Research Interests for Shahrazad Shareef

I am interested in the intellectual tradition of Italian historicism during the 20th century with a focus on Marxist philosophers like Antonio Labriola, Antonio Gramsci, and Benedetto Croce. My research goal is to understand the fate of the philosophy of praxis, a high culture dialectically fused to a low culture in which intellectuals affirm and subvert the popular philosophy of the masses in order to create a critical and coherent philiosophy, underwritng the ascension of the popular classes to a universal level. My dissertation, "Gramsci 1954: Italian Intellectuals, the RAI, and the Philosophy of Praxis" asks about transformations in the character of philosophy in 1954, at a moment when a new strata of Italian intellectuals emerged in connection with the expansion of the RAI and the beginning of national television service. This interdisciplinary project, located in the throes of the mid-century economic and cultural transition in Italian history is simultaneously in conversation with Marxism, media studies, and intellectual history.

Keywords:

Continental philosophy, Critical theory, Dialectical materialism, Historicism, Intellectual history, Marxism, Philosophy, Television