Zane DR Mackin

Italian Literature

Education

M.Phil. in Italian Literature, Columbia University, 2006.

M.A. in Italian Literature, Columbia University, 2003.

B.A.  magna cum laude in Comparative Literature, 2001.

Thesis: "Writing "oltre la spera": Dante’s Techniques in Constructing a Text of Credibility and  Authority."

Supplementary Education

International Summer School in Dante Studies (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore/ Centro Dantesco dei Frati Minori conventuali di Ravenna), Ravenna, Summer 2007.

Fulbright Fellow, University of Bologna, Italy, 2001-2002.

Aestiva Romae Latinitatis, Intensive Latin Course in Rome, Summer 1999.

Biography

My academic research has always focused on medieval Italian poetry. My undergraduate thesis focused on Dante's exploitation of Biblical –especially prophetic– language to validate his authorial voice. While on a Fulbright fellowship to Bologna, I examined Aristotelian Scholastic philosophy vis à vis Averroes in the poetry of Guido Cavalcanti. In the summer of 2007, I studied the influence of medieval philosophy on Dante with Prof. Alessandro Ghisalberti (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan), while attending the International Summer School in Dante Studies at Ravenna.

            My dissertation, "Vox Clamans: Dante and the Culture of Dissent," examines the voices and figures of religious and political dissent in Dante's Divina Commedia, and attempts to situate them within the framework of Dante's own self-construction as a figure of protest. This study investigates prophecy and apocalypticism, popular religious movements and heresy, the rise of the mendicant orders in the 13^th century, radical Aristotelianism, the history of the papacy, imperial issues, and political instability and revolt.

Teaching Experience

Elementary Italian I

Elementary Italian II

Literature Humanities

Work Experience

Assistant Editor, Five Boroughs Foundation of Photography, Inc. 2008-Present.

Teaching Fellow in Literature Humanities, Columbia University, 2007-Present.

Private Tutor in Italian, 2006-Present.

Freelance Consultant Translator in Italian for Various Clients, 2004-Present.

Research Consultant, Butler Library Electronic Text Service, Columbia University, 2004-Present.

Teaching Fellow in Italian, Columbia University, 2004-2006.

Assistant Editor, Where Books Begin, New York City, Summer 2001.

Office Intern, Smock Magazine, 2000.

Editor, Hangover Media, 2000.

Translator, Disney Press, 2000.

Editor, Inside New York Guide, 2000.

Music Journalist, City Search New York, 1999-2000.

Activities

Representative, Columbia Graduate Student Advisory Council, 2004-2006.

Disk Jockey, WBAR, 2004-2005.

Conference Papers and Lectures

"Dante's Pater Noster, Challenge to Latinity or Cultural Manifesto?" AAIS/AATI Convention in Taormina, May 22-25, 2008.

"Le innovazioni filosofico/poetiche di Guido Cavalcanti." Lecture. CUNY Queens Department of Italian, February 11, 2008.

Translations

"Sedition and Modernity: Division as Politics and Conflict as Freedom in Machiavelli and Spinoza," by Filippo Del Lucchese. Published in Borderlands, Vol. 6, No 3, 2007.

Awards

Columbia University GSAS Summer Fellowship Recipient, 2003-2008.

Columbia University Dissertation Fellowship Recipient, 2007.

Columbia University Oldrini Fellow, 2006.

Dante Society of America, Charles Hall Grandgent Award. Paper Title: “Saint Peter Damian: Dante’s Contemplativus Militans,” 2005.

Fulbright Fellowship, 2001.

Medaglia d'Oro Award for Excellence in Italian Studies, 2000-2001.

Alighieri Scholarship recipient, 1998-2001.