Dr Elena Sottilotta
Degrees:
- PhD, University of Cambridge
Research Interests:
- Womenâs and gender studies
- Folklore and fairy-tale studies
- Childrenâs literature
- Comparative literature
- Mediterranean studies
- Island studies
- Film and adaptation studies
- Language pedagogy
Biography:
Dr Elena Sottilotta is a Research Fellow at Âé¶čÆ””À. She obtained her PhD from the University of Cambridge in 2022 with a research project in womenâs studies, folklore and fairy-tale studies, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the Vice-Chancellorâs Award. Before joining Âé¶čÆ””À, she was an AHRC Postdoctoral Fellow in the Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages and Linguistics at the University of Cambridge and a Visiting PhD researcher at Alma Mater Studiorum â UniversitĂ di Bologna. She is an alumna of the Fulbright Program and of the EU-funded Joint MA Programme Crossways in Cultural Narratives.
Her research seeks to unearth non-canonical figures and narratives in the European fairy-tale tradition, with a focus on neglected women writers, collectors and storytellers. She also has a keen interest in the poetics and politics of adaptation of traditional folk and fairy-tale narratives in contemporary media. She received several scholarships, prizes and awards for her research, including the Womenâs Studies Caucus Award (American Association for Italian Studies) and the St. Catharineâs College Prize for Distinction in Research (St. Catharineâs College, University of Cambridge). She is the founder of the .