Matteo Zaccarini
https://www.unibo.it/sitoweb/matteo.zaccarini2/
Profile
PhD (co-tutelle) in Bologna and King’s College London; I have carried out research at Chapel Hill (NC), Birkbeck College (London), Verona, Edinburgh, Ravenna/Bologna. Since February 2024, Associate Professor of Greek history at the University of Bologna, Dpt. Cultural Heritage (Ravenna).
My research focuses on Greek classical history, ancient historiography, and the reception of antiquity in relation to the cultural heritage. I am especially interested in the relationships between Athens and Sparta, Athenian domestic politics, Greek political history and institutions, democracy and oligarchy, and emotions in Greek historiography. I have also studied the cultural heritage of Ravenna, digital tools for the study of antiquity, and the (ab)use of Greek antiquity in 19th- to 21st-century media and public discourse.
Abstract
“Leadership, failure, and bottom-up violence”
This research will deal with spontaneous outburst of outrage from an audience in response to the perceived failure of a leader or orator to deliver his promises and acknowledge the audience’s expectations. First, the analysis shall focus on paradigmatic cases of speakers employing high-risk/high-reward communication strategies and relying, for example, on symbolic power (Bourdieu), unbalanced reciprocity, prosecution and intimidation. Second, the research shall consider examples of failures of such strategies, leading to outbursts of rage from the target audience: as a result, speakers would receive insults, verbal and/or physical violence, and even face the risk of – or directly suffering – lynching, which was not generally met with social blame on part of the community.
