Pia Schwarz Lausten

Primary fields of research

Primary fields of research

My two core research fields are:

Contemporary Italian Narrative

• mainly focusing on migration literature and postcolonialism for the time being but also Elena Ferrante

14th-16th Century Italian Literature

• focusing on the representations of Islam, Arabs and especially Turks in Italian Literature (historiographical, narrative, epic literature) and on the influence of Arabic narrative tradition on Early Modern Italian literature (Dante, Boccaccio)

Current research

Currently, I am finishing a book project with the working title: Image of Islam and Turks in Early Modern Italian Literature (15th-16th c.) containing analyses of works within romance epic, novelle, historiographical works, and popular poems in ottava rima.

With Jessica Ortner (SDU) and Anne Folke Henningensen (KU) I have recently (summer 2024) received funding for the research project “Revival of Traumatic Pasts: Colonization, Nazism and Fascism in Contemporary German and Italian Fiction and Memory Activism". This project is funded by a major grant from the Independent Research Fund Denmark (DFF) / Danmarks Frie Forskningsråd.

CV

Associate Professor at ENGEROM since 2010.

Previous employment history: 

1992-3 Maternity leave; 1994-6 teaching assistant; 1997-2000 phd fellow; 2001-3 external lecturer; 2003-4 Senior Researcher at the Danish Centre for Studies in the Humanities, Copenhagen); 2004-5 external lecturer 2005-7; postdoc funded by Carlsberg Foundation; 2007 Maternity leave (January-October); 2007-2010 postdoc  funded by the Danish Research Council for Culture and Communication (FKK).   

Knowledge of languages

• Dansk: modersmål
• Italiensk: flydende i skrift og tale
• Engelsk: udmærket i skrift og tale
• Fransk: læsefærdighed 
• Nordiske sprog: læsefærdighed
• Tysk: læsefærdighed

Teaching

Teaching

At BA-level I teach courses on Italian Literature from all periods 14th-21th c. as well as more thematic courses on e.g. Primo Levi, Elena Ferrante, Amara Lakhous, Leonardo Sciascia applying different theoretical approaches and concepts. I also coordinate and teach specific courses on the Italian Renaissance and on European Renaissance in relation to the Islamic world.

At MA-level I teach courses on authors and themes such as Islam in Dante and Boccaccio, Giovanni Boccaccio’s Decameron, Antonio Tabucchi’s works, Sicilian Literature, Contemporary Italian Crime Fiction (e.g. Lucarelli, Carlotto, Carofiglio, Verasani), Migration Literature and Postcolonialism (e.g. Pap Khouma, Amara Lakhous, Igiaba Scego, Laila Wadia), Elena Ferrante’s L’amica geniale.

Supervision

I supervise BA theses, MA dissertations and PhD dissertations within all aspects of Italian literature including literary theories, and broader issues within Italian culture and society.

Office hours: Monday 14:30-15:30