Elisa Russian is a scholar of modern French and Italian literature, working at the intersection of cultural studies, philosophy, and sociology. She received her PhD in Italian Studies, with a Designated Emphasis in Critical Theory, in 2021. Elisa’s current book project, titled “Situating Lives: Autobiography and Social Critique in Contemporary France and Italy,” bridges the study of life-writing and social theory to demonstrate how hybrid forms of narration have used personal experiences to advance critical arguments. Her research has been supported by grants from the Doreen B. Townsend Center for the Humanities, the Program in Critical Theory, the American Comparative Literature Association, and the Modern Language Association.