Rachel Grasso

Rachel Grasso

First Name: 
Rachel
Last Name: 
Grasso
Title: 
Ph.D. Candidate
Office Location : 
Teefy Hall, St Michael's College
Biography : 

Rachel Grasso is a Ph.D. candidate and course instructor in the Department of Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies at the University of Toronto. She is pursuing her Ph.D. through the Joint Educational Placement program in collaboration with the Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca. Her doctoral thesis examines how second-generation Italian rappers challenge a homogenous notion of Italian identity in their music and lives. She is also a course instructor at Brock University, a teaching assistant at the University of Toronto-Mississauga, an instructor at Accademia dei Ragazzi, a co-representative for Italy in the European Hip Hop Studies Network, and an editorial assistant for the Journal of Italian Cinema & Media Studies. Rachel has published articles, film reviews, and a book review in Rassegna Italiana di Linguistica Applicata, Enciclopedia Treccani, Journal of Italian Cinema & Media Studies, Italian Studies, and Global Hip Hop Studies. Rachel co-edited the special issue "La lingua del rap italiano: parole chiave e nuove prospettive", published in Enciclopedia Treccani in 2025. 

Publication:

“Straight Outta Palermo: Race and Identity in the Work of Two Black Sicilian Rappers”, Italian Studies, 2026. 

“Sites and Sights of Postcolonial Resistance: The Social Media and Music Videos of Second-Generation Italian Rappers”, Journal of Italian Cinema and Media Studies, 2026. 

“Real v. Fake”, La lingua del rap italiano: parole chiave e nuove prospettive, Enciclopedia Treccani, 2025. 

“Second-Generation Italian Hip Hop & Italian as a Second Language: A Case Study of Black Neapolitan Rappers and Trappers for the Teaching of a Plural and Diverse Italy”, Rassegna Italiana di Linguistica Applicata, no. 1, 2024.

(2020) Cara Italia: l'Esperssione Dell'identità Multiculturale Nella Musica Rap e Trap Italiana.  

Education: 
M.A., Italian Studies, Georgetown University
B.A., International Affairs (Minor in Italian Studies), George Washington University
Personal Website: 
https://utoronto.academia.edu/RachelGrasso

People Type:

Areas of Interest: 
  • Italian Rap and Trap Music
  • Hip Hop
  • National Identity
  • Postcolonialism
  • Migration
  • Language Pedagogy

Program:

Cohort:

Dissertation Title: 
"Rapping Back": Challenging Italianità in the Rap and Trap Music of Second-Generation Italian Artists
Dissertation Supervisors: 
Alberto Zambenedetti (Supervisor)
Angelica Pesarini (Co-supervisor)
Marcello Maneri (Supervisory member, Università degli Studi di Milano - Bicocca)
Dissertation Description: 

This dissertation explores the strategies and approaches that second-generation Italian rappers utilize in their discussion of race, religion, citizenship, and language in relation to Italian identity. This doctoral degree program is under the Joint Educational Placement Agreement with the Università degli Studi di Milano - Bicocca.

Presentations: 
"Dear Italy: The Expression of Multicultural Identity in Italian Rap and Trap Music." Canadian Association for Italian Studies Conference. Panel: Linguistica e letteratura (Online), 12 June 2021.
“Cara Italia: l’espressione dell’identità multiculturale nella musica rap e trap italiana.” 2022 MLA Annual Convention. Panel: AATI - Resistance Italy: Anti-Racism, Diversity, and Social Justice through Contemporary Italian Music. January 8, 2022. Online.
Rapping back: Challenging Italianita' in the Rap and Trap Music of Second-Generation Italian Artists.” American Association of Teachers of the Italian International Conference, Presidential Panel - Graduate Research, Catania, Italy July 7, 2023.
“‘Rapping back’: sfidare l’italianità nella musica rap e trap degli artisti italiani di seconda generazione”, Hip hop: la scena italiana. Cinema, moda, musica, e artivismo, Turin, Italy, December 2 – 3, 2024.
“The Representation of the Italian Mafia in Italian, American, and Canadian Rap and Trap Music”, International Perspectives on the Italian Mafia: Stories, Languages, and Media Narratives Symposium, University of Toronto, Online, March 21, 2025.
“‘Cuscí è qua che sono nato’. Lingue romanze e dialetti italoromanzi nella musica rap e trap degli artisti italiani di seconda generazione”, Congresso internazionale di linguistica e di filologia romanza, Société de Linguistique Romane, Lecce, Italy, June
“Real vs. Fake: Dibattiti sull'autenticità nel rap italiano”, Canadian Association of Italian Studies Conference, Online, June 6 – 7, 2025.
Administrative Service: 
President, Graduate Students' Association of Italian Studies (GSAIS), 2021-2023

Campus:

Meta Description: 
Profile of Rachel Grasso, a Ph.D. Student at the Department of Italian Studies, University of Toronto.