I am a third-year doctoral student at New College. My DPhil project is jointly funded by the AHRC OOC DTP, All Souls College, and the Clarendon Fund. I hold an A.B. in Italian Studies and Cinema Studies from Bowdoin College (Brunswick, Maine, USA) and a MSt in Modern Languages (Italian) from the University of Oxford (New College). 

Research

My DPhil project explores the concept, phenomenon, and implications of smells and smelling in medieval Italian literature, ranging from the early vernacular poets to Dante, roughly 1220-1321. The project considers the sense across many contexts – scientific, medical, theological, cultural – to trace its complex literary presence in Italy during the later Middle Ages.

My broader research interests lie in literatures and histories of the body, medicine, and science.

Teaching

For 2025-2026 Hilary and Trinity terms, I am the Non-Stipendiary Lecturer in Italian at St Anne's College, where I teach Modern Italian Narrative and Cinema, Italian Lyric Poetry, and Italian Renaissance Literature.

In the Italian Sub-Faculty, I teach Italian translation into English for first-year students.

Publications

McKee, Katherine. Review of American Dantes: Traditions, Translations, Transformations, edited by Zygmunt G. Barański and Theodore J. Cachey, Jr. Modern Language Review 121.3 (2026). Pp. forthcoming.

McKee, Katherine. Review of Dante, Artist of Gesture by Heather Webb. Modern Language Review 120.2 (2025). Pp. 290-292.

McKee, Katherine. “Chronology of Roman History, 1831 to 1878,” in In Light of Rome: Early Photography in the Capital of the Art World, 1842-1871 by John F. McGuigan and Frank H. Goodyear III. The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2022. Pp. 227-228.

Conference Papers

“Enduring Smell,” Dante Futures, University of Warwick, November 21-22, 2025.

“Aulente lena: Fragrant Mediation in Duecento Italian Lyric Poetry,” Medieval Academy of America Annual Meeting, Harvard University, March 20-23, 2025.

“Smelling Purgatorio,” MLA, New Orleans, January 9-12, 2025.

“Inebrïate da li odori: Dante and Medieval Olfactory Theories,” Dante Futures, King’s College, University of Cambridge, November 15-16, 2024.

“Smell as Work in Dante’s Terrace of the Gluttons,” Work and Smell: Comparative Perspectives, Goldsmith’s, University of London, April 25-26, 2024.

“St. Catherine of Bologna’s Spiritual Breadmaking,” Rethinking Mary in Early Modern Europe: Women’s voices and the Virgin Mary, Norwegian Institute in Rome, June 23, 2023.

Prizes and Awards

Italian MSt Dissertation Prize (Best dissertation on a topic in Italian literary studies), University of Oxford (2023)

Raimondi Prize in Italian Studies (Most outstanding Italian Studies student), Bowdoin College (2022)

Phi Beta Kappa, Bowdoin College (2022)

The Dante Prize (Best Essay on Dante), Bowdoin College (2021)

Alice Guy-Blaché Award (Best Video Essay), Bowdoin College (2021)

Jasper Jacob Stahl Prize for the Study of Mediterranean Antiquity, Bowdoin College (2021)

Departmental Service

Convener, Italian Research Seminar, University of Oxford (2024-2025; 2025-2026)

President, DPhil Representative, and Italian Sub-Faculty Representative, Graduate Joint Consultative Committee for Medieval and Modern Languages Faculty, University of Oxford (2023-2024)

Committee Member, Oxford Medieval Graduate Conference (Treasurer, 2023-2024; Communications Officer, 2024-2025; Co-President, 2025-2026)