Irene is an Assistant Research Fellow at the Institute of Social Sciences, University of Lisbon. She previously held postdoctoral positions at the same Institute as well as at the University of Bologna, and a visiting professorship at the University of Bucharest. Her work has always focused on processes of labour migration (with particular reference to sexual and agricultural work) across Italy, Nigeria and Eastern Europe. She explores mechanisms of control, containment, extraction and resistance, through methods which place engagement, solidarity and participation at the centre of her research. Currently, she is working on a monograph that investigates the material, spatial, symbolic and affective stratifications of racism and more generally of labour containment, and of forms of resistance against them, by reference to the development of Italian agro-capitalism since the late 18th century. By tracing archival, historical, genealogical and mnemonic marks, as well as erasures and processes of ruination, her current work-in-progress aims to unsettle widely held perceptions of the current state of migrant labourers and of Made-in-Italy agrifood production. Peano holds a PhD in Social Anthropology from the University of Cambridge.
Irene Peano
