Samantha Wilson
Samantha's doctoral research focuses on the nature of republican political thought in nineteenth-century Italy (c. 1830-1882). She looks at figures such as Cattaneo, De Sanctis, Mazzini, Trivulzio di Belgiojoso, and Villari and attempts to determine what sort of republicanism emerged in their thought. To do so, she considers the way in which they envisioned the position and role of the citizen and the religious motivations behind active citizenship, as well as their various visions (federalist or centralist; monarchical or non-monarchical) for the practical functioning of the patria. Other considerations are how far their republicanism developed throughout the nineteenth century and how much their thought was influenced by the Florentine republican tradition of 1494-1532 (Guicciardini, Machiavelli, and Savonarola). Samantha is supervised by Dr. Fernanda Gallo and Dr. Simone Maghenzani.
As part of her PhD research, Samantha was a visiting postgraduate researcher at the European University Institute (EUI) between January and May 2023 under the supervision of Prof. Lucy Riall. She is also a postgraduate member of the Royal Historical Society. In addition to her research, Samantha assists in organising the Cambridge Modern European History Workshop and the Cambridge Political Thought and Intellectual History Seminar. Before undertaking the PhD at Cambridge, Samantha completed a History BA at the University of York (2016-2019) and a History MA at the University of Nottingham (2019-2020).
Part IA Outline Course 8 (Modern Europe, 1789-1914).
'The role of cities in the construction of nineteenth-century Italian republicanism, c. 1830-1882' - École Française de Rome SPAZIDENTITÀ Project (Venezia and Roma, March and September 2024).
'The impact of the Florentine Republic in Risorgimento republican discourse, c. 1848-1882' - The International Nineteenth-Century Studies Association (INCSA) Inaugural Conference on The Nineteenth-Century Today: Interdisciplinary, International, Intertemporal (Durham, July 2024).
'Citizenship and republican political thought in nineteenth-century Italy, c. 1830-1882' - Society for Italian Studies (SIS) Biennial Conference at Royal Holloway University (London, June 2024).
'Republican visions of citizenship in nineteenth-century Italy' - University of Nottingham Contemporary History and Politics Seminar (Nottingham, June 2024).
'The impact of the Florentine republican tradition on nineteenth-century Italian republican conceptions of sovereignty' - University of Sheffield Centre for Early-Modern Studies Discussion Group (Sheffield, March 2024).
'The evolution of republican ideas during the Risorgimento from a history of democracy perspective' - Institut für Zeitgeschichte (IfZ) Autumn School on the History of Democracy in Modern Europe (München, October 2023).
'Florentine self-representation in the Kingdom of Italy's fiftieth-anniversary celebrations (1911)' - University of Cambridge Modern European History Workshop (Cambridge, October 2022).
'The re-interpretation of Machiavelli's writings in the context of the 1848-1849 revolutions in Italy' - University of Cambridge Department of Italian "Writing Italy" Workshop (Online, May 2021).
Contact
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Lucy Cavendish College,
Lady Margaret Road,
Cambridge,
Cambridgeshire,
CB3 0BU.