Chiara CIGARINI

Chiara Cigarini 

Current position
2022 Adjunct lecturer at Università Ca' Foscari (Venice)
2022 Adjunct lecturer at Catholic University of the Sacred Hearth (Brescia)
2022 Adjunct lecturer at University of Parma

Education
2017 – 2021 Ph.D. in Modern and Contemporary Chinese Literature 
Beijing Normal University, China 
Dissertation title: Han Song’s science fictional re-enchantment
Advisor: Prof. Wu Yan (Southern University of Science and Technology)
2012 – 2014 MA in Interpreting and Translation (Chinese, English, Italian), with honors
Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Italy
2008 – 2011 BA in Asian Languages, Markets and Cultures
Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna, Italy

Scholarships 
4-year full scholarship, Hanban - Confucius Institute’s “Ph.D. in China Fellowship”, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China (2017-2021)
3-month scholarship, Centro Interdipartimentale SELISI, Capital Normal University, Beijing, China (2014)
1-year full scholarship, The Erasmus Programme, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland (2010-2011)   

Memberships
2021  AISC (Italian Association for Chinese Studies)
2019  EACS (European Association for Chinese Studies)
Research Groups
2018 - 2021 The Research Center for Science and Human Imagination, Southern University of Science and Technology

Teaching and translation experiences
2021 - 2022 Adjunct lecturer at Università Ca' Foscari (Venice)
2021 - 2022 Adjunct lecturer at Catholic University of the Sacred Hearth (Brescia)
2021 - 2022 Adjunct lecturer at University of Parma
2016 – present  Literary translator (Chinese-Italian)
2014 – present  Freelance translator of specialized texts (Chinese-English-Italian)
2014 – 2020 Interpreter for conferences and trade fairs (Chinese-Italian)
2015 – 2017 Italian language teacher, cultural mediator, translator, China International Center for Youth Exchange, Beijing, China

Languages
Italian: native
Chinese: advanced, C2
English: advanced, C2
French: beginner, A2

Conference and workshop presentations
· “Enabling Despair and Restricting Hope in Chinese Climate Fiction”, Futures from the Margins, University of Oslo, June 27th–July 1st , 2022
· “‘Nostalgia inversa’ nella fantascienza sinofona”, XVIII Convegno dell’Associazione italiana di studi cinesi (AISC), University of Turin, November 18th-20th, 2021
· “Challenging the system by subverting the canon: re-enchanting Chinese science fiction through poetry”, London Science Fiction Research Community (LSFRC) annual conference, London (online), September 9th-11th, 2021
· “Han Song’s Supernatural Science Fiction: Re-enchanting Time, Space, Character”, 23rd Biennal Conference of the European Association for Chinese Studies (EACS), Leipzig University, online, August 24th-28th, 2021  
· “Tales of the Supernatural by Pu Songling, Lu Xun & Han Song: Enchanting the Present in Order to Change it”, 9th Internal conference “Issues of Far Eastern Literatures”, St. Petersburg University, online, January 28th-30th, 2021
· “Han Song yu Kaerweinuo: keneng shijie de wutuobang mengxiang yu fumei de chongdong” (韩松与卡尔维诺:可能世界的乌托邦梦想与复魅的冲动Han Song and Calvino: The utopian dream of the possible worlds and the impulse to re-enchant them), 科幻研究青年学者论坛, Chongqing University, online, October 17th-18th, 2020
· (with Marco Bonaglia, Han Song and Francesco Verso) “Chongqing: from the past into the future of the most cyberpunkish city of China”, Chinese Science Fiction Webinar Series, online, July 2nd, 2020
· (with Anna di Toro, Bella Han and Francesco Verso) “Tradurre la fantascienza cinese in italiano”, Chinese Science Fiction Webinar Series, online, June 24th, 2020
· “Hearing (Technological) Anomalies: An Analysis of Han Song’s ‘The Rebirth Bricks’”, Senses of Science Fiction, University of Warsaw, Warsaw,  December 5th-7th, 2019
· “Tales of (Technological) Anomalies: Han Song's ‘Metamorphic’ China”, Across the strait, Università Roma Tre, Rome, November 7th-8th, 2019
· (with Xia Jia and Francesco Verso) “Uno spazio per l’immaginazione di mondi nuovi: la letteratura di fantascienza in Cina”, The Confucius Institute of the University of Bologna, November 18th, 2019
· (with Chen Qiufan and Francesco Verso) “Incontro con lo scrittore di fantascienza Chen Qiufan”, The Confucius Institute of the University of Bologna, November 14th, 2018
· “Kongjian yalie, shijian butongbu, yetaihua geti, mihun jishu: zuowei houxiandai jingzi de zhongguo kehuan xiaoshuo” (空间压裂，时间不同步，液态化个体，迷魂技术——作为后现代镜子的中国科幻小说Spatial Fracturing, temporal desynchronization, liquid individuals, enchanted technologies: Chinese science fiction as a mirror of postmodernity) 科技时代的中国文学状况和科幻文学变革, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, June 9th, 2018
  
 Lectures
· “La narrativa fantascientifica di Han Song ai confini tra realtà e immaginazione”, Sala Confucio dell'Università per Stranieri di Siena, online, December 11th, 2020
· “Ascoltare le anomalie tecnologiche.
La fantascienza in Cina”, University of Bologna, February 21th, 2020
· “Sf exchanges between China and Italy”, Beijing Normal University, July 3rd, 2018
· “Chinese sf in translation”, Beijing Normal University, July 10th, 2018
· “A Dream within the (Chinese) dream. Nebula and contemporary Chinese science fiction”, Beijing Normal University, July 17th, 2018