Research: Internment and mental distress: representation and testimony in the Italian literary culture in the Twentieth century and in post Basaglia law” period.
Mara Sabia (born in Potenza in 1983) holds her Bachelor Degree in Modern Age Italian Literature at the University of Basilicata in 2006; her thesis in Contemporary Italian Literature was entitled "Alda Merini or the indissoluble bond between poetry and life” (supervisor: Prof. Anna Maria Andreoli).
In 2010, at the University of Basilicata, she obtained her Master Degree in Linguistics, Philology and Literature of the Modern Age, with a thesis entitled: "The mental hospital representation in the literary culture of the Italian twentieth century" (supervisor: Prof . Andrea Torre; co-supervisor Prof. Maria Pia Ellero). This research regards the asylum representation in Italian literature in the Twentieth Century, starting from a possible history of thematic criticism and its following perspectives, then the author made a research to select and analyze some of the most important literary operas focused on the asylum theme in the Italian literary panorama in the Twentieth century, finding a series of recurring topoi. This research was completed by a focus on the attempts of doctors in using writing as a way to the rehabilitation, with the study cases of Dino Campana and Alda Merini, two important Italian poets whose life was marked by psychosis and internment in mental hospital. The research was completed also by some unpublished poems by Alda Merini, dedicated to the psychiatrist Dr. Marcella Rizzo, found at the “Fondo Merini”, in the “Centro Manoscritti” of the University of Pavia.
This work awarded the “Alda Merini International Award” in 2015, and it was published in 2017 by the LietoColle Editore.
In 2014 Mara Sabia obtained the DITALS II certification at the University for Foreigners of Siena. At the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, also in 2014, she obtained the University Master in Behavioral Techniques for children with autism and other disorders (60 credits).
In 2015 she obtained at the University of Basilicata the qualification for teaching Italian, History and Geography in lower secondary school, and Literary subjects in secondary education institutions, with a score of 100/100 (60 credits).
In 2016 she passed the public competition to teach Italian language and literature, History and Geography in lower secondary school, Literary disciplines secondary school (Class AD04) and teach Italian language to foreigners language learners (class A023).
Since 2017 she is Full Professor in Literary subjects in the first grade State Secondary Institutes (today on extraordinary leave at the I.C. "Dante Alighieri" in Rome).
She is currently a PhD student in Italian Studies at the University of Rome “La Sapienza” (XXXVII cycle). Her research project want to continues her studies on the theme of internment and mental illness in the Italian literature production in “post Basaglia law” period and in contemporary Italian literature.