Agata Mazzeo

EDUCATION

PhD degree, with honours (January 2014 to June 2017)

University of Bologna (Italy) in cotutelle agreement with the University of São Paulo (Brazil)

PhD Program: Storia, Culture, Civiltà [History, Cultures, and Civilizations]

Curriculum: Anthropology (11/A5, M-DEA/01)

Alma Mater Studiorum – Università di Bologna [University of Bologna, Italy]

PhD Program: Saúde Global e Sustentabilidade [Global Health and Sustainability]

Faculdade de Saúde Pública [Faculty of Public Health]

Universidade de São Paulo – USP [University of São Paulo, Brazil]

PhD dissertation’s title:

Movements and Militant Memory. Ethnography and Anti-Asbestos Activism in Brazil

Supervisors:

Ivo Quaranta, PhD (University of Bologna)

Rubens de Camargo Ferreira Adorno, PhD (University of São Paulo)

Master of Science (MSc) in Medical Anthropology, score: 7.9/10; 70 ECTS  (September 2011 to August 2012)

Master’s Program: Amsterdam Master’s in Medical Anthropology-AMMA

Universiteit van Amsterdam - UvA (Amsterdam, the Netherlands)

Thesis’ title: “Casale Monferrato is not the City of Asbestos; Casale Monferrato is the City that Fights Against Asbestos!” An exploratory study on the socio-political actions of going beyond suffering related to an environmental disaster caused by asbestos manufacturing.

Supervisors: Jan Willem Duyvendak, PhD and Christian Bröer, PhD

Co-reader: Stuart Blume, D. Phil.

Master’s Degree in Cultural Anthropology and Ethnology, score: 110/110; 120 ECTS (November 2006 to March 2010

Alma Mater Studiorum – Università di Bologna (Italy)

Thesis: “Indagine antropologica sull’esperienza di malattia provocata dall’esposizione ambientale all’amianto. Il caso Fibronit di Bari” [Anthropological research on the illness experience caused by environmental exposure to asbestos. The Fibronit case in Bari city].

Supervisor: Quaranta Ivo, PhD

Bachelor’s Degree in Literature, score: summa cum laude; 180 ECTS (November 2001 to March 2006)

Università degli Studi di Bari “Aldo Moro” (Bari, Italy)

Thesis title: Aspetti di vita culturale e sociale di una comunità Rom (Bari, Japigia, 2005) [Cultural and social life aspects of a Roma community (Bari, Japigia, 2005)].

Supervisor: Vera Di Natale, PhD

SELECTED CONFERENCE PAPERS AND INVITED SEMINARS

July 5-7, 2017: Anti-asbestos activism as a moral response to an invisible global health disaster [paper]; Engaging Ethnography and Global Health Disasters [panel that I coordinated]. European Association of Social Anthropologists-EASA Medical Anthropology Network Biennial Conference “Bodies in Transition― Power, Knowledge and Medical Anthropology”. Lisbon, Portugal.

June 6, 2017: Disastri amianto-correlati e pratiche di attivismo: riflessioni emerse da una ricerca etnografica condotta in Brasile [Asbestos-related disasters and practices of activism: reflections emerged from an ethnographic research conducted in Brazil]. Seminar for graduate students “Brasile: storia di un Paese che non ha ancora attuato il bando dell’amianto” [Brazil: history of a country that has not prohibited asbestos yet] organised by Fondazione IRCCS Ca’ Granda - Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico UO Epidemiologia, Faculty of Medicine, University of Milan. Milan, Italy.

April 11, 2017: Experiences of suffering and practices of struggle: ethnography and anti-asbestos activism in Brazil. Seminar for graduate students, University of Bologna. Bologna, Italy.

April 10, 2017: Etnografia e attivismo anti-amianto. Riflessioni a partire da una ricerca sul campo in Brasile [Ethnography and anti-asbestos activism. Reflections from a fieldwork in Brazil]. Seminar for graduate students, University of Bologna. Bologna, Italy.

December 15, 2016: Etnografia e attivismo anti-amianto in Brasile [Ethnography and anti-asbestos activism in Brazil]. Seminar for doctoral students, University of Bologna. Bologna, Italy.

December 7, 2016: Pratiche di attivismo ed esperienze di sofferenza nei disastri provocati dalla lavorazione dell’amianto fra Italia e Brasile [Practices of activism and experiences of suffering in the disasters caused by asbestos manufacturing between Italy and Brazil]. Seminar for graduate students, University of Bologna. Bologna, Italy.

July 20-23, 2016: Mining the Eternal: some reflections about asbestos extraction and manufacturing effects on bodies and landscapes. Conference “Anthropological legacies and human futures”, organised by the European Association of Social Anthropology-EASA and the University of Milano-Bicocca. Milan, Italy.

June 9-11, 2016: Some Reflections on the Anti-Asbestos Struggle of a Brazilian NGO.“6th Ethnography and Qualitative Research Conference” organised by the publishing house Il Mulino and the University of Bergamo. Bergamo, Italy. 

November 18-22, 2015: Suffering Bodies Take Action Against Asbestos.114° Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association-AAA “Familiar/Strange”. Denver (Colorado), USA.

September 30, 2015: Poder, práticas corporais e lutas civis nas experiências dos desastres causados pela laboração do amianto [Power, bodily practices and activism in the experiences of disasters caused by asbestos’ manufacturing]. Seminar “Saúde, Antropologia e Ambiente: Discutindo o Amianto no Brasil” [Health, Anthropology and Environment: Debating Asbestos in Brazil], Faculty of Public Heath, University of São Paulo-USP. São Paulo, Brazil.

July 28 – August 1, 2015: O Poder dos Corpos que Sofrem. Reflexões emergidas de uma pesquisa antropológica sobre os movimentos sociais organizados pelas vítimas da exposição ao amianto [The Power of Suffering Bodies. Reflections emerged from an anthropological research on social movements organised by victims from asbestos exposure]. 11° Congresso Brasileiro de Saúde Coletiva, organised by the Associação Brasileira de Saúde Coletiva-ABRASCO, and the Federal University of Goiás–UFG. Goiânia (Goiás), Brazil.

June 17, 2015: Poder, práticas corporais e lutas civis nas experiências dos desastres causados pela laboração do amianto [Power, bodily practices and activism in the experiences of disasters caused by asbestos’ manufacturing]. Seminar for graduate students, Faculty of Public Heath, University of São Paulo-USP. São Paulo, Brazil.

June 16, 2015: Práticas de comunicação de risco em contextos contaminados por poluição provocada pelo processamento do amianto [Communication Risk Practices in Contexts Contaminated by Pollution Caused by Asbestos Manufacturing]. International Advanced Seminar, Laboratorio Interdisciplinar de Estudos e Pesquisas Sociais em Saúde Pública-LIESP, Faculty of Public Health, University of São Paulo-USP. São Paulo, Brazil.

February 5, 2015: Pratiche corporee nelle esperienze dei disastri provocati dalla lavorazione dell'amianto [Bodily practices in the disaster’s experiences caused by asbestos manufacturing]. Seminar for graduate students, Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna. Bologna, Italy.

May 29 - June 1, 2014: The suffering bodies’ power and potentialities in contexts of environmental disasters.VIII European Association of Social Anthropologists-EASA, Medical Anthropology at Home-MAAH network conference “Assemblages, transformations, and the politics of care”. Bologna-Bertinoro, Italy.

March 6-7, 2014: Riflessioni emerse dallo studio dei movimenti sociali organizzati dalle vittime dei disastri ambientali provocati dalla lavorazione del cemento-amianto [Reflections emerged from the investigation of social movements organised by the victims of environmental disaters caused by asbestos-cement manufacturing]. Conference “Ricerca attivista ed etnografia militante: nuove sperimentazioni nello studio socio-antropologico dei movimenti sociali” [Activist research and militant ethnography: new experimentations in the socio-anthropological study of social movements], organised by Laboratorio di Etnografia dei Movimenti Sociali-LEMS, University of Milano-Bicocca, and the Department of Language and Eastern Studies, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia. Modena, Italy.

December 13-14, 2013: Dell’Inevitabilità dell’Essere Coinvolti [On the Inevitability of Being Engaged]. First Conference of the Società Italiana di Antropologia Applicata-SIAA. Lecce, Italy.

June 12-14, 2013: (When) To Be Engaged is Inescapable.“Encounters and Engagements: creating new agendas for medical anthropology” organised by EASA European Association of Social Anthropologists, Medical Anthropology Network, AAA American Anthropology Association Society for Medical Anthropology, and Univerisitat Rovira i Virgili. Tarragona, Spain.

January 23-25, 2013: “The Making and Unmaking” of the Risk: Risk Experiences and Practices Related to Exposure to Asbestos Fibres in Two Italian Urban Contexts. International Sociological Association-ISA and European Sociological Association-ESA conference “Risk and Uncertainty: Ontologies and Methods”, University of Amsterdam-UvA. Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

SELECTED INVITED LECTURES AND PRESENTATIONS

June 8, 2017: Dal corpo che soffre e “ricorda”: pratiche di lotta, impegno e comunità [From the suffering and “remembering” body: practices of struggle, committment, and community] [Lecture]. Lotte e Amianto: Sofferenza, Coinvolgimento, Impegno. Uno Sguardo Transnazionale [Struggles and Asbestos: Suffering, Engagement, Commitment. A Transnational Perspective]. [Public conference I organised together with the Associazione Familiari e Vittime Amianto-AFeVA, Association of Relatives and Victims of Asbestos, Emilia-Romagna]. Bologna, Italy.

October 8, 2016: Uma História de Desastres e Lutas entre Itália e Brasil [A History of Disasters and Struggles between Italy and Brazil]. “I Encontro Nacional das Vítimas do Amianto” [First National Meeting of Asbestos Victims] organised by the Associação Brasileira dos Expostos ao Amianto-ABREA [Brazilian Association of Exposed to Asbestos]. Campinas (São Paulo), Brazil.

October 6-7, 2016: Casale Monferrato e Osasco. As Cidades que Convivem e Lutam contra o Legado do Amianto [Casale Monferrato and Osasco. The Cities that Coexist and Mobilise against Asbestos Heritage]. Conference “Seminário Internacional Amianto: Uma Abordagem Sócio-Jurídica” [Asbestos International Seminar: A Socio-Juridical Approach] organised by the Ministério Público do Trabalho-MPT and Departamento Intersindical de Estudos e Pesquisas de Saúde e dos Ambientes de Trabalho-DIESAT. Campinas (São Paulo), Brazil.

April 8-10, 2016: Anti-Asbestos Activism in 21st Century. Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization-ADAO 12th Annual International Asbestos Awareness and Prevention Conference “Where Knowledge and Action Unite”. Washington D.C., USA.

February 16, 2016: L’esperienza del rischio, della malattia e dell’impegno socio-politico in contesti urbani contaminati dall’amianto [The experience of risk, illness, and socio-political engagement in asbestos-contaminated urban contexts]. Conference “Il Progetto SENTIERI per il Monitoraggio Epidemiologico Permanente delle Popolazioni Residenti nei Siti di Interesse Nazionale” organised by the Istituto Superiore di Sanità. Rome, Italy.

April 27-30, 2015: Movimentos Sociais e Vítimas do Amianto em Casale Monferrato [Social Movements and Asbestos Victims in Casale Monferrato]. Lectures given during the training and awareness campaigns about occupational accidents and diseases organised by the Subsecretaria de Vigilância, Fiscalização Sanitária e Controle de Zoonoses of the Prefeitura de Rio de Janeiro and by the Centro de Saúde do Trabalhador-CESAT.

April 27: Auditório Prefeitura, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

April 28: Auditório Universidade Veiga de Almeida Cabo Frio (Rio de Janeiro), Brazil.

April 30: Salão Internacional da Escola Nacional de Saúde Pública “Sérgio Arouca”, Research Institute ENSP/FIOCRUZ, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

May 8, 2014: La cittadinanza attiva, fra corpo e politica. Incontro con alcuni attivisti del movimento anti-amianto in Italia [The active citizenship, between body and politics. Encounter with some activists of anti-asbestos movement in Italy]. Presentation and conference that I organised as the final event of the educational project I participated in entitled “Risorse idriche, territorio e società” [Water resources, territory, and society]. Bologna, Italy.

November 27, 2012: Talk at the conference “Mesotelioma Pleurico… Una Battaglia da Vincere” [Pleural Mesothelioma… A Fight that has to be won], organised by the Associazione Familiari Vittime Amianto-AFVA [Association of Relatives/Victims of Asbestos]. Bari, Italy.

April 28, 2010: Talk at the public event organised by the Associazione Familiari Vittime Amianto-AFVA [Association of Relatives/Victims of Asbestos] on the international Workers’ Memorial Day in commemoration of asbestos victims. Bari, Italy.

SCIENTIFIC ASSOCIATIONS

EASA - European Association of Social Anthropologists

SIAA - Società Italiana di Antropologia Applicata [Italian Society of Applied Anthropology]

LANGUAGES

Italian: Native speaker

English: Excellent level

Brazilian Portuguese: Excellent level

Spanish: Advanced level 

Arabic: Basic level

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

2016 to date:

Referee for ANUAC, journal edited by the Associazione Nazionale Universitaria degli Antropologi Culturali [National University Association of Cultural Anthropologists].

April 2017:

Invited member of the committee for the “Vivaio Eternot Award 2017” assigned to individual and collective social actors committed to anti-asbestos activism.

2014-2015 / 2013-2014:

Realization of the educational projects Risorse alimentari, territorio e società [Food resources, territory, and society], and Risorse idriche, territorio e società [Water resources, territory, and society)], awarded by the public competitions “ConCittadini”, promoted by the Emilia-Romagna Region, in the scholastic years 2013/2014 and 2014/2015. Centro per l’Istruzione degli Adulti [Centre for the Education of Adults] – CPIA Metropolitano di Bologna. Bologna, Italy.

2011/2012:

Awarded with a grant for postgraduate studies assigned by the Puglia Region by public competition.

March 2012:

Awarded with the certification DITALS (II) – Certificazione di competenza in Didattica dell’Italiano a Stranieri [Certification of Competency in Teaching Italian Language to Foreigners]. Università per Stranieri di Siena [University for Foreigners of Siena]. Siena, Italy.

November 2009 to November 2010:

Volunteer in National Civil Service

Museo di Antropologia [Museum of Anthropology], Alma Mater Studiorum – Università di Bologna. Bologna, Italy.