Francesca Romana Ammaturo is Senior Lecturer in Sociology and International Relations at the School of Social Sciences and Professions.
Francesca obtained a BA and MA in International Relations from the University of Bologna. In 2009 she started a Ph.D. in Sociology at Goldsmiths with a prestigious ESRC 3+1 Scholarship, which she completed in 2015, together with and MA in Social Research. Her Doctoral work focused on a socio-legal analysis of the case law of the European Court of Human Rights on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity. For her fieldwork, in 2010, she has visited and worked at the Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe in Strasburg.
After completing her Ph.D. Francesca Romana has worked for seven years first as Lecturer, and then as Senior Lecturer, in the Department of Social Sciences at the University of Roehampton. During this time, she has convened two MAs (MA Human Rights and International Relations, and Erasmus Mundus MA Human Rights, Policy and Practice).
In 2017, Francesca has published a monograph for Palgrave titled 'European Sexual Citizenship: Human Rights, Bodies and Identities', as an adaptation from her doctoral dissertation. Since 2014, her research has been published in various peer-reviewed journals in the social sciences.
Francesca Romana has experience in teaching Gender and Sexuality, the Sociology of Human Rights, Social Research Methods, Human Rights Campaigning and Social Movements, Global Sociology, as well as Disability Studies, Social Policy, and Feminist and Decolonial Theory.
Francesca Romana's Research contributes in a substantial, original, and innovative manner to the critical study of LGBTQI+ rights and social movements in Europe beyond the framework of liberal LGBTQIA+ politics. She is interested in exploring the intersectional politics of LGBTQIA+ rights and Social Movements, particularly at the crossroads between the urban/rural divide; and in connection with dynamics of globalisation/ glocalisation of LGBTQI+ cultures and identities across different geographical settings.
In particular, Francesca Romana's work focuses on two axes:
- How legal institutions and language in creating LGBTQIA+ identities and sexual citizenship characterised by a desire to be assimilated and become respectable, as opposed to highlighting difference and challenging the status quo.
- The role of Pride Events and LGBTQIA+ Social Movements in Europe in translating LGBT activism across cultures, conflicts within LGBT activism itself, as well as on peripheral and forgotten stories of activism at the margins of Europe.
Her current research is titled ‘The Future of Pride after Covid-19’ and consists of a qualitative study with Pride Organisers from around the world to discuss the impact of Covid-19 on the organisation of Pride Events. This is based on interviews with over 60 Pride Organisers from around the world. The outcomes of this research will be the production of a free PDF report that will be shared with Pride Organisers and can be used as an advocacy/fundraising tool; as well as the publication of one academic article in 2023/24.
This research, has been undertaken in a partnership with InterPride, the global organisation for Pride Organisers. This research will practically help Pride Organisers to mobilise networks, resources, and strategies to recover from the effects of Covid-19 on the organisation of their local events.
Francesca is member of the Global Diversities and Inequalities Research Centre at London Metropolitan University.
Published Articles
Ammaturo, F.R. (2022). Pride Events in the Periphery between Hyper-Localisation and Hyper-Contextualisation: A Comparison between Italy and the UK. Journal of Policy Research in Tourism, Leisure and Events, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/19407963.2022.2046013. [Special Issue on ‘The Transformative Power of Small Scale LGBTQI+ Festivals and Events’].
Ammaturo, F.R. and Moscati, M.F. (2021). Children’s Rights and Gender Identity: A New Frontier of Children’s Protagonism? Nordic Journal of Human Rights 39(2): 146-162. [Special Issue on ‘New Frontiers in Children’s Rights’].
Ammaturo, F.R. (2020). Framing and Shaming: LGBT Activism, Feminism and the Construction of “Gestational Surrogacy” in Italy. Social Movement Studies 19(4): 447-463.
Ammaturo, F.R. (2019). “The more south you go, the more frankly you can speak”: Metronormativity, Critical Regionality and the LGBT Movement in Salento, South-Eastern Italy. Current Sociology 67(1): 79-99.
Ammaturo, F.R. (2019). The Council of Europe and the Creation of LGBT Identities through Language and Discourse: a Critical Analysis of Case Law and Institutional Practices. The International Journal of Human Rights 23(4): 575-595.
Ammaturo, F.R. (2018). Raising Queer Children and Children of Queer parents: Children’s Political Agency and Hannah Arendt’s concept of “Parental Responsibility”. Sexualities 22(7-8): 1149-1163.
Ammaturo, F.R. (2018). Europe and Whiteness: Challenges to European Identity and European Citizenship in Light of Brexit and the ‘Refugees / Migrants Crisis’. European Journal of Social Theory 22(4): 548-566.
Ammaturo, F.R. (2016). Intersexuality and the “Right to Bodily Integrity”: Critical Reflections on Female Genital Cutting, Circumcision and Intersex Normalising Surgeries” in Europe. Social and Legal Studies 25(5): 591-610.
Ammaturo, F.R. (2016). Spaces of Pride: A Visual Ethnography of Gay Pride Parades in Italy and the United Kingdom. Social Movement Studies 15(1): 19-40.
Ammaturo, F.R. (2015). The “Pink Agenda”: Questioning and Challenging European Homonationalist Sexual Citizenship. Sociology 49(6): 1151-1166.
Ammaturo, F.R. (2014). The Right to a Privilege? Homonormativity and the Recognition of Same-sex Couples in Europe. Social and Legal Studies 23(2): 175-194.
Books
Ammaturo, F.R. (forthcoming, 2025). Pride Politics and Modernity: Local and Global Challenges. Bristol: Bristol University Press.
Ammaturo, F.R. (2017). European Sexual Citizenship: Human Rights, Bodies and Identities. Basingstoke: Palgrave.
Book Chapters
Ammaturo, F.R., Melvin, J. (forthcoming). Teaching the Political Sociology of Human Rights. In Outhwaite, W., Ray, L. (forthcoming) Teaching Political Sociology. Cheltenham: Elgar.
Ammaturo, F.R. and Burchiellaro, O. (2021). The Queer House Party: Solidarity and LGBTQI+ Community-Making in Pandemic Times. In Smith, G., Hughes, T., Adams, L. & Obijiaku, C. (eds.) (2021). Democracy in a Pandemic: Participation in Response to Crisis, pp. 83-89. University of Westminster Press.
Ammaturo, F.R. (2019). (Invited Chapter) Pride Parades and Marches. In Chiang H 2019. Global Encyclopedia of Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) History. Farmington Hills: Charles Scribner’s Sons.
Ammaturo, F.R. (2018). Can Human Rights Exist without Gender? LGBTQI Issues and the Council of Europe. In Agha P (ed) 2018. Law, Politics and the Gender Binary. Institutional Politics and Legal Regulations. London: Routledge, pp. 41-52.
Ammaturo, F.R. (2015). Access to Justice for Intersex Persons in Europe: Mobilising Strategic Storytelling? Lorenzetti, A and Moscati, MF (eds.) 2015. LGBTI Persons and Access to Justice. London: Wildy, Simmons and Hill Publishing, pp. 28-49.
2023 – Summer School – Re-imagining Global Justice Within and Through the University (Central European University, Budapest)
2023 – Strictly Come Writing – The Sociological Review Writing Retreat
2022 – Erasmus Plus Teaching Scholarship for a 5-days long mobility project to teach at the University of Deusto (Human Rights Programme)
2019 – Application for a five-year Grant for the Erasmus Mundus Joint Master’s Degree (University of Roehampton, University of Gothenburg, University of Deusto)
2019 – Erasmus Plus Teaching Scholarship for a 3-days long mobility project to teach at the University of Verona (Department of Human Sciences)
2017 – Erasmus Plus Teaching Scholarship for a 4-days long mobility project to teach at the University of Bologna (Department of Political Science)
2016 – Keast Lion Scholarship to attend “13th Conference on Citizenship Studies” (Wayne State University, Detroit, USA)
2014 – Grant from ‘Hackney and City Mind’ to produce a report on experiences of healthcare for LGBT persons in the Borough of Hackney, London
2010 – Scholarship (3+1) for a Ph.D. in Sociology and MA in Social Research in issued by the UK Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)
2010 – Prize “Mara Baiocchi, DiGayProject” - Best Graduate Dissertation (Master) in LGBT Studies
Member to the Board of 'Sociology', Official Journal of the British Sociological Association
Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA)
2021 – Interview with PinkNews: ‘Big Brand Backlash, Protest and the Pandemic: Has the Pride ‘Bubble’ bursted forever?’ Available at: https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2021/06/30/pride-month-lgbt-future-protest/.
2018 – Interview with Them.us: ‘Is it Possible to Escape the Commercialisation of Pride?’. Available at: https://www.them.us/story/pride-commercialization.
Dr Francesca Romana Ammaturo
Senior Lecturer in Sociology and International Relations
f.ammaturo@londonmet.ac.uk