Decolonising the curriculum: a conversation with Roberta Trapè and Laura Lori

This conversation examines the need to rethink Italian and English literary pedagogy in light of pressing issues such as discrimination, social and racial injustice, and gender inequality. In a globalised world, revising the curriculum is a pressing need. We call for a shift in pedagogical priorities, embracing approaches that challenge inherited hierarchies of knowledge and promote more inclusive forms of learning—what is often termed decolonising the curriculum.

We argue that global challenges—including the rise of marginalised voices, shifting geopolitical dynamics, conflict, and climate change—demand a literary education that is historically grounded and socially engaged. Literature classrooms can become spaces where students critically examine contemporary issues and the legacies of colonialism, white supremacy, sexism, and Eurocentrism. This requires not only new content but also new frameworks. Terms like postcolonialism, decolonisation, and decoloniality help frame the global turn in literary studies and support more reflective and equitable curricula. Learners are invited to question colonial worldviews, explore alternative ways of knowing, and imagine futures beyond inherited structures of power.

Ultimately, decolonising the literary curriculum means empowering students to engage with today’s socio-political realities. It offers a pathway toward greater critical awareness, democratic participation, and community engagement—an educational imperative in the face of growing inequality.

The conversation will be followed by a Q&A with the audience. All welcome.

Roberta Trapè is the 2025 Macgeorge Visiting Speaker at the University of Melbourne. She is also Honorary Fellow of the School of Languages and Linguistics at The University of Melbourne, where she lectured in Italian Studies for five years. She holds a PhD in English and American Studies from the University of Florence. Dr Trapè has worked extensively on the theme of Australian travel to Italy in contemporary Australian fiction, non-fiction and poetry. The research she has carried out so far has shifted between theory – travel writing, notions of space and movement in contemporary society including the migration experience, notions of space in narrating history, postcolonial studies – and close communication with contemporary Australian writers and intellectuals in various fields (cultural studies, literature, history, philosophy) who have lived or travelled in Italy, and written about it in the last three decades. Her ongoing research explores transnational digital learning spaces (Virtual Exchange), intercultural citizenship, and postcolonial and world literature in English in additional languages education.

Laura Lori is Lecturer in Italian Studies at the University of Melbourne. Italian-born academic teacher and researcher, she completed the inaugural ACIS Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Melbourne researching on transcultural trajectories in Italian theatre.

Her work examines the various ways in which literature can positively influence socio-personal and historical discourses on immigration, gender, identity, and colonialism. Over the past eight years, she has published studies on activist literature, challenging historical denial, rigid national identities, and complacency regarding violence against women. She is deeply interested in literature and the performing arts as active tools for promoting social inclusion and equality.

Dr Lori’s current research aims to investigate the present and future potential of the classical myth of Antigone to represent the complex interaction of gender and cultural diversity. By closely examining the recent heritage of Antigone’s written and performed on theatre stages in Italy and overseas, her project reveals the myth’s capacity to question representations of gender, identity, and agency.

For any queries, please contact Professor Andrea Rizzi at arizzi@unimelb.edu.au or alternatively you can contact the School of Languages and Linguistics at soll-info@unimelb.edu.au

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