Alessandra Marino

My research is situated within the interdisciplinary group 'AstrobiologyOU'. My interest is in critical Development Studies and issues of justice and ethics. I look at how postcolonial and decolonial studies can contribute to current debates on knowledge production within astrobiology and space science more broadly. 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 Social Studies of Outer Space; Postcolonial Theory; Feminist Philosophy of Science; Critical Development Studies; Inclusive Innovation; Citizenship Studies.