CV
ACADEMIC POSITIONS
05.2022 - 04.2024 | Postdoctoral Researcher: Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF).
05.2023 - 04.2024 | Visiting Scholar: Centre d’Histoire de Sciences Po, Paris.
05.2022 - 04.2023 | Visiting Scholar: Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society, Munich.
10.2021 - 01.2022 | Project Assistant: Antoine Acker (PI), “AnthropoSouth: Latin American Oil-Based Futures in the Development Century. (1920-1975)”. Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) Eccellenza Research Project.
09.2021 - 10.2021 | Research Assistant: Corinna Unger, Amalia Ribi Forclaz (PIs), “Pesticides: Toward an International History”. Collaborative Research Project European University Institute – Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies.
09.2018 - 09.2021 | Teaching Assistant: International History Department, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (IHEID).
EDUCATION
2016 - 2021 | PhD in International History and Politics, Geneva Graduate Institute, summa cum laude avec félicitations du jury. PhD Thesis Committee: Amalia Ribi Forclaz, Davide Rodogno, Corinna Unger.
2014 - 2016 | Diploma di Allievo del corso ordinario, Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa. Faculty of Arts, History Department.
2014 - 2016 | M.A. in History, University of Pisa, summa cum laude.
2011 - 2014 | B.A. in History, University of Pisa, summa cum laude.
PUBLICATIONS
Peer-reviewed Journal Articles
“The Fascist Green Revolution”, Plants, People, Planet, Special Issue: “The history of crop science and the future of food”, ed. Helen Anne Curry and Ryan Nehring. (Early View, 2023). https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp3.10386
“How to Feed an Empire? Agrarian Science, Indigenous Farming, and Wheat Autarky in Italian-occupied Ethiopia (1937-1941), Agricultural History, v. 96, no. 3 (2022): 379-416. https://doi.org/10.1215/00021482-9825310
“Microcosms of Colonial Development: Italian and Ethiopian Farmers at the Crossroads of Fascist Empire Building (1937-1941)”, Contemporanea, v. 24, no. 1 (2021): 79-101. DOI: 10.1409/100257
Book Chapters
[Forthcoming] “Modernization Adjusted: Conceptualising Agrarian Development in Ethiopia from Fascist Colonialism to International Aid (1930s-1950s)”, in Juan Pan-Montojo, Miguel Cabo, Lourenzo Fernández Prieto (eds), The Promised Land? Rural Modernisation And The Green Revolution In The 20th And 21st Centuries (Boydell & Brewer).
Book Reviews
[Forthcoming] Marci Baranski, The Globalization of Wheat A Critical History of the Green Revolution (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2022). “Environmental History”.
[Forthcoming] Natalie Koch, Arid Empire: The Entangled Fates of Arizona and Arabia (Verso Books, 2022), “Political Geography”.
Felicitas Becker, The Politics of Poverty: Policy-Making and Development in Rural Tanzania, (Cambridge-New York: Cambridge University Press, 2019). Connections. A Journal for Historians and Area Specialists, 20/10/2020. URL: <www.connections.clio-online.net/publicationreview/id/reb-29564>.
PRIZES, AWARDS, AND FELLOWSHIPS
2023 | Vernon Carstensen Memorial Award for the best article in “Agricultural History” published in 2022, awarded by the Agricultural History Society. Prize: 250 USD.
2022 | Gilbert C. Fite Dissertation Award for the best PhD Dissertation on Agricultural History, awarded by the Agricultural History Society. Prize: 250 USD.
2022 | Pierre du Bois Dissertation Prize, awarded by the Pierre Du Bois Foundation and the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva. Prize: 3000 CHF.
2022 - 2024 | SNSF Postdoc.Mobility Fellowship. Grant: 111’900 CHF.
2021 | Collaborative Research Project European University Institute (EUI) – Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (IHEID): Roberta Biasillo, Michele Sollai, Grounding Multilateralism in Colonial Environments: the 1939 Congress of Tripoli. Grant: 6000 EUR.
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
2020 - 2021 | Teaching Assistant, International History and Politics Department, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva.
Course list:
o Histories Beyond Nation, by Gopalan Balachandran
o History and Development, by Amalia Ribi Forclaz
o Doctoral Seminar II, by Nicole Bourbonnais and Cyrus Schayegh
o Histories of Truth, Facts and Uncertainty, by Aidan Russell
o Evolution of the International System, by Gopalan Balachandran
2019 - 2020 | Teaching Assistant, International History and Politics Department, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva.
Course list:
o Humanitarians and Human Trafficking. The Global History of Slavery and Abolition, 1800-present, by Amalia Ribi Forclaz
o Approaches to Global History, by Michael Goebel
o International Organisations and Global Narratives, by Annabelle Littoz-Monnet and Amalia Ribi Forclaz
o Doctoral Seminar II, by Jussi Hanhimaki and Amalia Ribi Forclaz
o Nationalism. A Global Career, by Michel Goebel
2018 - 2019 | Teaching Assistant, International History and Politics Department, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva.
Course list:
o Global Cities in History, by Michael Goebel
o Doctoral Seminar I, by Jussi Hanhimaki and Amalia Ribi Forclaz
o Decolonization: A History, by Cyrus Schayegh
o Evolution of the International System, by Gopalan Balachandran
o History and Development, by Amalia Ribi Forclaz
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
02.2019 - 05.2019| International Labour Organization (ILO) External Collaborator – Preparation of the background paper for the ILO Conference “World Employment Programme: Past, Present and Future”. Referent: Gerry Rodgers (gerry.rodgers@bluewin.ch)
07.2017 - 09.2017 | International Labour Organization (ILO) External Collaborator – Consultancy for the ILO Century Project (writing of a research paper on the World Employment Programme, 1969-1976 for Daniel Maul’s book The International Labour Organization. 100 Years of Global Social Policy). Referent: Dorothea Hoehtker (hoehtker@ilo.org)
LANGUAGES
§ Italian (native)
§ English, French (fluent in academic writing and speaking)
§ Spanish, Portuguese (fluent comprehension)
MANUSCRIPT REVIEWING FOR ACADEMIC JOURNALS AND PUBLISHERS
Business History Review
CONFERENCES, WORKSHOPS, AND PRESENTATIONS
Conferences and workshops organized
Co-organizer: “Green Revolution(s): Contested Paths of Agrarian Modernization in the 20th Century”, Research Workshop, Laboratory for the History of Science and Technology, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, 19 January 2023.
Co-organizer: “Grounding Multilateralism in Colonial Environments: The 1939 International Congress of Tripoli”, Research Workshop, European University Institute, Florence, 15 December 2021.
Co-organizer: “Modernizing Landscapes: New Histories of Development and the Environment between Europe and the World”, Pierre du Bois Doctoral Workshop, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva, 22 October 2021.
Conference panels organized
“Triumph over Climate: Global Scientific Networks and the Development of Arid and Semi-Arid Regions”, European Society for Environmental History Conference, Bern, 22-26 August 2023 (accepted).
“Seed Networks in the Long Green Revolution”, Agricultural History Society Annual Meeting, Knoxville, Tennessee, 8-10 June 2023.
“Triumph over Climate: Global Scientific Networks and the Development of Arid and Semi-Arid Regions”, American Society for Environmental History Conference, Boston, 22-25 March 2023.
“Agrarian Development From Planning to Practice”, Agricultural History Society Annual Meeting, On-line, 1-5 June 2021.
Chaired panels
“Science, the State, and Land Use Change in Latin America and the Global South”, panel chair and commentator, Agricultural History Conference, Knoxville, Tennessee, 8-10 June 2023.
Invited speaker at conferences, roundtables, workshops, and seminars
“The Green Revolution: A Global Perspective on its 80th Anniversary”, On-line Inter-Institutional Seminar, El Colegio Mexiquense, A. C., Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 16 May 2023.
“Imperial Foundations: Colonial Science, Technology, and Social Order”, History and Development Seminar, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva, 9 March 2023.
“The Fascist Green Revolution”, Rachel Carson Center Research Forum, Munich, 8 February 2023.
“Land and Imperial Space-Time: Arid Empire Book Launch & Workshop”, Heidelberg Center for American Studies, 2-3 February 2023.
“The Anti-Plantation: The ‘Cotton Districts’ Development Model in Italian-occupied Ethiopia and Beyond (1937-1957)”, International Winter School: Global LabourScapes: Labour in Africa: Historical and Social Dynamics, University of Pavia, 16-17 December 2021.
“Connected Histories of Agrarian Development and Rural Reconstruction in the Ethiopian Highlands (1930-1950s)”, Research Workshop: “Imaginaries of Development in the Highlands: The constitution of mountain areas as spaces for international development since 1945”, University of Bern, 27-28 February 2020.
“Uno ‘sviluppo dal volto umano’. L’Organizzazione Internazionale del Lavoro e la creazione del Programma Mondiale per l’Impiego (1969-1976)”, Conference: “Dal Governo del Lavoro al Governo della Società: Cent’anni di Organizzazione Internazionale del Lavoro”, Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa, 24-25 February 2020.
“Modernization Adjusted. Italian Agrarian Expertise and Ethiopian Farmers at the Crossroads of Empire Building (1937-1944)”, Pierre du Bois Annual Conference, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva, 3-4 October 2019.
“Humanizing Development. The ILO and the Making of the World Employment Programme (1969-1976)”, Conference: Justice Sociale et Travail Décent : 100 Ans d’Action de l’OIT’, Ministère des Solidarités et de la Santé, Paris, 26-28 June 2019.
Papers in conferences and workshops
“Scienze Agrarie, Clima, e lo Sviluppo del Mezzogiorno come Spazio Trans-Imperiale (c. 1890-1940)”, Cantieri di Storia, Società Italiana per lo Studio della Storia Contemporanea, 13-15 September 2023 (accepted).
“Where Europe Ends, Where Africa Begins: Global Dryland Science and the Making of Italy’s Mezzogiorno as an Agro-Ecological Frontier, 1890s-1940s”, European Society for Environmental History Conference, Bern, 22-26 August 2023 (accepted).
“Follow the Seeds: The Global Travels of a Wheat Cultivar from Fascist Modernization to the Green Revolution”, Agricultural History Conference, Knoxville, Tennessee, 8-10 June 2023 (accepted).
“Where Europe Ends, Where Africa Begins: Climate, Agriculture, and Trans-Imperial Dryland Science in the Italian South (1890s-1940s)”, American Society for Environmental History Conference, Boston, 22-25 March 2023.
“The Fascist Green Revolution”, “Green Revolution(s): Contested Paths of Agrarian Modernization in the 20th Century”, Research Workshop, Laboratory for the History of Science and Technology, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, 19 January 2023.
“Where Europe Ends, Where Africa Begins: Trans-Imperial Scientific Networks and the Development of Italy’s Mezzogiorno as an Agro-Ecological Frontier, 1890s-1940s”, ECR & Doctoral Research Conference: Valuing Empires in the 19th and 20th Century, Centre d’Histoire de Sciences Po, 9-10 November 2022.
“UNRRA, FAO, and US Point Four Rural Development in Early Post-War Ethiopia: Plans, Practices, and Colonial Legacies”, European Rural History Organization, 5th biennial Conference, Uppsala, 20-23 June 2022.
“The Scientific Conquest of the Empire: Agrarian Experts and the Discovery of the ‘Local’ in Italian-occupied Ethiopia”, Pierre du Bois Doctoral Workshop: “Modernizing Landscapes: New Histories of Development and the Environment between Europe and the World”, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva, 22 October 2021.
“How to Feed an Empire? Agrarian Science, Indigenous Farming, and Wheat Autarky in Italian-occupied Ethiopia (1937-1941)”, Agricultural History Society Annual Meeting, On-line, 1-5 June 2021.
“Microcosms of colonial development Italian and Ethiopian farmers at the crossroads of fascist empire building (1937-1941)”, Oxford Transnational and Global History Seminar, On-line, 2 March 2021.
“From an Imperial to a Transnational Seed Network: The Quest for Wheat Autarky in Ethiopia from the Italian Occupation to Post-War International Development (1930s-1950s)”, Workshop organized by Queen’s University at Kingston, Ontario, Canada: Global Histories of Colonialism, On-line, 5-6 November 2020.
“Microcosms of colonial development. Italian and Ethiopian farmers at the crossroads of fascist empire building (1937-1941)”, African Studies Association Annual Meeting, Boston, 21-23 November 2019.
“How to Feed an Empire? Agrarian Science, Indigenous Farming and the Development of Wheat Technology in Italian-occupied Ethiopia (1938-1941)”, Society for the History of Technology, Annual Meeting, Museo della Scienza, Milan, 24-27 October 2019.
“Lessons from the Imperial Highlands. Italian Agrarian Expertise and the ‘Battles for Grain’ in Ethiopia (1938-1941)”, European Rural History Organization, 4th biennial Conference, Paris, 10-13 September 2019.
“Colonial Encounters in the Countryside. Italian and Ethiopian Farmers at the Crossroads of Empire Building (1937-1944)”, Workshop: Citizens and Subjects in the Italian Colonies: Legal Constructions and Social Practices (1882-1943), Università di Napoli Federico II, 20-21 June 2019.
"Tractors, Hybrid Seeds and Loaded Guns: Agrarian Transformation and ‘Entrenched Development’ in Fascist-occupied Ethiopia (1938-1941)”, Swiss Congress of Historical Sciences, University of Zurich, 5-7 June 2019.
“Colonial Planning, War Economy and Post-war Reconstruction in Rural Ethiopia (1936-1947)”, Conference: Africa and World War II, Queen Mary University of London, School of History, 18 January 2019.
“The Thin Green Line. Colonial Planning, War Economy and the Origins of Rural Development in Ethiopia (1938-1946)”, African Economic History Network Conference, University of Bologna, 12-13 October 2018.