Serena Ceniccola

Research Associate
Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies | Pembroke College
serena.ceniccola@pmb.ox.ac.uk
    
Serena Ceniccola

Current Projects

  • Understanding the 2020s Dazai-boom in USA, Finland, and Italy.  
  • Literary multilingualism in Japanese: theoretical frameworks and practical strategies for translation in the AI world. 

Courses Taught

  • Text Translation Tutorial 
  • Special Texts: Gender and Identity in Modern Japanese Literature (with Prof. Linda Flores) 
  • Special Texts: Trauma and Narrative in Modern Japanese Literature (with Prof. Linda Flores). 

Research Interests

  • Japanese multilingual text translation;  
  • Dazai Osamu: literary production and the 2020s Dazai-zoom; 
  • Language contact and language change in Japanese and Finnish;  
  • Heterographics and Script-Switching in literary texts in Japanese. 
  • Japanese and Finnish country branding and popular culture

Biography

I am a College Lecturer in Japanese Studies at Pembroke College, University of Oxford, and a Research Associate in the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Oxford and the Japan Research Centre at SOAS, University of London. 

My primary research examines the positioning of Japanese multilingual and translingual literary works within national and global canons. I aim to develop a translational framework grounded in the emotional modalities that shape codeswitching and creolisation. 

I began working on language contact and language change in spoken and written language in the early 2010s, with a particular focus on Japanese and Finnish. Alongside my expertise in Japanese and translation studies, I specialise in Finnish studies and conducted fieldwork in Helsinki in 2014. I am currently undertaking a comparative analysis of the reception and translation of Dazai Osamu’s literature in Finland and Italy, as well as the role of Dazai’s works in contemporary Japanese popular culture. 

Educational Background

  • PhD: Japanese Studies (2024, Birkbeck University of London). 
    Thesis Title: Nanigode kangaeteiruka: A Comparative Study of Multilingualism, Loneliness, and Hybridity in Japanese contemporary literature and literary-adjacent media.  
  • MA: Victorian Studies (2018, Queen Mary University of London). 
  • MPhil: Finnish Studies (2015, University of Bologna). Magna cum laude.  
    Thesis Title: Contaminazioni anglo-americane nella lingua finlandese contemporanea (in Italian).  
  • BA: Modern Languages and Cultures: English, Japanese, and Finnish studies (2012, University of Bologna). 

Recent publications

Peer reviewed articles: 
  • Ceniccola, Serena, and Riitta-Liisa Valijärvi. "Imaginary Finland in Contemporary Japanese Fiction." Scandinavica 64, no. 1 (2026).  
  • Ceniccola, Serena A. A. “Reimagining the Japanese Literary Canon: Literary Multilingualism in Contemporary Japanese Literature." Journal of Literary Multilingualism 1, no. aop (2025): 1-24. 
  • Ceniccola, Serena A. A. "Tokyo, petits portraits de l’aube: A multilingual perspective." Francosphères 14, no. 2 (2025): 285-293. 
Book Reviews: 
  • Kazashi Nobuo, and Marcella Mariotti (eds.), New Steps in Japanese Studies. Kobe University Joint Research, Edizioni Ca’ Foscari, Venice, 2017, 184 pp. Serena Ceniccola (2022) Book Review, Japan Forum, 34:2, 273-274, DOI: 10.1080/09555803.2022.2055617