About

Loredana Polezzi is the Alfonse M. D’Amato Chair in Italian American and Italian Studies at Stony Brook University, having joined the institution in September 2020. She completed her undergraduate studies at the Università degli Studi di Siena in Italy and earned her M.A. and Ph.D. at the University of Warwick in the UK. Her academic career includes work at Warwick and Cardiff University. Her research interests encompass contemporary Italian travel writing, colonial and postcolonial literature, migrant and diasporic cultures, translingualism, and self-translation. She is a founding editor of the ‘Transnational Modern Languages’ book series published by Liverpool University Press and has co-edited volumes on travel writing and Italian studies. Her scholarly work explores themes of transnational and diasporic Italian studies, Italian American studies, travel and migrant writing, translation studies, multilingualism, and multilingual education. She has been involved in numerous research projects, collaborations, and academic initiatives, and has received several awards and honors, including fellowship in the Learned Society of Wales and presidency of the International Association for Translation and Intercultural Studies.

Research topics

• Political Science
• Social Science
• Computer Science
• History
• Sociology
• Biology
• Linguistics
• Anthropology
• Aesthetics
• Art
• World Wide Web
• Philosophy
• Genetics
• Literature

Selected publications

• The Anxiety of Mediation

  MLN · 2025-01-01

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Abstract: The article examines the processes of cultural mediation that characterize the relationship between Italian and Italian American culture in the central decades of the twentieth century. Through the notion of "anxiety of mediation," it explores how such exchanges contributed to shaping transatlantic perceptions of Italian American culture. The analysis concentrates on two narratives characterized by opposite trajectories (from Italy to the United States and vice versa) and different genres (from journalism to literary works and their translation). On the one hand, it explores mid-century Italian accounts of Italian American life, such as the essays collected in Amerigo Ruggieri's Italiani in America (1937) and Giuseppe Prezzolini's I trapiantati (1963). On the other, it follows the parable of Italian American author Pietro Di Donato, his reception in the United States and Italy, and his attempts to position himself as a cultural mediator between the two countries.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Words, bodies, and places

  2025-03-18

  book-chapterSenior author

  Taking its move from recent productions directed by Karin Coonrod for Compagnia de’ Colombari, this conversation explores what happens when canonic English and American texts are translated for the stage through a consciously contemporary critical lens which foregrounds questions of linguistic, cultural, ethnic, and religious identity. Reflecting on these productions from the point of view of the creator/director and of a viewer/listener, we aim to explore how processes of translation articulate the negotiation of difference and produce “explosive” re-readings of “white English/American classics”, opening them up to questions about voices, bodies, and their positionalities, thus inviting audiences to think and feel differently about each work.

  PublisherDOI

• Introduction

  2024-08-28

  book-chapter

  This Handbook deals with the ever-evolving practices and attitudes surrounding migration and translation, redefining these two terms in light of their intricate intersections and recurring connections. With an interdisciplinary and transnational perspective, the volume highlights the broad scope of migration and translation not only as linguistic and geographical phenomena, but also cultural, social, artistic and psychological processes. The book’s strong focus on the link between translation and migration reflects the growing recognition of the influence of multilingualism on promoting social cohesion and inclusivity. It also reflects a shift in translation studies away from a rigid conceptualisation of translation as a binary transfer – defined by inherent dichotomies and unidirectional movement – towards exploring issues of power, agency and visibility. The volume reveals how migration challenges limited conceptualisations of identity and belonging by resisting containment within specific linguistic and cultural spaces, thereby also exposing the limitations of monolingual, monocultural models of nationhood. Through a diverse range of approaches and methodologies, the individual chapters investigate specific historical circumstances, how the unequal distribution of translation labour is associated with power asymmetries and social inequalities, and the need for an intersectional approach to the question of language access that acknowledges the ethical complexities inherent in language mediation. Ultimately, this volume highlights the inherently political nature of translation and its potential to shape social and cultural inclusion, emphasising the crucial role of language and translation in informing professional practice, institutional policies, educational approaches and community attitudes towards migration, and thereby contributing to ongoing global discussions on linguistic hospitality and diversity.

  PublisherDOI

• The Routledge Handbook of Translation and Migration

  2024-08-28 · 5 citations

  book

  This chapter discusses uses of machine translation as a communication tool in migration contexts. The focus of the chapter is on the interface between MT tools and non-linguist end users. The discussion is divided into three main sections. The first looks at examples of machine translation development that are particularly relevant for migration. The second section examines the perspectives of individuals, including international migrants themselves as well as professionals who are on the frontline of communication with migrant communities. The third section discusses organisational factors in machine translation deployment. The chapter concludes by calling for a distinction between individual and organisational uses of machine translation. It highlights how the risks of using the technology are not always felt equally and need to be considered in the context of social, economic and geopolitical factors.

  PublisherDOI

• Travel and Gender in Translation

  2024-11-22

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding

  This contribution considers the different agencies involved in the process of translating travel writing and how these can inflect the treatment of questions of gender and sexuality (and, to a lesser extent, race, religion, national or cultural identity). It focuses on the travel diaries of Isabelle Eberhardt and their successive editions in three languages: French, Italian, and English. The analysis encompasses textual and paratextual features, aiming to show how varied versions of the text and visions of the author – sometimes coherent, sometimes conflicting – are produced in each instance. At the methodological level, the case study aims to show how a layered, intersectional approach can illuminate translation’s impact on specific, situated processes of cultural representation.

  PublisherDOI

• Beyond the National Paradigm

  Oxford University Press eBooks · 2024-12-18

  book-chapterSenior author

  Abstract This chapter discusses the impact of a combined transnational and translational methodology on definitions of “Italian literature” and on the critical reading practices that inform the approach to literary texts. It calls into question assumptions of geographic, cultural, or linguistic homogeneity and their historical role in defining an Italian literary canon as well as ideas of “Italianness,” arguing instead in favor of a more fluid and inclusive notion of “Italian literature.” Using examples that range from colonial and postcolonial to diasporic and translingual writing, as well as recent (re)translations of classics, the article aims to illustrate the porous nature of the production, circulation, and reception of literary works, as well as the political nature of all acts of reading. It suggests how a transnational and translational approach to literature promotes a reading experience that is consonant with the complex interweaving of cultures that characterizes the realities in which we live.

  PublisherDOI

• Translation and mediation

  2024-04-12

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding

  Translation is frequently relegated to the margins of language education, either as an outdated pedagogical method or as a specialist set of skills which are only relevant to advanced learners intending to become professional translators and interpreters. A new appreciation of the pedagogical role of translation is emerging, however, in parallel with what has been identified as ‘the multilingual turn’ in language education and with broader, less rigid conceptualizations which bring notions of translation and mediation in close contact with each other. The present article argues for a redefinition of translation as part of a continuum of practices which include not just interlingual translation but also self-translation, translanguaging and other forms of linguistic mediation. Having redefined translation as the ability to move between languages and across complex linguistic repertoires, the chapter will present a discussion of the links connecting translation with mediation and of the fundamental role both practices can play in language education. This move requires a reassessment of how we define and represent not just translation and its relationship with mediation but also language and language learning. Labels such as ‘mother tongue’, ‘native speaker’ or ‘foreign languages’ build on powerful metaphorical images which reinforce and naturalize monolingualism as a normative condition. Learners’ language repertoires, however, are much more complex and dynamic. Raising awareness of these realities is a crucial step in the development of mediation skills and can help us to counter prevailing views which favour negative attitudes marked by what I call ‘language indifference’.

  PublisherDOI

• Introduction: Critical issues in Transnational Italian Studies

  Forum Italicum A Journal of Italian Studies · 2023 · 9 citations

  • Political Science
  • History
  • Political Science
  PublisherDOI

• Translating, repositioning, reframing: On the transatlantic routes of objects and memories

  Forum Italicum A Journal of Italian Studies · 2023-06-01

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Il privilegio del ritorno

  Altreitalie · 2022-01-01

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  L’imperativo dell’assenza Il 23 maggio 1929, una delle sorelle di mia nonna, Iole, sposava un compaesano, Giuseppe, a Cortona, la cittadina toscana in cui entrambi erano nati. Iole era una delle sette figlie di Vincenzo e Adriana, bisnonni che non ho mai conosciuto. Mia nonna era la maggiore di quelle sette sorelle. I racconti familiari vogliono che con l’arrivo della più piccola, Gemma, Vincenzo si fosse arreso e avesse smesso di ‘cercare’ il figlio maschio come decretava l’immutata tradizio...

  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Charles Burdett

  University of London

  6 shared

• Rita Wilson

  California University of Pennsylvania

  4 shared

• Roberto Di Napoli

  St George's, University of London

  4 shared

• Charlotte Ross

  4 shared

• Dirk Delabastita

  3 shared

• Barbara Spadaro

  University of Liverpool

  2 shared

• Brigid Maher

  2 shared

• Sue-Ann Harding

  Queen's University Belfast

  2 shared

Awards & honors

• Fellow, Learned Society of Wales (2017-)
• President, IATIS – International Association for Translation…
• Visiting Professor in Translation and in Italian American St…
• Arts and Humanities Research Council, Strategic ODA College…
• Gold Commendation for service (2019)