Sean Wyer

I currently live between Oxford and London, when I'm not doing research in Italy. Outside academia, I occasionally write for food publications like Vittles and, until very recently, Eater London. 

Most of my writing is about food, culture, and heritage, like my article for Eater London on the campaign to save the Strand's historic India Club, or my essay for Vittles about a multinational Italian market giant: Eataly the Invention of Italian Cuisine. 

I have an occasional newsletter, which you can read here; if you subscribe, you can receive it straight to your inbox.

More of my articles can be found here; send me an email if you would like to discuss commissions.

I am a postdoctoral researcher in Italian, based at the University of Oxford. In spring 2024, I received my PhD in Italian Studies from the University of California, Berkeley, where I held a Charlotte W. Newcombe Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship during my last academic year.

My current research, which focuses on Palermo, investigates contemporary perceptions of Sicily's Islamic and Jewish heritage. I am also interested in food and identity formation, and am currently working on a separate project on hyper-local culinary traditions in Italy.

Recent publications:

"'Palermo is a Mosaic: Cosmopolitan Rhetoric in the Capital of Sicily", published in Modern Italy (2024).

"Peeling Back the Artichoke Leaves: Symbolism and Origin Stories in Jewish-Roman Cuisine", published in Food, Culture & Society (2024).

"'Sicily Can Be Very Seductive': The White Lotus and the Transnational 'Making' of the Mediterranean", co-authored with Maggie Neil, published in The Italianist (2023).

"Gourmet and the Ghetto: The Foodification of Rome's Historic Jewish Quarter", published in issue 23.3 of Gastronomica (2023).