2014)Education
Areas of Focus
Areas of Focus
- modern Italy
- comparative literature
- science and technology studies
- history of medicine
- biopolitics
- the Global South
Links
Links
- Academia.edu
- RateMyProfessors (Smith, NYU)
Selected Publications
Selected Publications
- “An Italian Drug Novel? Pitigrilli’s Cocaina and the Drama of Addiction.” The Italianist (forthcoming)
- “Ippolito Nievo's Poisonous Pen.” Journal of Modern Italian Studies. 30 Jan 2025.
- “AI’s Future in the Past: Dino Buzzati’s The Singularity, Translated from Italian by Anne Milano Appel.” Reading in Translation. Published June 4, 2024.
- "In Defense of Moral Contagion: Annie Vivanti's Naja Tripudians and the 1918 Influenza Pandemic," California Italian Studies 11, no. 1: 1-16.
- "Mantegazza's Coca Dreams." Italian Quarterly 56 (2020): 1-23.
Digital Projects
Digital Projects
- "NYU Black Italia: Resource Hub & Guide to Black Italy"
Collaborative project with the students of my Black Italia course (New York University, Spring 2021). - "Ferrante+"
When students from my Ferrante seminar enlisted me to run a summer book group on Italian women writers, with a focus on queer and BIPOC authors, I created this site to guide and support our discussions. - "Beyond Italian*: Inclusive Language Teaching in the Italian Classroom"
This companion site for my language courses is a long-term ongoing project that I am continually updating with resources and reflections on inclusive teaching practices in the Italian classroom, including but not limited to Italian*, dialect, and BLM in Italy.
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