Campus
- Downtown Toronto (St. George)
Areas of Interest
- Diaspoatic literature
- Immigrant writing
- Italian-Canadian literature
- Memoir, diary, and autobiographical writing
- Memory studies
- Cultural identity
- Exile theory
- Writing as therapy
- Social history
Working Dissertation
Title
Supervisors
Description
Katharina's thesis is a thematic analysis of autobiographical and semi-autobiographical writing, memoir, and fiction of Italian-Canadian writers within the frame of memory. The thesis uses memory theory to identify the ways that memory operates in the writing of immigrant authors from the Julian-Dalmatian diaspora, showing that both the literature produced and the act of writing itself provide a vehicle for healing and homecoming for authors and readers alike.
Biography
Katharina was born in Sydney, Australia and completed her undergraduate degree at the Australian National University in 2001, specialising in English literature and Italian language before completing graduate qualifications in professional writing and editing. She worked in public, private, and non-profit sectors in Australia and the UK as an editor, communications coordinator, digital project manager, and writer before coming to Canada to complete her MA in Italian Studies in 2015. She is currently a PhD Candidate in the Department of Italian Studies at the University of Toronto. Her thesis examines the theme of memory in the writing of Italian-Canadian immigrant writers who identify as part of the Julian-Dalmatian diaspora. Katharina has also been teaching undergraduate Italian language (ITA100) for six years. Katharina’s research interests include autobiographical/memoir/diary writing, immigrant and diasporic literature, self-translation, memory studies, cultural identity, exile theory, and social history.
Collaborative Program:
Book History and Print Culture (BHPC)
Education
Cohort
- 2017-2018