Austin Fisher

I am a cultural historian, with primary research interests in the history, politics and cinema of Italy and the USA. I have also published research on the cultural significance of exploitation cinema, transnational cinemas, and various kinds of “political” filmmaking. I welcome applications from research students interested in working in these and related fields.

As a Fellow of both the Royal Historical Society and the Higher Education Academy, I convene the History Research Group at Bournemouth University. My main area of expertise concerns popular Italian cinema’s engagement with the countercultural movements of the 1960s and 1970s, and I have published widely in this area. I have recently written Blood in the Streets: Histories of Violence in Italian Crime Cinema: a book about cinematic representations of political violence in 1970s Italy, which won the 2020 BAFTSS "Best Monograph" award.

I am founding co-editor of the “Global Exploitation Cinemas” book series (Bloomsbury). I also serve on the Editorial Boards of the Transnational Screens and [in]Transition journals, as well as the "Popular West" book series (Oklahoma University Press).

Between 2012 and 2017, I was founding Co-Chair of the "Transnational Cinemas" Scholarly Interest Group, of the Society for Cinema and Media Studies (SCMS).