Dr Cristina Marinetti

(she/her)

Publication

• Date
• Type
• Promoted

Research

My research focuses on translation as a creative, socially embedded, and interdisciplinary practice. With a background in both language and literature and theatre and performance studies, I investigate translation both historically and in contemporary contexts, with a focus on its creative, political, and civic dimensions. I have particular expertise in literary translation and have worked as a theatre translator, with my translations published and performed internationally. I also use self-ethnographic methods to reflect critically on my own translation practice.

My current monograph project, Venice as a Translational City: Citizen Narratives, Performance and Global Tourism(forthcoming with Routledge), examines the effects of mass tourism on language, culture, and citizenship in Venice. Through interviews, performance analysis, and ethnographic research, the book documents how residents use theatre, storytelling, and multilingual practices to resist cultural erasure and reclaim the spaces of the city. Funded by the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, this research positions Venice as a site of urgent global relevance, while contributing to emerging work on the translational city and the cultural politics of tourism. As part of this work, I have become an associate member of PER Venezia Consapevole, one of Venice’s leading resident associations, while also advising and supporting a range of Venetian arts associations.

More broadly, I examine translation as a creative and socially embedded practice. My broader research challenges the dominant association of translation with written text and the ideology of print, advocating instead for an understanding of translation as a profoundly human, embodied, and interactive process. This approach is developed in my co-edited volume Translation in the Performing Arts (Routledge, 2025), which expands the boundaries of Translation Studies by exploring how meaning is created and transmitted through movement, gesture, sound, space, and voice. The book brings together international scholars and practitioners to examine how translation operates within and across theatre, dance, opera, sign language performance, and digital media. It responds to growing demands for materialist and multimodal approaches to translation and highlights how translation in performance resists automation, instead foregrounding presence, relationality, and inclusion.

I have also published on the history of theatre translation and censorship, tracing the role of invisible agents —such as actors, censors, and theatre managers—in shaping how performance texts move across cultures. My work on eighteenth-century translation uncovers the overlooked role of women as ‘domestic censors’ and reframes theatre archives as vital resources for recovering marginalized translational labour.

I am committed to public-facing research that positions translation as a form of civic and cultural participation. Projects such as the EU-funded WISE Project (2012-2015) and the AHRC-funded Book Kernel: Dylan Thomas in Translation (2012-12) have explored translation as a participatory practice that enables intergenerational storytelling and cross-cultural dialogue. These collaborations with theatre companies and community groups have had real-world impact on artistic practice, expanding repertoires and integrating translation into creative processes.

Alongside my research and public engagement, I lead the International Association for Translation and Intercultural Studies (IATIS) in my role as Chair of its Executive Board. IATIS is an international network of scholars and practitioners across more than 35 countries, dedicated to advancing research and dialogue in translation and intercultural studies. My responsibilities include guiding the organisation’s strategic direction, overseeing governance and finances, and supporting its publishing and event activities. I also work to build partnerships with academic institutions, professional associations, and advocacy groups, with a focus on fostering collaboration and promoting the relevance of translation and intercultural studies within and beyond academia.

Across all of this work, I aim to reposition translation as a key method for understanding our global, multilingual, and interdependent world. This is a mode of critical thinking, artistic collaboration, and civic participation that is vital to the future of the Humanities.

Teaching

I currently teach translation theory and practice in Year 2 and 3 (Principles of Translation Theory, Translating Cultures) and convene our successful MA in Translation Studies, leading and contributing to a number of modules (Theories of Translation, Translation as Creative Practice, Translation and Cultures, Translation History)

I have extensive and proven experience in the supervision of MA dissertations in translation studies and in the joint supervision of PhD and post-doctoral research. A significant feature of my teaching and supervision experience has been working with students from very different cultural backgrounds. I would welcome applications from doctoral candidates working in several areas within translation studies but especially:

• cultural approaches to translation
• theatre translation and adaptation
• translation sociology
• historical and archival research on translation
• translation and minority languages
• translation and censorship
• translation and tourism
• translation and children literature

Biography

I graduated with a BA in Modern Languages from the University of Venice (Ca’ Foscari) in 2001. In 2002 I moved to Warwick where I completed an MA in Translation Studies (2003) and then a PhD on translation and theatre history (2008) with Prof. Susan Bassnett. I lectured at Warwick until September 2012 when I moved to Cardiff to take up my current post as Lecturer, Senior Lecturer (2018) and Reader (2024) in Translation Studies.

Before embarking on an academic career, I worked as a freelance theatre translator (Piccolo Teatro, Centro Universitario Teatrale di Venezia, Biennale di Venezia, Scuola Paolo Grassi) as translator and location researcher for BBC Education (Italy Inside Out, Talk Italian, Caravaggio the Artist and the Man), as an interpreter and guide for Venice city council and as a public service interpreter for Warwickshire county council.

Honours and awards

• 2023 Nominated for the TAPRA Prize for the categories of Best edited collection for Translation and performance cultures: Translation Studies: Vol 15, No 3 (tandfonline.com).
• 2022 Delmas Foundation Venetian Research Grant (£4,800) for 'Resisting Translation: citizen theatre, overtourism and language relations in contemporary Venice'.
• 2021 Appointed Chair of the Executive Committee of the International Association of Translation and Intercultural Studies (IATIS) International Association for Translation and Intercultural Studies (iatis.org)
• 2021-23 Supervisor for two EU MSCA Individual Fellowships [Trans in Translation: Multilingual practices and local/global gender and sexuality discourses in Polish transition narratives - CONVERIS Research Information System by Thomson Reuters: - Converis Standard Config (clarivate.com) and When Accessibility Becomes Performance: Sign Language Interpreting in Music and Live Concerts as Performative Rewriting | WABP | Project | Fact sheet | H2020 | CORDIS | European Commission (europa.eu)]
• 2013-15 EU Grundvick Funding (Euros 80,000) Wise: A Story about Europe (Welcome to WISE (wisecampus.eu)
• 2012 AHRC REACT Funding (50,000): Book Kernel Project, co-investigator with Prof Alexis Nouss and Dr Bambo Soyinka)
• 2010 Warwick University Roberts Fund
• 2007 British Academy conference grant 
• 2005 Department of Education and Skills (DfES) Enhancing curriculum grant
• 2003 University of Warwick Postgraduate Research Fellowship
• 2003 Arts and Humanities Research Board Doctoral Fellowship

Professional memberships

• Member of the Chartered Institute of Linguists (MCIL)
• Member of the European Society for Translation Studies (EST)
• Member of the International sociation of Translation and Intercultural Studies (IATIS)
• Member of the Italian Society of Authors (SIAE)

Supervisions

I am interested in supervising PhD stuents in the areas of:

• Translation and Society
• Translation and Performance
• Translation and Theatre History
• Multilingualism and translation

Current supervision

Zi Ye

Qipeng Gao

Albandari Alhajeri

Aaron Pelcomb

Nawaf Alsubaie