Dr Elena Zambelli
Biography
I am a sociologist with expertise in gender, sexuality, race, migration and social inequalities.
My main research interests pivot on the commodification and regulation of intimacy. In my first book, Sexscapes of Pleasure: Women, Sexuality and the Whore Stigma in Italy (2023, Berghahn Books), I explore how Italian and migrant women negotiate the tension between sexuality and status across a continuum of spaces of sexualized leisure and sex work. In my postdoctoral research, I have expanded my research remit to explore the role of national and racialized borders in the construction of hierarchies of normative and undesirable intimacies - first, at Vrije Universiteit, within the ERC Consolidator Grant project ‘Regulating Mixed Relationships in Europe (EUROMIX)’, and subsequently at Lancaster University, as part of the ESRC-funded project ‘Rebordering Britain and Britons after Brexit (MIGZEN)’. I am currently working on two book projects: the co-edited volume Regulating Interracialized Intimacies: European and Global Perspectives, which will be published by Routledge (2025), and my second research monograph (provisionally) entitled Mixing in Europe: An Ethnography of Black-White Interraciality, which will be published by Manchester University Press (2026).
My academic career builds on my fifteen years' international development work experience as Gender Expert for the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, international NGOs, such as Oxfam, and UN agencies, with a focus on the Middle East and North Africa region (occupied Palestinian territories, Lebanon, Jordan, Tunisia). This experience underpins my work at SOAS in the EU-FP7-funded research ‘Power to Youth’ project, and before that, the first book I co-edited, Women Networking Across Borders: Cooperation, Diaspora and Migrations between Italy and the Middle East. More recently, I have established the Bianca Pomeranzi Prize, of which I am the President. The initiative supports the employability of Italian university-based master students graduating with a dissertation pivoting on innovative feminist and gender approaches to local and international development. Numerous organizations promote and support it, including UNFPA, the Italian Agency for International Cooperation, and Oxfam Italy.
Peer Reviewed Journal
| Year | Publication | |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Elena Zambelli (2024) 'Intersectional violence, resistance and the radical political power of hope Lethal Intersections: Race, Gender, and Violence , by Patricia Hill Collins, Cambridge, Polity Press, 2024, 304 pp. £55.00 (hardback), £17.99 (paperback), ISBN 9781509553150, 9781509553167, 9781509553174'. Journal of Political Power, . [Link] [DOI] | |
| 2024 | Michaela Benson; Nando Sigona; Elena Zambelli (2024) 'The UK's ‘Safe and Legal’ Humanitarian Routes: from Colonial Ties to Privatising Protection'. Political Quarterly, . [Link] [DOI] | |
| 2024 | Elena Zambelli; Michaela Benson; Nando Sigona (2023) 'Brexit Rebordering, Sticky Relationships and the Production of Mixed-Status Families'. Sociology, . [Link] [DOI] | |
| 2022 | Michaela Benson; Nando Sigona; Elena Zambelli; Catherine Craven (2022) 'From the state of the art to new directions in researching what Brexit means for migration and migrants'. Migration Studies, . [Link] [DOI] | |
| 2021 | Elena Zambelli (2021) 'Interracial couples and the phenomenology of race, place, and space in contemporary England'. Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power, . [Link] [DOI] | |
| 2021 | Mattia Fumanti; Elena Zambelli (2021) 'Introduction—Corona A(e)ffects'. Lateral, . [Link] [DOI] | |
| 2021 | Ruba Salih; Elena Zambelli; Lynn Welchman (2021) '‘From Standing Rock to Palestine We are United’: diaspora politics, decolonization and the intersectionality of struggles'. Ethnic and Racial Studies, . [Link] [DOI] | |
| 2021 | Lynn Welchman; Elena Zambelli; Ruba Salih (2021) 'Rethinking justice beyond human rights. Anti-colonialism and intersectionality in the politics of the Palestinian Youth Movement'. Mediterranean Politics, . [Link] [DOI] | |
| 2020 | Lynn Welchman; Elena Zambelli; Ruba Salih (2020) 'Rethinking Justice Beyond Human Rights. Anti-colonialism and intersectionality in the politics of the Palestinian Youth Movement'. Mediterranean Politics, . [Link] https://doi.org/10.1080/13629395.2020.1749811 | |
| 2020 | Elena Zambelli (2020) 'Racialized Affectivities of (Un)Belonging: Mixed (Race) Couples in the Shadow of Brexit'. Genealogy, . [Link] [DOI] | |
| 2019 | (2019) 'Intimate others and risky tenants: disentangling the economy of affect shaping women’s migratory projects in Italy'. Journal of Political Power, . [Link] [DOI] | |
| 2018 | Elena Zambelli (2018) 'Between a curse and a resource: the meanings of women’s racialised sexuality in contemporary Italy'. Modern Italy, . [Link] [DOI] | |
| 2018 | Elena Zambelli; Arianna Mainardi; Andrea Hajek (2018) 'Sexuality and power in contemporary Italy'. Modern Italy, . [Link] [DOI] | |
| 2017 | Blandine Destremau; Rita Giacaman; Mona Harb; Linda Herrera; Maria Mexi; Suzan Mitwalli; Emma C. Murphy; Yoke Rabaia; Lynn Welchman; Elena Zambelli (2017) 'The dilemmas of the European Union's open access to data policy'. The Lancet, . [Link] [DOI] | |
| 2014 | Elena Zambelli (2014) 'Review of 'Dirty Dancing? An Ethnography of Lap Dancing''. Etnografia e ricerca qualitativa, . [Link] | |
| 2007 | Elena Zambelli (2007) 'Tra multiculturalismo e scontro di civiltà: la libertà di esprimere cosa?'. Inchiesta, . [Link] | |
| 2007 | Tona Gusi; Virginia Montañés; Elena Zambelli (2007) 'Women Journalists and Communicators on the Two Shores of the Mediterranean: Mutual Perceptions through the Media'. Quaderns de la Mediterranea, . [Link] |
Book Chapter
| Year | Publication | |
|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Elena Zambelli (2009) 'Ampliare la Partecipazione delle Donne Libanesi nella Sfera Economica, Sociale e Politica del proprio Paese: Strategie, Mezzi, Opportunità' In: Asia Centrale, Medio Oriente, Nord Africa: condizione della donna, diritti di genere, empowerment e movimenti femminili: ombre, aperture, energie, ostacoli = Central Asia, Middle East, North Africa: condition of woman, gender rights, empowerment and female movements: shadows, openings, energies, obstacles. [Link] | |
| 2007 | (2007) 'Introduction: Opening spaces for border crossing' In: Women’s Networking across Borders - Cooperation, Diaspora and Migrations between Italy and the Middle East. [Link] | |
| 2007 | (2007) 'Paris, Texas, Tel Aviv: a feminist practitioner's reflection on international cooperation in Palestine in the good governance era' In: Women’s Networking across Borders - Cooperation, Diaspora and Migrations between Italy and the Middle East. [Link] |
Working Paper
| Year | Publication | |
|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Ruba Salih; Lynn Welchman; Elena Zambelli (2017) The Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM): Transnational politics, inter/national frameworks and intersectional alliances. [Working Paper] [Link] | |
| 2017 | Ruba Salih; Lynn Welchman; Elena Zambelli (2017) An Intersectional Analysis of the Micro-level Factors of Youth Economic and Political Exclusion/Inclusion in the South and East Mediterranean (SEM) Region. [Working Paper] [Link] | |
| 2017 | Elena Zambelli; Keetie Roelen; Naomi Hossain; Deepta Chopra; Jenipher Twebaze Musoke (2017) ‘How Can It Be a Problem If You Need Them Both?’ Women Juggling Paid and Unpaid Care Work in Tanzania. [Working Paper] [Link] | |
| 2017 | Jerker Edström; Deepta Chopra; Catherine Müller; Sohela Nazneen; Pauline Oosterhoff; S. Wood; Elena Zambelli; A. Bannister; P. Brambilla; P. Mason (2017) Reframing Gender Justice in an Unequal, Volatile World: IDS’ Directions for Future Research on Gender and Sexuality in Development. [Working Paper] [Link] | |
| 2017 | Deepta Chopra; Elena Zambelli (2017) No Time to Rest: Women’s Lived Experiences of Balancing Paid Work and Unpaid Care Work. [Working Paper] [Link] | |
| 2017 | Ruba Salih; Lynn Welchman; Elena Zambelli (2017) Gender, Intersectionality and Youth Civic and Political Engagement. An Analysis of the meso-level factors of youth exclusion/inclusion in the South and East Mediterranean (SEM) region. [Working Paper] [Link] | |
| 2017 | Elena Zambelli; Mar Morales Maestre; Deepta Chopra; Marzia Fontana (2017) Gender-Responsive Public Services and Young Urban Women's Economic Empowerment. [Working Paper] [Link] | |
| 2017 | Elena Zambelli; Keetie Roelen; Naomi Hossain; Deepta Chopra; Jenipher Twebaze Musoke (2017) ‘My Mother Does a Lot of Work’: Women Balancing Paid and Unpaid Care Work in Tanzania. [Working Paper] [Link] | |
| 2016 | Ruba Salih; Lynn Welchman; Elena Zambelli (2016) Gender, Intersectionality and Youth Policies in the South and East Mediterranean. [Working Paper] [Link] |
Published Report
| Year | Publication | |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Michaela Benson; Sigona Nando; Zambelli Elena (2024) Humanitarian Visas in a Hostile Environment: historical legacies, geopolitical ties and everyday experiences. . [Link] [DOI] | |
| 2022 | Michaela Benson; Elena Zambelli; Catherine Craven; Nando Sigona (2022) British Citizens in the EU after Brexit. . [Link] [DOI] | |
| 2022 | Elena Zambelli; Nando Sigona; Catherine Craven; Michaela Benson (2022) EU citizens in the UK after Brexit. . [Link] [DOI] | |
| 2022 | Elena Zambelli; Michaela Benson; Nando Sigona (2022) British-European families after Brexit. . [Link] [DOI] |
Professional Associations
Employment
Teaching Interests
My teaching interests revolve around the sociologies of gender, race and migration. At Maynooth, I teach modules on 'Law and Social Control,' 'Migration and Societies,' and 'Exploring and Explaining Global Ireland.'