Dr Angela Tarantini

Biography

I obtained my first MA in Foreign Languages and Literatures in 2004 with a thesis on the theatre of John Keats, while working full time. I soon started tutoring and teaching while working towards a second MA in Translation, alongside my full time teaching commitmets. For my Master's thesis, I co-translated into Italian the South African novel Paying in the Light by Zoë Wicomb. Between 2005 and 2013 I tutored and lectured in English in different universities in Italy (University of Eastern Piedmont, University of Milan-Bicocca, Polytechnic University of Turin).

I then decided to combine my passion for theatre and my interest in translation, and for my doctoral research project I decided to work on theatre translation. In 2013 I was awarded an Australian Postgraduate Award (APA) and an International Postgraduate Research Scholarship (IPRS) (Grant Code 07), which allowed me to relocate from Italy and carry out my doctoral research project at Monash University in Melbourne.

I obtained my PhD at Monash University in Australia in 2017 with a thesis titled "The Effects of Translation on Performance: Translating Rhythm and Gesture in Two Plays by David Mence". My doctoral research became the basis of my first monograph titled Theatre Translation. A Practice as Research Model (Tarantini 2021) in which I advocate for the use of Practice-as-Research methodologies mediated from Theatre and the Performing Arts in Theatre Translation projects.

During and after my PhD I worked as Teaching Associate at Monash University, tutoring numerous units in Translation and Interpreting Studies, and running seminars and lectures. I also participated in many international conferences, and worked as Associate Supervisor for Melbourne University. 

Building on my previous work on translation, performance and performativity, and following my increasing interest for sign languages, I started to analyse sign language interpreting in music and live concerts as a translation and performative practice to improve access to music to d/Deaf and hard of hearing people.

My other research interests range from other aspects of Theatre Translation, such as the translation of spoken dialogue, to contemporary Australian theatre, to the languages and dialects spoken by the Italian-Australian community. I have published extensively in all these diverse areas, as well as language teaching. In the many years of teaching English to Italian students and to future primary school teachers I realised that there was no specific handbook or method to teach English pronunciation to children. Together with a colleague I wrote a handbook for primary school teachers to teach English phonetics to Italian native speaking children with a playful approach (Tarantini & Benatti 2017). Even though the text is not an academic publication, it is nevertheless a specimen of my tendency to identify and fill gaps in diverse areas and to work flexibly and creatively across different disciplines.

References:

Tarantini, Angela Tiziana. 2021. Theatre Translation: A Practice as Research Model, London: Palgrave Macmillan. Details: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-70202-1, eBook ISBN978-3-030-70202-1, Hardcover ISBN978-3-030-70201-4, Softcover ISBN 978-3-030-70204-5

Tarantini, Angela Tiziana, and Ruben Benatti. 2017. English Pronunciation. Corso di Fonetica Inglese per la Scuola Primaria. Trento: Erickson Publishing (English Pronunciation. Course of English Phonetics for Primary School)

Honours and awards

• February 2021: Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Individual Fellowships (IF) grant, under Horizon 2020, the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation. MSCA is the European Union’s flagship fellowship program for researchers. Host institution: Cardiff University. Supervisor: Dr. Cristina Marinetti;
• July 2017: PPAG (Postgraduate Publication Award Grant), awarded by the Faculty of Arts of Monash University;
• July 2013: IPRS (International Postgraduate Research Scholarship) covering tuition fees for my doctoral studies;
• July 2013 APA (Australian Postgraduate Award), paying an annual stipend for the duration of my Ph.D.

Publications

• Date
• Type
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My current project at the School of Modern Languages is called When Accessibility Becomes Performance: Sign Language Interpreting in Music and Live Concerts as Performative Rewriting (acronym: WABP).

The aim of the WABP project is to analyse the work of sign language interpreters-performers who translate a hearing-centric music world into a visual one by transposing songs and live concerts into sign language. WABP seeks to identify ways in which interpreters-performers embody nonverbal elements of a text (rhythm, pitch, etc.), into what I call “patterns of performativity”. The findings of the project could potentially inform the training of future sign language interpreters who wish to specialise in this specific translation practice, thus contributing to an increased participation of the d/Deaf and hard-of-hearing, one of the most under-served minorities, in the arts.

While in audio-visual translation Accessibility is a prolific area of research, no Translation Studies scholar has yet analysed sign language interpreting in music, both as an actual performance and as a translation practice designed to allow d/Deaf and hard-of-hearing to experience the multiplicity of the semiotic signs in songs and music performance events, and has investigated whether these practices are effective. WABP addresses this gap in the scholarship, and will thus contribute to the advancement of Translation Studies. Working across disciplines, I will identify patterns of performativity which enable interpreters-performers to translate music into an entirely visual art form fully accessible to the d/ Deaf and hard-of-hearing people, in the awareness that it takes a Theatre Translation scholar to identify patterns of performativity, but only the d/Deaf community can decide if those patterns meet their needs in relation to entertainment activities such as music and concert attendance. WABP will be therefore carried out in collaboration with the local d/Deaf community to ensure that the project findings will increase our understanding of what constitutes equal access to and full enjoyment of music and music performance events for d/Deaf and hard-of-hearing signers.

WABP will be carried out at Cardiff University under the supervision of Cristina Marinetti, whose work on translation and performativity will be the starting point of the project. Connections will also be established with the School of Music, as well as local organisations. Tapping into these networks will benefit my work on music and accessibility.

The project aims to contribute to a better understanding of what constitutes access to music for a d/Deaf signer, in the hope that an increased visibility and understanding of these translation and performative practices will lead to greater inclusivity.

Supervision

Past projects