Dr Foot, how and why did you come into the profession?
That's a good question. I was working in a library in 1987 and I won a grant to do a PhD, so then I had to do a PhD. So if I hadn't won that grant I probably wouldn't have, I'd be doing something else. And also, I knew my supervisor already, he was important in what I did.
Following on to the next question, did you or do you have any role models?
Well, him, he's called Paul Ginsborg, he's a historian of Italy. So definitely him, and probably my Dad who was a journalist, writer and militant political person, so he is quite a role model as well.“
You wrote the book, Italy's Divided Memory, could you give a brief summary of the book and your findings to our readers?
So it's a study of how Italians understand their past and the key point about the book is the way that Italians are divided over their past, not just over how to remember it, but the facts as well, and what it takes is a series of stories, monuments, case studies and it looks at how these divisions take place. So you have cases where there are two plaques that have different versions of the same event or commemorations or anniversaries. So it's a series of studies which goes from the First World War to the present day and many of these debates and arguments are still on going and it takes the idea of divided memory and analyses Italy through the idea.