A Montgomery County Community College faculty member is celebrating the Italian translation of her latest book.

History Associate Professor Dr. Giusi Russo, a native of Siracusa, Italy, recently learned her book, “Women, Empires, and Body Politics at the United Nations, 1946–1975,” would be published in Italy and translated in Italian.

Published earlier this year, the book, according to its Nebraska Press synopsis, “tells the story of how women’s bodies were at the center of the international politics of women’s rights in the postwar period. Giusi Russo focuses on the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women and its multiple interactions with the colonial and postcolonial worlds, showing how—depending on the setting and the inquiry—liberal, imperial, and transnational feminisms could coexist.”

Dr. Russo was thrilled with the news, noting how happy she was that her book will have a new life in Italy. 

“The fact that my parents and friends will be able to read the words and make sense of it. It’s different. It’s myself and the College going internationally,” she said. “That’s a reason of personal pride.”

The book, she said, evolved from her dissertation, which she reformatted.

“I’m interested in the history of the body,” she said. “What does the body do in terms of historical encounters? When I think about colonialism, I think about race, color, gender, class, and how it was expressed through the body and that contributed to a history of oppression.”

Dr. Russo has taught at the College since 2015 when she began as an instructor and rose to the role of associate professor. Before then, she was an instructor at various State University of New York locations. She holds a Graduate Certificate, Women’s Gender, and Sexuality Studies, from the University of Connecticut, a master’s degree in European Studies, University of Connecticut and a Ph.D. in History from SUNY Binghamton.

“I finished undergrad, and started my graduate career in the U.S.,” she said. “After a brief work experience in London, I did my master’s in international studies at the University of Connecticut. I wanted to study women’s history. One of the best programs is at SUNY Binghamton. After that, I started teaching at one of the SUNY Community Colleges in Syracuse, New York. Then I decided wanted to be near a big city.”

Syracuse, she said, “has a temperature like the North Pole,” but she liked working at a community college and its mission. When she applied for a position at MCCC, she loved Blue Bell Campus and how welcoming it felt.

“The best part is my colleagues,” she said. “There’s a strong, wonderful sense of community and support.”

The College, she said, paid for the completion of her book as part of faculty development, in addition to national and international conferences she’s attended in the past.

“The College has always been very supportive,” she said.

Lianne Hartman, Associate Vice President of Academic Affairs, said Dr. Russo is an integral part of the College.

“The positive impact of Dr. Russo’s scholarship extends beyond the classroom, as Giusi has also assisted with academic policy development as a faculty member and as the current Chair of the Student Support Committee,” she said. “Her historical interrogation of issues of agency and voice inform her equity-based approach to leading discussions of College policy. We are fortunate to have her on the faculty.”

In preparation for the book’s publishing, Dr. Russo said she made sure to include her students in the process.

“I told them ‘I don’t want you to think what I teach and write about are disconnected,’” she said. “In terms of the politics of works in favor of equality or equity, this is what I also bring to my classroom. I’m invested in these topics.”

Dr. Russo is currently working on her second book, “The Aesthetics of Third Worldism in Italy, 1960s-1980s: Bodies, Spaces, and Oppression,” which, she said, explores how the Italian left approached solidarity for decolonization and liberation in the global South.  

Updated: 10/12/23