Christine RistainoProfessor of PracticeItalian

Christine Ristaino is the Director of the Emory College Language Center and Professor of Practice at Emory University. She teaches courses on Italian diaspora, Baroque Italy, social justice in Italy utilizing memoir, comparative food studies, and language and culture. She has co-authored an academic publication entitled Lucrezia Marinella and the “Querelle des Femmes” in Seventeenth-Century Italy through Farleigh Dickinson Press as well as the first edition of a book series called The Italian Virtual Class, which teaches language through cultural acquisition. She currently teaches a creative writing-focused class on Italian memoir, as well as co-teaches a class comparing Italy and China through the medium of food (noodles in particular).

Ristaino is also an Atlanta author whose memoir, All the Silent Spaces, published in July 2019 by She Writes Press, confronts the topics of violence, identity, and discrimination.  She writes and publishes articles, essays, OpEds, and non-fiction, and presents her work in various forums throughout the U.S. and abroad. In addition, Ristaino has published articles in the Guardian, Pacific Standard, the Washington Post, the Huffington Post, Ms. Magazine, Visible Magazine, and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on education, child advocacy, changing the way we talk about violence, and topics around diversity. 

Ristaino participates in social justice work, education reform, and violence prevention.  She is an award-winning advisor and teacher and has experience organizing powerful symposiums, seminars, conferences and events. She leads workshops on the topics of diversity, equity and inclusion, privilege, coming to terms with violence through memoir, writing and talking about difficult topics, and creating a public voice. She is also a trained life coach.