Saskia Kroonenberg

New Book: Rethinking the Mother Tongue in Contemporary Italy: From Gramsci to Postcolonial Literature

2026-08-28T09:32:40+00:00

Out now: my open access book on Gramsci, postcolonial literature, and the mother tongue in Italy

Upcoming lecture at inherit: Remembering bodies in/through literature

2026-04-04T16:08:40+00:00

I’m thrilled to be giving a guest lecture at Humboldt University’s Käte Hamburger Centre for Advanced Study inherit.heritage in transformation on bodies, their memories and literature.

Written on the subaltern body: Gramsci and the material politics of Sardinian and Italian prison lives

2026-02-11T18:32:40+00:00

The wonderful archeologist Mauro Puddu and I wrote about Gramsci’s and his contemporaries’ subaltern bodies:

Written on the subaltern body: Gramsci and the material politics of Sardinian and Italian prison lives

This article argues for the need to combine written texts with other material sources when studying past subaltern lives. It suggests that much of a person’s life history is inscribed on their body (i.e. their teeth and bones) and objects. Such nonverbal traces are especially vital for reconstructing the historical value of subaltern lives. In his prison notes (Q25), Antonio Gramsci (1891–1937) pointed out that it is hard to collect the histories of the subalterns, as they are scattered, fragmented by the ruling groups. We apply this thought to Gramsci himself in relation to his subaltern contemporaries in Sardinia by integrating multiple material legacies (bodily remains, texts, objects). We thereby wish to situate Gramsci’s suffering within the broader bodily experience of his contemporaries, revealing how the physical symptoms he described may have materialized as skeletal pathologies. While Gramsci is known for his sharp-sighted mind, we know much less of his body. Yet, he lived a life entrenched in and physically marked by colonialism, imprisonment, inequality, child labour, poverty, discrimination and illness. Presumably, his remains are marked by a life of struggle and labour, similarly to the bones of his contemporaries from Sardinia. By combining osteo-biographies (archaeological research on indicators of physiological stress on bones and teeth) of his contemporaries with written knowledge about Gramsci’s symptoms, diet, and material culture in Sardinia and Italian prison, this article reveals an array of different stories about these bodily lives which are as yet untold.

Investigating inherited memories: my fellowship at inherit. heritage in transformation has started!

2025-10-01T05:32:40+00:00

To find out more about what I will be doing the upcoming months, click here.

Just published: My new article on Gramsci, Scego, education and literature

2025-07-01T05:32:40+00:00

Kroonenberg, S. (2025). Antonio Gramsci and Igiaba Scego. For a Postcolonial Education through Literature, International Gramsci Journal, 6(1). https://doi.org/10.14276/igj.v6i1.4920

Abstract

This article investigates the pedagogical potential of literature, specifically contemporary postcolonial literature, from a Gramscian perspective. Starting from the observation that Antonio Gramsci has been a major influence in Anglophone postcolonial theory, it aims to translate his thoughts to the context of contemporary Italian postcolonial literature. To this end, it focuses on Gramsci’s outlook on pedagogy in relation to literature and culture, the theme of subalternity, and subject formation as described in the Quaderni del carcere. It confronts his thoughts with a case study of Figli dello stesso cielo. Il razzismo e il colonialismo raccontati ai ragazzi (2021) by Igiaba Scego. This children’s book combines history, lived experience, and fabulation, in order to explain how Italy’s fascist and colonialist history still affects the present. Making use of Gramscian concepts, this article explores how this and similar narratives can contribute to a postcolonial education in, and possibly a critical transformation of Italian society and its inhabitants.

Walking, World, Literature: Upcoming lecture at the Erich Auerbach Institute for Advanced Studies

2024-05-20T05:32:40+00:00

On 8 July 2024, I will give lecture at the Erich Auerbach Institute for Advanced Studies on “Walking, World, Literature. On the Relational Dimension of Weltliterature”

For more information, see here.

Upcoming Lecture: Mazzini e la mamma

2023-08-17T05:32:40+00:00

15 November 20:00-22:00 bij Dante Alighieri Amsterdam

In Italië is de “mammone” (moederskindje) een bekend fenomeen. Ook een van de grondleggers van de Italiaanse natie, Giuseppe Mazzini (1805-1872), had een erg hechte band met zijn moeder Maria Drago (1774-1852). Deze lezing zal ingaan op de (moeder)figuur van Maria Drago aan de hand van een briefwisseling tussen moeder en zoon. Wat voor band hadden zij, en hoe is hun symbiotische relatie te plaatsen in de context van de opkomst van de moederfiguur in de Italiaanse cultuur? Hoe is het beeld van Drago als ideale Italiaanse moeder in de eerste helft van de twintigste eeuw ontstaan? Welk beeld geven hun onderlinge brieven over deze mamma en mammone?

New Article: Gramsci’s Writing Body. On Embodiment and Subaltern Knowledge

2023-04-12T05:32:40+00:00

My new article Gramsci’s Writing Body. On Embodiment and Subaltern Knowledge explores how Gramsci’s own lived experience may have contributed to his subaltern philosophy. Its focus is especially on his disabled body (embodiedness) and relational needs, arguing that these aspects deserve a central role in his intellectual legacy. Including a Deleuzian perspective, it aims to correct for the neglect of Gramsci’s own needs and affects and the gendered support system on which he relied in prison, especially highlighting the role of his sister-in-law, Tatiana Schucht.

Workshop Online Harrassment Against Academics

2023-01-30T08:32:40+00:00

On 13 and 16 February 2023, the Halkes Women+ Faculty Network organized a workshop on Online harassment against (women and minority) academics. For more information, click here.

Meloni and Motherhood in Italy (in Dutch)

2022-12-01T08:32:40+00:00