Isobel Grave was appointed to the Cassamarca Lectureship in Italian within the School of International Studies at the University of South Australia in February 2006. She brings to the position expertise in the area of medieval and 19th century studies, modern Italian poetry, translation and linguistics. Above all she sees herself as a teacher of language and culture, making the University of South Australia—where the methodology of intercultural language learning is a central research domain—an ideal point of intersection for her between theory and practice. Isobel Grave is an active member of the Research Centre for Languages and Cultures at UniSA, and in a forthcoming paper for the Centre’s series she will address the issue of literature as a medium for intercultural competence.
She is a graduate of the University of Western Australia, where she first studied Italian, inspired by the reality of the Italian presence in Western Australia at a time when its contribution was receiving growing recognition.
A subsequent specialisation in Italian medieval studies developed into a doctorate on 13th century Italian courtly poetry at the University of Oxford. Studying linguistics for a Masters by course work at the Australian National University enabled Isobel Grave to blend linguistics with genre studies and current affairs: her Masters thesis was a diachronic study of verb tenses in the front page reporting in Corriere della sera. Linguistics continues to be an interest in its own right and a tool for the analysis of literature: in her paper at the ACIS Fourth Biennial Conference in July 2007 she explored the semantic content of coordinations in Manzoni’s novel.
Isobel Grave has been able to contribute to the teaching of Italian language and literature within Italian Studies at all levels and in a range of fields, both linguistic and literary. In particular she has been committed to developing the onlining of all courses in order to further the outreach capacity of Italian Studies at the University of South Australia. Onlining continues to increase enrolments in Italian: the most recent success in the promotion of online Italian initiatives at the University of South Australia is the exchange brokered with Deakin University to take effect as of 2008: Deakin University students will be able to enrol cross-institutionally and externally in Italian Studies at the University of South Australia, and have access to all course materials online, while in exchange students at the University of South Australia will have entitlement to cross-institutional enrolment in the Arabic course at Deakin.
Before joining Italian Studies at the University of South Australia, Isobel Grave had been working as a NAATI-qualified translator for the previous ten years. This branch of her interest in Italian led to numerous published literary translations as well as established expertise in the area of commercial Italian (she is also a NAATI-qualified interpreter). With these areas of expertise the Cassamarca lecturer is well placed to design and teach the new Business Italian and Italian in Translation modules for third year Italian at the University of South Australia, to be introduced in 2008. These modules will develop students’ expertise in spoken and written interactions in a commercial context, and in Italian-English translation. They are also linked to a new course to be introduced in 2009, which includes a component of workplace opportunities for its students within the South Australian community in a range of areas connected to Italian, from teaching assistant positions to internships with the Italian Chamber of Commerce.
Students of Italian at the University of South Australia are wide-ranging and diverse in their interests. There are always those who aspire to read Dante, Manzoni and Ungaretti, just as there are increasing numbers of students who aim to be part of the dynamic world of Italian commerce and industry. The Cassamarca lecturer, with her range of teaching, research and workplace interests, continues the tradition within Italian studies at the University of South Australia of catering for diversity and representing both classical and contemporary in both courses and research profile.
Other activities include:
- Member of the Panel of Examiners for NAATI (National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters)
- Member of the newly-founded Cineforum committee established by the Italian Consul for Italy for the promotion of Italian cinema within the community
Qualifications:
BA UWA; D.Phil.Oxon; M A (Linguistics) ANU.
Contact Details:
Italian Studies
School of International Studies, Magill Campus, University of South Australia
Lorne Ave, Magill, South Australia 5072
Tel. +61 8 83024602
fax. +61 8 83024396
Email: isobel.grave@unisa.edu.au
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