Valentina Fusari

Valentina Fusari holds an MA in Cultural Anthropology and Ethnology (University of Siena) and a PhD in Geopolitics (University of Pisa). She is currently a Full Professor of History of Africa in the Department of Historical Studies at the University of Turin (Italy) and has been a Visiting Researcher and Visiting Professor at internationally renowned research centers, including the University of Oxford, the African Studies Centre Leiden, and the Harvard University Center for African Studies. Her research focuses on the social, labour, and demographic history of the Horn of Africa in the 19th and 20th centuries. She is currently investigating women’s productive and reproductive roles in the region, child mobility, and mixedness in the Red Sea, with a particular focus on the agency of Italo-Eritreans. She is the author of essays in edited books and articles published in leading international journals. Valentina is the principal investigator of the ERC CoG project REDMIX - Unpacking Mixedness for an Inclusive History of the Red Sea, 1800s-2000s.

Recent publications: 

Fusari, V. (2024). Survivors-at-home and the right to know: Solidarities in Eritrea in the aftermath of the Lampedusa tragedy. Journal of Eastern African Studies, 18(1), 135-154.

Fusari, V. (2023). Fear of African wombs: Birth control in colonial Eritrea (1882-1952). Afriche e Orienti, 27(2), 82-113.

Fusari, V. (2023). Scandalo al sole: La vicenda dell’Orfanotrofio De Cristoforis di Massawa (1889-1891). Ethnorema, 19, 43-72.

Fusari, V. (2022). Accounting for textile industry and labor dynamics in Eritrea (1956–1975): Adding gender to the equation. Northeast African Studies, 22(1), 91-130.

Ciabarri, L., Conte, E., & Fusari, V. (2023). Introduction: The fear of big numbers—The politics and politicisation of African demographic change. Afriche e Orienti, 27(2), 5-27.