You are here

  1. Home
  2. Dr Alessandra Marino

Dr Alessandra Marino

Alessandra Marino

Profile summary

Professional biography

I currently work as Research Fellow in International Development within AstrobiologyOU. My interest is in critical Development Studies and issues of justice, equality and ethics. In my role, I look at how postcolonial and decolonial studies can contribute to current debates on knowledge production within space science and to decolonising astrobiology research methods. My research also explores how space technologies are used in International Development programmes funded by different Space Agencies to understand how effective they are at changing people's lives. This strand of research utilises and adapts the theory of 'Inclusive Innovation'. I have been a Co-PI of the UKSA-funded project DETECT (2020-2021) and am involved in other projects on space research and policy.

I hold a PhD in Postcolonial and Cultural Studies awarded by the University of Naples, L’Orientale (Italy); my doctoral work looked at appropriations and adaptations of Shakespeare in India and led to the publication of the edited volume Shakespeare in India (Editoria e Spettacolo, 2012). In my postdoctoral research, I continued working on the relationship between literary productions and politics in the ERC-funded project 'Citizenship after Orientalism' led by Engin Isin. My monograph Acts of Angry writing (Wayne State University Press, 2015) is based on fieldwork in tribal areas in Northern India. It looks at the limits of theorising political subjectivity within citizenship studies and demonstrates how big infrastructural projects, like the Sardar Sarovar mega-dam, and the constraints of the postcolonial legal systems have marginalised Indigenous communities. More broadly, I have published on gender, citizenship, and visual arts.

Research interests

My research interests are in Postcolonial Theory; Feminist Philosophy of Science; Critical Development Studies; Inclusive Innovation; Citizenship Studies.

Teaching interests

I am contributing to the D325 module (in production) in Geography, working on the politics of knowledge production.

External collaborations

I am currently a Visiting Researcher for the Centre for a Spacefaring Civilization (https://www.spacefaringcivilization.space/)

Publications

Space technologies for development? Practicing sovereignty, beyond inclusion (2024)
Marino, Alessandra; Berardi, Andrea; Mistry, Jayalaxshmi; Jafferally, Deirdre; Marcus, Carol Ann; Albert, Grace; David, Nyola; Duncan, Monalisa; Jacobs, Caroline; David, Everson; Holden, Felix; Lourindo, Louwana; Moses, Chance; Roberts, Anthony; Singh, Victorine and Xavier, Rebecca
Environment and Planning D: Society and Space ((Early access))


Centring Environmentalism in Space Governance: Interrogating Dominance and Authority Through a Critical Legal Geography of Outer Space (2023)
Marino, Alessandra and Cheney, Thomas
Space Policy, 63(101521)


Astroenvironmentalism as SF (2023)
Marino, Alessandra
Environmental Humanities, 15(1) (pp. 25-43)


Ethical considerations for analogue fieldwork in extreme environments (2023)
Marino, Alessandra; Franchi, Fulvio; Lebogang, Lesedi; Gomez, Fernando J.; Azua-Bustos, Armando; Cavalazzi, Barbara; Balcha, Ermias; Lynch, Kennda; Bhagwat, Shonil A. and Olsson-Francis, Karen
Nature Astronomy, 7(9) (pp. 1031-1036)


Colonizing Space: The Argument from an Obligation to Future Generations (2023)
Matravers, Derek; Marino, Alessandra and Trevino, Natalie
International Journal of Applied Philosophy, 37(1) (pp. 1-10)


A case study from Guyana of adapting engaged research design to promote ‘fairness in knowing’ (2022)
Holliman, Richard; Marino, Alessandra; Grand, Ann; Berardi, Andrea; Mistry, Jay; Jafferally, Deirdre; Thomas, Raquel; Roberts, Grace; Marcus, Carol-Ann; Roopsind, Indranee and Roberts, Anthony
Research for All, 6(1) (pp. 1-17)


"Where is the time to sleep?" Orientalism and citizenship in Mahasweta Devi’s writing (2014)
Marino, Alessandra
Journal of Postcolonial Writing, 50(6) (pp. 688-700)


Acts of Angry Writing (2015-12)
Marino, Alessandra
Series in Citizenship Studies
ISBN : 9780814340578 | Publisher : Wayne State University Press


Unearthing Global Justice: From Space to Inter-Planetary Ethics (2024-03-22)
Matravers, Derek; Marino, Alessandra and Treviño, Natalie
In: Garasic, Mirko Daniel and Di Paola, Marcello eds. The Philosophy of Outer Space (pp. 127-138)
ISBN : 9781003374381 | Publisher : Routledge | Published : London


Canti di Rabbia, Frammenti di Vita (2018)
Marino, Alessandra
In: Chambers, I.; Curti, L. and Quadraro, M. eds. Ritorni Critici. La Sfida degli Studi Culturali in Italia (pp. 63-76)
ISBN : 9788883537905 | Publisher : Meltemi | Published : Bologna


Resisting Slow violence: Writing, Activism and Environmentalism (2017)
Marino, Alessandra
In: Srivastava, N. and Ciocca, R. eds. Indian Literature and the World (pp. 177-197)
ISBN : 9781137545497 | Publisher : Palgrave Macmillan | Published : London


Performing Citizenship: Acts of writing (2015)
Marino, Alessandra
In: Isin, Engin F. ed. Citizenship after Orientalism. Palgrave Studies in Citizenship Transitions (pp. 189-206)
ISBN : 9781349556205 | Publisher : Palgrave Macmillan | Published : London


Orientalism and the Politics of Contemporary Art Exhibitions (2014)
Marino, Alessandra
In: Chambers, I.; De Angelis, A.; Ianniciello, C.; Quadraro, M. and Orabona, M. eds. The Postcolonial Museum. The Arts of Memory and the Pressures of History (pp. 185-194)
ISBN : 9781472415677 | Publisher : Ashgate


Transforming astrobiology research and innovation: embedding an ethos of engaged research (2021-05-25)
Holliman, Richard; Marino, Alessandra; Berardi, Andrea; Grand, Ann; Mistry, Jay; Jafferally, Deirdre; Thomas, Raquel; Roberts, Grace; Marcus, Carol-Ann; Roopsind, Indranee; Roberts, Anthony; Davies, Sarah-Jane; Pearson, Victoria; Cooper, Hannah and Olsson-Francis, Karen
In : Public Communication of Science and Technology Conference: Time, Technology and Transformation (24-27 May 2021, Online)