Dr Federica Frabetti

Senior Lecturer in Communication, Media and Culture

Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

Research activities

Details of my research

Academic and Research Interests

Media Theory, Cultural Theory, Cultural Studies, New Media/New Technologies, Gender and Queer Studies

Teaching Responsibilities


U75123 Communication, Culture and Organisations
U75125 Researching Communication
U75141 Writing Technologies


Recent Conference Papers

  • ‘The Legend of Mariner I. For an Analysis of the Impossible Linearization of Code’, presented at the Critical Code Studies Conference, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, 23.07.2010.
  • ‘Have the Humanities Always Been Digital?: For an Understanding of the “Digital Humanities” in the Context of “Originary Technicity”’, presented at ‘The Computational  Turn’ Conference, Swansea University, 09.03.2010.
  • ‘Calculating the Unforeseeable. The Concept of “Software System” in the Cold War Years’, presented at the International Conference ‘Thinking and Making Connections. Cybernetic Heritage in the Social and Human Sciences and Beyond’, Södertörn University College and The Nobel Museum, Stockholm, 10-11.11.2008.
  • ‘Technology Made Legible. A Cultural Study of Software as Writing in the Theories and Practices of Software Engineering’, presented at the International Conference ‘Re-Mediating Literature’, Department of Literary Studies, University of Utrecht, The Netherlands, 04-06.07.2007.
  • ‘Manifesto for the Future of Feminist Technoscience’, presented at the ‘Future of Feminist Technoscience’ Seminar Series, University of Surrey, 06.02.2004.
  • ‘Material Metaphors and Perfomativity in Software Design’, presented at the Mastercalss ‘Computing the Human’ with Prof. Katherine Hayles (UCLA), organized by Prof. Rosi Braidotti, at The Netherlands Research School of Women’s Studies (NOV), Utrecht (The Netherlands), 11-12.11.2003.

 

Invited Lectures and Talks

        

  • Invited talk ‘Spettri del queer. La queer theory tra performatività e disorientamento’ (‘Spectres of Queer. Queer Theory between Performativity and Disorientation’), presented at the Conference ‘Incontrar/si: etica, politica  e poetica dell’incontro’, Prato, 1-4.05.2008.
  • Invited speaker (alongside Prof. Judith Halberstam, University of Southern California) at the two talks ‘In a Queer Time and Place. Incontro con Judith Halberstam’ (‘In A Queer Time and Place. Meeting Judith Halberstam’), at the Casa Internazionale delle Donne, Roma, Italy, 17.05.2006, and at Il Cassero, Bologna, Italy, 18.05.2006.
  • Invited talk ‘Writing the Printed Circuit: Language and Materiality in Information Technology’ at the ‘convergence emergence divergence’ Seminar Series, University of East London, 10.05.2004.
  • Invited talk ‘Queering technology/Globalizing Queer’ at the Conference ‘Soggettiva. Politica e soggettivitá in immagini, performance, dialoghi’, Bologna, 26-29.06.2003.
  • Invited talk ‘QueerCyborg_Meets_RobotFetish. Nuovi temi di studio contra-sessuale’ (‘QueerCyborg_Meets_RobotFetish. New Topics for the Study of Contra-Sexuality’; in Italian), at the conference ‘Il Manifesto Contra-Sessuale di Beatriz Preciado nella scena GLTQ: performance e politiche di fine secolo’, 1st Annual Conference of the Centre for Queer Studies, Firenze, 06-08.12.2002.

 

Publications

 

Edited Books and Translations


(2010) Leggere Halberstam (A Judith Halberstam Reader) edited and translated collection of essays, Florence, Italy: ETS.

 

Articles and Chapters in books


(Forthcoming) ‘Technology Made Legible. A Cultural Study of Software as Writing in the Theories and Practices of Software Engineering’, in Kiene Animated Writing: Literature, Film, Digitality (under review with Fordham University Press).

 
(2010) ‘Performatività del Canone’ (‘The Performativity of the Canon’; in Italian) in Ornella De Zordo e Fiorenzo Fantaccini (eds) Il Canone e le sue revisioni (The Canon and its Revisions), Firenze: University Press CUEC.

 
(2009) ‘Decostruire Sedgwick. Affetti, tecnologia, performatività’ (‘Deconstructing Sedgwick. Affects, Technology, Performativity’; in Italian) in Liana Borghi and Clotilde Barabarulli (eds) Il sorriso dello Stregatto. Figurazioni di genere e intercultura (The Smile of the Cheshire Cat. Figurations of Gender and Interculture), Pisa: ETS.

 

(2004) Entry  ‘Postumano’ (‘Posthuman’; in Italian) in M. Cometa, Dizionario di Studi Culturali (A Dictionary of Cultural Studies), a cura di R.Coglitore e F.Mazzara, Milano: Meltemi.

 
(2004) ‘Bots, Norns, Sims e altre specie. Storie di vita artificiale’ (‘Bots, Norns, Sims and Other Species. Artificial Life Stories’; in Italian) in Liana Borghi, Clotilde Barbarulli (eds) Figure della complessità. Genere e intercultura (Figurations of Complexity. Gender and Interculture), Firenze: University Press CUEC.

 

 ‘Does It Work? The Unforeseeable Consequences of Quasi-Failing Technology’, ‘Creative Media’, Culture Machine, E-journal, Special issue, vol.11; http://www.culturemachine.net.

Reviews

(2007) ‘Review of Mark Poster (2006) Information Please: Culture and Politics in the Age of Digital Machines’, Durham and London: Duke University Press. ISBN: 0-8223-3839-4, in Culture Machine, E-journal, http://culturemachine.tees.ac.uk/.


Edited journals issues

(forthcoming January 2011) ‘The Digital Humanities: Beyond Computing’, E-journal, Special issue, vol.11; http://www.culturemachine.net

Federica is currently completing a monograph entitled Technology Made Legible: A Cultural Study of Software.

Career History


Federica completed an MRes and PhD in Media and Communications at Goldsmiths, University of London. She has a diverse professional and academic background in critical theory and ICT (Information and Communication Technologies). She also worked for a decade as a Software Engineer and a mid-manager in telecommunications companies, mainly on digital mobile communications projects and products.

Media enquiries

Contact the Public Relations Office on +44 (0)1865 484452.