I teach on the Hispanic Studies, Comparative Literature and Culture, Liberal Arts, and Translation Studies programmes in the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures; I have also taught on the Humanities Foundation Year. Both my teaching and my research are rooted in comparative and transnational approaches. A specialist in medieval and early modern literatures of the Hispanic world, I am interested in cultural translation, reception, and cross-cultural exchange; questions of gender, alterity, and the human condition; the uses and representations of the past in contemporary culture; and storytelling as an act of worldmaking.

Among the modules I teach are ML2206 Histories of Representation, ML2207 Critical and Comparative Approaches, LA1000 Liberal Arts 1: Cultural Encounters, SN2400 Advanced Spanish Translation, as well as the more research focused ML3214 Early Global Iberias: The Text in the World, the World in the Text. I am currently developing new modules in World Literature and Culture.

I am author of Celestina and the Human Condition in Early Modern Spain and Italy (Tamesis, 2017), which examines the reception of the late medieval Spanish masterpiece Celestina in the context of philosophical debates about the human condition, and co-editor of Al-Andalus in Motion: Travelling Concepts and Cross-Cultural Contexts (Boydell & Brewer, 2021), a collection of essays which explore how al-Andalus has been transformed into a ‘travelling concept’, transcending its original geographic and historical location to become a figure of thought with global impact across the centuries. I have also published book chapters and articles on medieval and early modern literature, inclusive curricula in Modern Languages, and the relationship between Modern Languages and World Literature.

I am currently working on a book about the medieval and early modern European reception of Kalila wa-Dimna, a collection of Arabic fables that originated in India which exemplifies the fluidity and transnationality of earlier literatures. As part of this research, I have worked with artists, curators, arts organisations, and school children on an Arts Council England-funded project, Ancient Tales for Troubled Times, which resulted in an exhibition at the P21 Gallery in London and accompanying programme of public events during May-June 2022.

I am passionate about public engagement and advocating for the importance of global literatures and cultures, and languages, in contemporary society. In addition to the above collaboration, I have led workshops for primary and secondary schools and the public as part of large-scale events such as Being Human Festival of the Humanities.

Before joining Royal Holloway, I was a postdoctoral researcher on the Arts and Humanities Research Council’s flagship Open World Research Initiative project Language Acts and Worldmaking (2017-2020).

More information about my research is available on PURE.

Twitter: @rach_scottie