Dr. Laura Siragusa (PhD Anthropology, University of Aberdeen, 2013) is a linguistic anthropologist and sociolinguist with a focus on environmental and historical anthropology.

 

Her teaching experience is rooted in humanistic inquiry, with the goal of developing students' abilities to think, read, and write broadly and critically. She has extensive experience teaching at both undergraduate and graduate levels, serving as both a staff and guest lecturer at various universities. As a native speaker, she enjoys teaching Italian and helping the students develop a "taste" for the language and cultural practices that are dominant in the various regions of Italy. She has taught Italian in several European countries and enjoys the diversity of the students' cohort and their enthusiasm for her "Bel Paese." 

 

Her research explores communicative practices within the broader context of language ecology, encompassing political, economic, social, and cultural dynamics. She has extensively studied language revival movements, human-environment relationships, and the materiality of language, among other significant topics. Siragusa’s work is primarily concentrated on the European/Russian (sub-)Arctic region, an area of growing global interest due to its sustainability, ecological, and political challenges. She employs ethnographic and archival methods in her socio-cultural research centered on language. In this region, she has developed collaborative relationships with Indigenous groups, particularly the Veps and Sámi peoples.