Roberta Di Carmine

I was born and raised in Italy where I received my "Laurea" (the equivalent of a Master's degree) from the University "G. D'Annunzio," Pescara (major: 20th-century English Literature, minors: Film Studies, Spanish and German Literatures). After teaching in private colleges and schools, I decided to move to the US to pursue a doctorate. In 1996 I received a Master's degree in Foreign Languages and Literatures from West Virginia University; my teaching and scholarly interests focused on comparative literature and African cinema (mostly Anglophone). I then moved to the University of Oregon where I did my PhD in Comparative Literature, and my reasearch and teaching interests were (and still are) on representations of race and gender in cinema.

Before coming to WIU in 2006, I taught as Visiting Assistant Professor at Dickinson College (Pennsylvania) and at the University of Oklahoma.

At WIU, I am responsible for teaching courses in film studies and directing the Interdisciplinary Film Minor.

Having contributed to the creation of an Interdisciplinary Film Minor has made my staying at WIU particularly enjoyable. I love teaching film and always enjoy interacting with students who have a passion for film and filmmaking.

My research focuses on racial and ethnic representations. Currently I am revising my dissertation into a book manuscript on representations of race in Italian colonial films (1920s-1930s); recently I have been interested in representations of cultural and national identity in US, British and Italian cinema.

I love movies but I am also interested in architecture, contemporary art, and design