Nicola Cusumano, associate professor in the disciplinary sector HIST-02/A (Early Modern History), teaches at the University of Palermo (Department of Cultures and Society). He is currently coordinator of the three-year undergraduate degree programme in “Global Studies: History, Politics, Cultures” (Class L-42, History).

He is a member of the “Groupe d’étude du dix-huitième siècle, des Lumières et des Révolutions” (GEDHSR), based at the University of Liège, of the international research network EMODIR (Early Modern Religious Dissents and Radicalism), and of the “Nodo Italia Sur” of Red Columnaria (Red Temática de Investigación sobre las Fronteras de las Monarquías Ibéricas).

His research interests range from the cultural and religious history of the eighteenth century, with particular attention to the theme of accusations of ritual murder and to the world of magic and witchcraft, to the history of the book, publishing, censorship, and censorship mechanisms in the Bourbon age. He has also worked on the history of cultural institutions in the Kingdom of Sicily (eighteenth century) and, more recently, on the history of science in relation to representations of the body, madness, and psychiatric institutions in the Early Modern period. Among his monographs are: Ebrei e accusa di omicidio rituale nel Settecento. Il carteggio tra Girolamo Tartarotti e Benedetto Bonelli (1740–1748), Unicopli, “Early Modern / Studi di storia europea proto-moderna”, Milan, 2012; Joseph Sterzinger. Aufklärer teatino tra Innsbruck e Palermo (1746–1821), Palermo, Associazione Mediterranea – ricerche storiche, 2013; Libri e culture in Sicilia nel Settecento, Palermo, New Digital Press, 2016; and La stagione inquieta. Combusti mostri folli in età moderna, Milan, Unicopli (“Maelstrom”), 2022.