Scholarly Interests
Victor M. Olivieri is a Research Fellow at the School of Social and Political Science at the University of Edinburgh and a Ph.D. Candidate at the University of Florida. His dissertation research project focuses on understanding the formation of European identity and its effects on everyday political behavior through a cross-regional comparative analysis of EU citizens' semiotic practices and the conduct of a field experiment measuring testosterone and cortisol fluctuations in EU citizens across regions of Spain and the UK. The goal is a multi-level analysis of how collective geopolitical identities interact, form European supranational identity, and impact regional, national, and European political attitudes and behavior. Theoretical implications range from a more nuanced understanding of the formation of European identity at the individual level, within and beyond the traditional boundaries of national identity, to providing a broad explanation of the relationship between collective identity and conflict across levels of analysis.
Research:
- Europeanization, identity politics and collective identity formation
- Political psychology, political culture and informal institutions
- Political ethnography, interpretivism, qualitative and mixed-method research
- Field experiments and natural experiments
Teaching:
- Comparative Politics
- State Building
- European Union Politics
- International Relations
- International Security
- Culture in International Relations
- Experimental Approaches to Political Research
- Interpretative Approaches to Political Research
- Qualitative and Multi-Method Research
- American Foreign Policy
- International Relations Issues in Human Security
- International Negotiations and Coping with Conflict
Training:
- Salivary Research Seminar and Practicum (2013)
- M.A. University of Florida (2012)
- Graduate Student Research Workshop on the EU (2012, 2013)
- Interpretive and Relational Research Methodologies Workshop (2011)
- Institute for Qualitative a Multi-Method Research (2010)
- M.A. University of Louisville (2008)
- B.A. University of Louisville (2004)
Personal Bio
My experiences growing up in Europe inevitably shape the way I view the world and approach political inquiry. I was born in Palma de Mallorca and lived in Spain until 13. Despite moving well over a dozen times in my lifetime and never really having a “home” to go back to, I feel fortunate for the type of cosmopolitan exposure I received growing up in such a culturally diverse country in Europe, by being able to travel abroad often and for long periods of time, and by having to reside in so many different places throughout the U.S. for either school or work. My story is an American story like many others, but it gets to a question that is crucial today: how are identities formed in a world of global migration and supranational integration? “Identity politics” remain powerful forces but we understand identity, especially this new identity, poorly.
