Dr. Paola Bonifazio

Biography

Paola Bonifazio is a prominent scholar in the field of Italian studies, focusing on the intersections of cinema and cultural studies. She received her PhD in Italian Studies from New York University in 2008 and holds an M.A. in Italian Film Studies from the University of Pittsburgh, obtained in 2003. Her research interests encompass Italian cinema, film theory, cultural studies, and gender studies. Notably, she was awarded the National Endowment Humanities/Andrew Mellon Rome Prize Fellow at the American Academy in Rome for the academic year 2011-2012. Bonifazio is the author of several influential books, including 'Schooling Modernity: Politics Sponsored Films Postwar Italy' published by the University of Toronto Press in 2014, where she investigates how short film productions endorsed by state and non-state agencies have shaped the modernization industry and guided public conduct in Italy. Her later work, 'Photoromance: Feminist Reading Popular Culture,' released by MIT Press in 2020, critiques 'convergence culture' within Italian media, particularly focusing on photoromance magazines and their narrative and business strategies. She also serves as an editor for an online open-access peer-reviewed journal that examines the intersections of gender, sexuality, and Italian culture, emphasizing the complex ways in which cultural productions influence societal norms and politics across various contexts.

Research Interests