Austin Fisher

Dr Austin Fisher

  • Associate Professor of Popular Culture
  • Weymouth House W204, Talbot Campus, Fern Barrow, Poole, BH12 5BB
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Biography

I am a cultural historian, with primary research interests in the history, politics and cinema of Italy and the USA. I have also published research on the history of exploitation cinema, transnational cinemas, and various kinds of political filmmaking. I welcome applications from research students interested in working in these and related fields.

I am a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and I convene the Screen Studies Research Group at Bournemouth University. My main area of expertise concerns popular Italian cinema’s engagement with the countercultural movements of the 1960s and 1970s, and I have published widely in this area. My most recent book was "Blood in the Streets: Histories of Violence in Italian Crime Cinema": a study of cinematic representations of political violence in 1970s Italy, which won the 2020 BAFTSS "Best Monograph" award.

I am founding co-editor of the “Global Exploitation Cinemas” book series (Bloomsbury). I also serve on the Editorial Boards of the "Transnational Screens" journal and the "Popular West" book series (Oklahoma University Press).

Favourites

Journal Articles

Books

  • Geriaction Cinema, a guest-edited edition of the Journal of Popular Film and Television. Taylor and Francis.
  • Fisher, A., 2019. Blood in the Streets: Histories of Violence in Italian Crime Cinema. Edinburgh University Press.
  • Italian Horror Cinema, a guest-edited edition of the Journal of Italian Cinema & Media Studies. Intellect.
  • Spaghetti Westerns at the Crossroads: Studies in Relocation, Transition and Appropriation. Edinburgh University Press.
  • Grindhouse: Cultural Exchange on 42nd Street, and Beyond. Bloomsbury.
  • Fisher, A., 2011. Radical Frontiers in the Spaghetti Western: Politics, Violence and Popular Italian Cinema. I.B.Tauris.

Chapters

  • Fisher, A. and Smith, I.R., 2020. Second Phase Transnationalism: Reflections on Launching the SCMS Transnational Cinemas Scholarly Interest Group. In: De La Garza, A., Doughty, R. and Shaw, D., eds. Transnational Screens: Expanding the Borders of Transnational Cinema. Routledge.
  • Fisher, A., 2017. Sergio Leone and the Transnational Western. Once Upon a Time ... the Western: A New Frontier in Art and Film. 5 Continents Editions.
  • Fisher, A., 2017. Italian Popular Film Genres. In: Burke, F., ed. A Companion to Italian Cinema. Wiley-Blackwell.
  • Fisher, A., 2016. Go West, Brother: the Politics of Landscape in the Blaxploitation Western. In: Fisher, A. and Walker, J., eds. Grindhouse: Cultural Exchange on 42nd Street, and Beyond. Bloomsbury.
  • Fisher, A., 2016. Political Memory in the Italian Hinterland: Locating the “Rural Giallo”. In: Hunter, R. and Baschiera, S., eds. Italian Horror Cinema. Edinburgh University Press.
  • Fisher, A., 2014. Nuovo cinema paradiso. In: Haenni, S., Barrow, S. and White, J., eds. The Routledge Encyclopaedia of Films. Routledge.
  • Fisher, A., 2014. Roma città aperta. In: Haenni, S., Barrow, S. and White, J., eds. The Routledge Encyclopaedia of Films. Routledge.
  • Fisher, A., 2011. Spaghetti Westerns. In: Bayman, L., ed. Directory of World Cinema: Italy. Intellect.

Artefacts

PhD Students

  • Kuihua Zhang. From Narrating History to Constructing National Memory: The Dialogical Engagement of Nanjing Massacre Film, (In progress)
  • Ucheyamere Chimdiebube Nkwam-Uwaoma. Horror Films in Nollywood: An Evaluation of Women's Portrayals and Participation (2000-2020), (In progress)

Profile of Teaching UG

  • The Film Industries
  • Film Festivals for Makers and Curators
  • Media Scholarship
  • Researching Media
  • Film Language
  • Graduate Film Project

Invited Lectures

  • Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies, London, 10 Dec 2020 more
  • Northumbria University, 25 Nov 2020 more

External Responsibilities

  • Northumbria University, External Examiner (2024-2028)
  • "The Popular West" Book Series (Oklahoma University Press), Editorial Board member (2019-)
  • University of Southampton, External Examiner (2018-2022)
  • Society for Cinema and Media Studies (SCMS), Member, Professional Development Committee (2017-2020)
  • [in]Transition, Editorial Board Member (2015-), http://mediacommons.org/intransition/
  • Transnational Screens, Editorial Board Member (2014-), https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rtrc21/current
  • Society for Cinema and Media Studies (SCMS), Founder and Co-Chair, "Transnational Cinemas" SIG (2013-2017)
  • Society for Cinema and Media Studies (SCMS), Judge: Student Writing Award Committee (2012-2013)

Public Engagement & Outreach Activities

  • "Italian Horror Cinema in its Political Contexts" - Festival of Learning 2018 (16 Jun 2018)
  • "IT'S ALIVE! The First Two Hundred Years of 'Frankenstein'", by Professor Sir Christopher Frayling (20 Feb 2018)

Conference Presentations

  • Society for Cinema and Media Studies (SCMS), Curating Italian Horror Films in the Streaming Era, 14 Mar 2024, Boston, Massachusetts
  • Society for Cinema and Media Studies (SCMS), Un-American Activities: Johnny Guitar and the Blacklist Western, 12 Apr 2023, Denver, Colorado
  • Society for Cinema and Media Studies (SCMS), 'Human Dregs' and 'Bastard Theatres': the Politics of Legitimacy in 42nd Street Cinemas, 31 Mar 2022, Online
  • Society for Cinema and Media Studies (SCMS), Revisiting the Blacklist Western: a Reception Study of High Noon, 17 Mar 2021, Online
  • International Association for Media and History (IAMHIST), Enter … If You Dare! Cross-Cultural Reception and the Giallo, 01 Jul 2019, Northumbria University
  • Transnational Screens: New Directions, New Collaborations, Invited roundtable participant: ‘New Transnational Exhibition Platforms’, 01 Jun 2019, University of Portsmouth
  • BAFTSS (British Association of Film, Television and Screen Studies), Enter … If You Dare! Cross-Cultural Reception and the Giallo, 01 Apr 2019, University of Birmingham
  • SCMS, Recycling The Godfather: Popular Seriality in Italian Mafia Films, 01 Mar 2018, Toronto
  • Popular Culture Association annual conference, Invited roundtable participant: ‘How Italian are Spaghetti Westerns?’, 01 Apr 2017, San Diego
  • American Association for Italian Studies conference, Invited roundtable participant: ‘Italian Screen Studies: Methods and Priorities’, 01 Apr 2017, Columbus, Ohio
  • SCMS, Localizing the Classical Western: the Italian Reception of "Shane"., 01 Mar 2017, Chicago
  • Transnational Screens, Video Essays in Transnational Cinema Studies, 01 Sep 2016, De Montfort University
  • SCMS, Video Essays in Transnational Cinema Studies Workshop, 01 Apr 2016, Atlanta
  • SCMS, Blood in the Streets: Negotiating History Through the Italian Vigilante Film, 01 Apr 2016, Atlanta
  • Italian Cinemas/Italian Histories Workshop, Historical Perspectives on the Transnational Dimensions of Italian Westerns, 01 Mar 2016, University of Leeds
  • Cinema e Storia, Blood in the Streets: Histories of Violence in Italian Crime Films of the 1970s, 01 Nov 2015, Università Roma Tre
  • SCMS, Histories of Violence in Fernando Di Leo’s “Milieu Trilogy”, 01 Mar 2015, Montreal
  • SCMS, Translocal Violence in the Italian Hinterland: Politics, Identity and the Giallo, 01 Jan 2014, Seattle
  • SCMS, Locating Transnational Cinema Studies, 01 Jan 2014, Seattle
  • Film and History, Go West, Brother: the Politics of Golden Age Landscapes in the Blaxploitation Western, 01 Jan 2014, Madison, Wisconsin
  • SCMS, Terrorismo all’americana: Transatlantic Flow and the Politics of Violence in the Italian Poliziesco, 01 Jan 2013, Chicago
  • Screen, The “Years of Lead” and the Politics of Gore: Cultural Capital and the Giallo, 01 Jan 2013, University of Glasgow
  • MeCCSA, Il cinema all’americana? Defining the Transnational “Popular”, 01 Jan 2012, University of Bedfordshire
  • SCMS, Italian Americanisms: Popular Italian Cinema in the Light of the Transnational, 01 Jan 2012, Boston, MA
  • Cine-Excess, A Cult Called Django, 01 Jan 2011, Odeon Covent Garden, London
  • Society for Italian Studies Biennial Conference, La resistenza popolare: Transcultural Memory in Giulio Petroni’s Tepepa, 01 Jan 2011, University of St. Andrews
  • Film and Media, Spaghetti Lefties: Postmodern Politics in Robert Rodriguez’s Machete, 01 Jan 2011, The Institute of Education, University of London
  • Kiss Kiss Kill Kill: A Symposium on the Forgotten Spy Film of Cold War Europe, Chronicles of Lead: Transatlantic Flow in 1970s Italian Cop Thrillers, 01 Jan 2010, University of Hertfordshire
  • Popular Italian Cinema: An International Conference, Out West, Down South: Gazing at America in Reverse Shot through Damiano Damiani’s Quien sabe?, 01 Jan 2009, King’s College, London
  • MeCCSA Postgraduate Conference, Spaghetti Westerns Caught in the Crossfire: Translating the Stylistics of Political Violence, 01 Jan 2009, Bangor University, Wales
  • Cultural Borrowings: A Study Day on Appropriation, Reworking and Transformation, A Marxist’s Gotta Do What a Marxist’s Gotta Do: Political Violence on Italy’s Ethical Frontier, 01 Jan 2008, The University of Nottingham
  • Images at the Threshold: A Postgraduate Film Conference, Go West, Comrade: Recollection, Transposition and Populist Radicalism in the New Left Westerns of Sergio Sollima, 01 Jan 2007, University of Bath

Qualifications

  • PhD in Media Arts (Royal Holloway, University of London, 2010)
  • PGCE in Higher Education (Royal Holloway, University of London, 2006)
  • MA in Literature, Culture and Modernity (Queen Mary, University of London, 2001)
  • BA (Hons) in English (The University of Birmingham, 1999)

Honours

  • Best Monograph (British Association of Film, Television and Screen Studies, 2020)

Memberships

  • Royal Historical Society, Fellow (2021-),
  • International Association for Media and History (IAMHIST), Member (2019-),
  • British Association of Film, Television and Screen Studies (BAFTSS), Member (2017-),
  • Media, Communication and Cultural Studies Association (MeCCSA), Member (2015-),
  • Higher Education Academy, Fellow (2014-),
  • Society for Cinema and Media Studies (SCMS), Member (2011-),
  • National Association for Higher Education in the Moving Image (NAHEMI), Member,

Networks

  • Head of the History Research Group (Bournemouth University)
  • Editorial Board: 'The Popular West' book series (Oklahoma University Press)
  • Editorial Board: [in]Transition: Journal of Videographic Film & Moving Image Studies.
  • Editorial Board: 'Transnational Cinemas' journal (Routledge)
  • Founding Co-Editor: ‘Global Exploitation Cinemas’ book series (Bloomsbury)
  • Co-Founder: 'Transnational Cinemas' Scholarly Interest Group, Society for Cinema and Media Studies (SCMS)