ACADEMIC TITLES AND POSITIONS
2016-2019: Fixed-term Senior Assistant Professor in Cultural Anthropology and Ethnology at the Department of History and Cultures, University of Bologna.
2013-2016: Fixed-term Junior Assistant Professor in Cultural Anthropology and Ethnology at the Department of History and Cultures, University of Bologna.
2013: National scientific qualification (first round, unanimous commission decision) as Associate Professor in Population studies, Ethnography and Anthropology.
2011: PhD in Contemporary Anthropology at the Milano-Bicocca University.
2007-2014: Lecturer in Cultural Anthropology at the University of Milan (degree courses in Philosophy, Cultural Heritage, Linguistic and Cultural Mediation and Languages and Cultures for International Communication and Cooperation).
1999-2007: Research Fellow at the Department of Oriental and Linguistic Studies, School of Arts, Humanities, and Cultural Heritage, University of Bologna.
1993: Laurea (First Class Degree) in Lettere e Filosofia (Literature and Philosophy) at the University of Bologna; final mark of 110/110 cum laude, thesis on Cultural Anthropology.
INSTITUTIONAL APPOINTMENTS
Member of the Research Committee of the Department of History, Culture and Civilization (since 2021).
Coordinator of the Department Section of Anthropology, Religious Studies and Oriental Studies (since 2021).
Reference for disability issues at the Department of History and Cultures, University of Bologna (since 2018) and in charge, together with Roberta Bonetti, of REAL lab (https://site.unibo.it/real-lab/it), a website that deals with the promotion and dissemination of activities and projects on anthropology of education and disability carried out within the same Department.
Member of the scientific committee of the Centre for International and Intercultural Health of the University of Bologna (since 2017).
Member of the degree evaluation committee of the second cycle degree in Cultural Anthropology and Ethnology, University of Bologna (2014-2015 and 2019-ongoing).
Reference for disability issues at the School of Arts, Humanities and Cultural Heritage, University of Bologna (2017-2018).
Member of the teacher-student joint committee at the School of Arts, Humanities and Cultural Heritage, University of Bologna (2015-2018).
Member of the internship committee for the first cycle degree in Anthropology, Religions, Oriental Civilization and for the second cycle degree in Cultural Anthropology and Ethnology, University of Bologna (since 2014).
Member of the seminar committee for the first cycle degree in Anthropology, Religions, Oriental Civilization and for the second cycle degree in Cultural Anthropology and Ethnology, University of Bologna (since 2014).
MAIN RESEARCH ACTIVITIES
2018-2019: participation in the research on Oriental religiosity in Emilia-Romagna promoted by the Observatory on Religious Pluralism
2017: Anthropological consultancy for the performance project "Lotus", promoted by the association “Nexus” in collaboration with the “Associazione Unione dei Tamil d’Italia”. The project won the 2017 MigrArti-performance award, funded by the Ministry for Arts and Culture.
2015-2016: Participation in the project E-QUAL (Enhancing Quality, Access and Governance of Undergraduate Education in India), an International Collaborative Project funded by the European Union, coordinated by the British Council and involving Ambedkar University Delhi, Jadavpur University, King’s College London, Shiv Nadar University, Bologna University and Hyderabad University. For the project, I created the teaching unit “The anthropological recorded interview: methodological issues and ethnographic examples”.
2012-2013: Ethnobotanical fieldwork in Val Chiavenna, leading to the production of forms for the Lombard Region Archive. This was part of the project ECHI (Etnografie Italo-Svizzere per la valorizzazione del patrimonio immateriale) founded by the FESR (Fondo Europeo di Sviluppo Regionale). Title of the project: «Pratiche di raccolta e consumo alimentare di erbe e frutti spontanei nelle aree alpine della Lombardia (il caso della Val Chiavenna)». The forms, compiled with Gaetano Mangiameli, are available at the address www.intangiblesearch.it.
2009-2010: Participation in the national project «Il pluralismo religioso in Italia. Per una mappatura e un'interpretazione delle diverse presenze socio-religiose nella società italiana» in the team of the University of Bologna.
2007-2008: Participation in the project «Emozioni e passioni tra sogno, etica, mistica in India e nella comparazione interculturale» promoted by the Department of Linguistic and Oriental Studies of the University of Bologna.
2005-08: Participation in the University of Bologna research project «Formazione e diffusione dell'indianesimo».
2005-06: Direct-action research promoted by the NGO Progetto Sviluppo (Nexus CGIL) on women's conditions in refugee camps in North Sri Lanka.
2003-04: Participation in the MURST project of national interest «Tanatometamorfosi. Il corpo dopo la morte in una prospettiva multidisciplinare e comparativa».
2002-2006: Research on the funerary rituals of Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka.
2001-02: Participation in the University of Bologna research project «Antropologia dei saperi rituali: dai testi alle pratiche, alle rappresentazioni».
2000- today: Research on the activities of the Tamil Diaspora in Italy, Canada and France.
2000-02: Participation in the MURST project of national interest «Luoghi dei vivi e luoghi dei morti. Confini, separazioni, intersezioni: prospettive interdisciplinari e comparative».
1999-2000: Participation in the University of Bologna research project «Corpo e corporalità tra permanenza e mutamento».
1995: Direct-action research promoted by the NGO COSPE (Cooperazione per lo Sviluppo dei Paesi Emergenti) in the Centres for migrants in Bologna.
1994-95: Participation in the project «La montagna e la guerra», promoted by ISREBO (Istituto per la Storia della Resistenza e della Società contemporanea nella Provincia di Bologna).
MAIN TEACHING EXPERIENCE
a) Courses and modules
2021-22: University of Bologna, Methodologies of Ethnographic Research (60 hours), Cultural Anthropology (30 hours), Anthropology of Southern Asia (30 hours);
2020-21: University of Bologna, Methodologies of Ethnographic Research (60 hours), Cultural Anthropology (30 hours), Anthropology of Southern Asia (30 hours);
2019-2020: University of Bologna, Methodologies of Ethnographic Research (60 hours), Cultural Anthropology (30 hours), Anthropology of Southern Asia (30 hours);
2018-2019: University of Bologna, Methodologies of Ethnographic Research (60 hours) and Cultural Anthropology (30 hours);
2017-2018: University of Bologna, Methodologies of Ethnographic Research (60 hours) and Cultural Anthropology (30 hours);
2016-2017: University of Bologna, Methodologies of Ethnographic Research (60 hours) and Cultural Anthropology (30 hours);
2015-2016: University of Bologna, Methodologies of Ethnographic Research (30 hours) and Cultural Anthropology (30 hours);
2014-2015: University of Bologna, Methodologies of Ethnographic Research (30 hours) and Cultural Anthropology (60 hours);
2013-2014: University of Bologna, Methodologies of Ethnographic Research (30 hours);
2012-2014: University of Milan, Cultural Anthropology (advanced) (40 hours);
2007-2012: University of Milan, Cultural Anthropology (120 hours);
2005-2012: University of Bologna, module Indian Civilization (30 hours).
b) Professional Master's programmes and seminars
Since 2019: teacher at the Master of Pedagogy and Theatre at the University of Bologna (theoretical-practical course of Anthropology of Dance).
Since 2015: teacher at the Master of History and Food Culture of the University of Bologna (course of Anthropology of Food).
May 11, 2022, Università di Siena. Seminar "L’antropologia della danza: sviluppo della disciplina ed esempi etnografici".
January 22, 2022, University of Turin, Dottorato in Scienze Psicologiche, Antropologiche e dell’Educazione. On line seminar "Danza ed etnografia. Quadri teorici e metodologie di ricerca".
May 3, 2021, University of Catania, Dipartimento di Scienze Politiche e Sociali. On line seminar "Creatività culturale e pratiche rituali tra i Tamil srilankesi in Italia" as part of the seminar series “Tra Oceano Indiano e Mediterraneo. Rituali, ostilità, convivenze”.
December 15, 2016, University of Bologna: seminar "What methodologies for research? A reflection starting from the field work of the PhD students" for the PhD in History Culture Civilization.
November 26, 2015, lecture at the Fondazione Collegio delle Università Milanesi. Title of the lecture: "The body and dance: an anthropological perspective".
May 6, 2015, University of Bologna: seminar "Dalle sepolture in Sri Lanka ai cimiteri virtuali: le strategie della memoria delle Tigri tamil" for the PhD in History Cultures Civilization.
2010: University of Trento, Master of Art and Culture Management: «Un approccio antropologico ai temi coreutici: stereotipi e costruzioni identitarie» (7 hours).
2009: University of Trento, Master of Art and Culture Management: «Un approccio antropologico ai temi coreutici: stereotipi e costruzioni identitarie» (4 hours).
2008: Jagiellonian University Krakow (Poland), Department of Indology, Institute of Oriental Philology, «Being a Tamil Tiger, the dancing way (Bharata natyam in Diaspora)» and «The ‘Sleeping Houses’ of the heroes. Ritual changes among Tamil Tigers (Sri Lanka)» (4 hours).
2008: University of Trento, Master of Art and Culture Management «Un approccio antropologico ai temi coreutici: stereotipi e costruzioni identitarie» (4 hours).
2008: University of Bologna, Master in Studi Umanistici, «Un'introduzione all'antropologia culturale» and «L'antropologia dell'arte» (7 hours).
2007: University of Bologna: «Anthropology of dance» (12 hours).
2007: University of Sussex, Brighton (UK), Department of Anthropology of the School of Social Sciences and Cultural Studies, «Building cemeteries, constructing identities. Funerary practices and nationalist discourse among the Tamil Tigers of Sri Lanka» (3 hours).
2005: University of Quebec (Montreal), «Pratiques funéraires et discours nationalistes chez les Tigres tamouls du Sri Lanka» (6 hours).
2003-04, 2005-06, 2006-07, 2007-08, 2008-2009: University of Turin, Degree course in Hospital Nursing, Cultural Anthropology (30 hours).
1998-99: University of Bologna, «Anthropology of dance» (20 hours).
1997-98: University of Ravenna, «Objects and culture» (25 hours).
1996-97: University of Ravenna, «Urban Anthropology» (30 hours).
1995-96: University of Ravenna, «Power, identity and religion in the Arab world» (20 hours).
MAIN CONFERENCES
Septembrer 23, 2021, Università La Sapienza, Roma, "Futuro: Antropologie del futuro, futuro dell’antropologia", Terzo Convegno Nazionale della SIAC. Paper: "Etnografie di mondi possibili: la fantascienza di Ursula K. Le Guin".
March, 12, 2022, Università di Bologna. Paper "Progetti in corso. Sensibilizzazione rispetto alla disabilità", with Nicola Bardasi, as part of the conference FIERA Educazione.
2021, International Online Conference organized by Susanne Franco and Franca Tamisari "Performing Memory Through Dance: Anthropological Perspectives". Paper:"Choreographic choices and identities of the Tamil diaspora in an encounter between Bharata Natyam and contemporary dance".
2020, Como, Festival "A due voci. Dialoghi di musica e filosofia". Paper: "La danza, un'arte in movimento".
2019, Bologna, XVI Convegno DES (Danza Educazione Società) "Trasmettere la danza: sguardi, ascolti, pratiche e visioni". Paper: "Il tema della trasmissione delle pratiche e dei saperi coreutici negli studi di antropologia della danza".
2019, Université d'Angers, convegno "Dire et chanter les passions: les voix de l'emotion". Paper: "Tra empatia e sollievo: le emozioni del pubblico alla presentazione di un robot che danza".
2019, Bologna, DES (Danza Educazione Società) conference "Trasmettere la danza: sguardi, ascolti, pratiche e visioni". Paper: "Il tema della trasmissione delle pratiche e dei saperi coreutici negli studi di antropologia della danza".
2019, Université d'Angers, conference "Dire et chanter les passions: les voix de l'emotion". Paper: "Tra empatia e sollievo: le emozioni del pubblico alla presentazione di un robot che danza".
2019, Palermo, ICTM (International Council of Traditional Music) conference. Paper: "'Ne ho abbastanza!'. La lotta all'escissione in uno spettacolo di danza dell'artista maliana Fatoumata Bagayoko".
2019, Bologna, Università di Bologna, conference "Il corpo in performance tra stati di alterazione di coscienza e processo creativo". Paper: "La dimensione rituale nelle performance dell’artista Mona Lisa Tina".
2018, Bologna, Scie festival Conference. Paper: "Uno sguardo antropologico sulla danza".
2018, Szeged (Hungary), 30th Symposium ICTM Study Group on Ethnochoreology. Paper «Choreographic practices and commemoration of the dead: a case study from the Tamil Diaspora».
2018, Malta, Dance Studies Association International Conference «Contra: Dance & Conflict». Paper «Echoes of a remote conflict in an encounter between contemporary dance and bharata natyam».
2017, Catania, SIAA (Società Italiana di Antropologia Applicata) Conference. Paper: «La consulenza antropologica in ambito coreutico: un caso di studio sull’incontro tra danza contemporanea e bharata natyam».
2017, Cambridge, International Conference «The Place of Memory and Memory of Place». Paper «From a place of memory to a memory of a place: the Tiger war cemeteries in Sri Lanka and in the Tamil Diaspora».
2017, Chiang Mai (Thailand), ICAS (International Convention of Asian Scholars). Paper «New gestures in an ancient performance: a case study from the Tamil Diaspora».
2015, Bologna, conference «Danze africane in transito: spiriti ancestrali e miti dell'oggi». Paper: «Dal primitivismo all'autenticità. Le danze africane tra vecchi e nuovi stereotipi».
2015, Łódź (Poland), Department of British and Commonwealth Studies, Faculty of International and Political Sciences, University of Łódź, Interdisciplinary Conference «Freedom of Culture – Culture of Freedom». Paper «Disappeared dances: cultural wars in Sri Lanka»
2014, Bologna, conference «Danzare il natya». Paper: «Dall'arco di Shiva al fucile del guerrigliero: le trasformazioni del bharata natyam nella diaspora tamil srilankese».
2014, Trento, conference «Devi cambiare la tua vita! Pratiche di trasformazione del sé dentro e fuori le religioni». Paper: «“La religione non è solo la religione”: pratiche cultuali e appartenenze culturali dei tamil srilankesi in Italia».
2014, Bologna: conference «Danzare il natya». Paper: «Dall'arco di Shiva al fucile del guerrigliero: le trasformazioni del bharata natyam nella diaspora tamil srilankese».
2013, Milan: conference «Raccogliere erbe, raccogliere etnografie». Paper: «La raccolta di erbe spontanee in Valchiavenna: documentazione e questioni metodologiche».
2012, Rome, conference «In Italia, religiosamente diversi». Paper: «Una realtà religiosa sommersa: l'induismo tamil srilankese in Emilia-Romagna».
2012, Milan, conference «La famiglia nelle culture e nelle società dell'Asia». Paper: «Patria e famiglia: la parentela come metafora dell'appartenenza nazionale».
2010, Paris, Maison de la Recherche de l'Université de Paris-Sorbonne, Pluridisciplinary International Conference on Tamil Communities and the Sri Lankan Conflict. Paper: «Coping with further absences: Maaveerar Naal ceremonies in the post-war age».
2009, Faenza, International Summer School of the University of Bologna «Dal Caucaso all'Asia centrale: complessità etnoculturale, tensioni politico-sociali e militari». Paper: «Il conflitto nello Sri Lanka: un'analisi antropologica».
2008, Krakow, Poland, III International Festival of Anthropology of Dance. Paper: «Sri Lankan war and dance changes. Bharata Natyam choreographies of Tamil migrants in Italy».
2007, Bologna, conference «Figure del corpo. Danze, culture, società». Paper: «Danza, culture, identità: un approccio antropologico».
2007, New York, 40th Anniversary Conference of CORD (Congress on Research in Dance) «Choreographies of Migration: Patterns of Global Mobility». Paper: «Dancing the war overseas. Artistic performances and identity strategies among Tamil migrants from Sri Lanka».
2006, London, annual conference of BASAS (British Association for South Asian Studies). Paper: «Dancing the war overseas. Artistic performances and identity strategies among Tamil migrants from Sri Lanka».
2006, Leiden the Nederlands, 19th conference of ECMSAS (European Conference on Modern South Asian Studies). Paper: «New Gestures for a New Nation. Bharata Natyam Style and the Making of Tamil Eelam».
2006, San Gimignano XIII International Summer School on Religions in Europe. Paper: «Danzare l'identità. Performance artistiche e strategie commemorative tra i migranti tamil dello Sri Lanka».
2005, Leeds, annual conference of BASAS (British Association for South Asian Studies). Paper: «Building cemeteries, constructing identities. Funerary practices and nationalist discourse among the Tamil Tigers of Sri Lanka».
2005, Krakow, Poland, conference «The Human Body, a Universal Sign. Rhythms and steps of Africa» organised by the Department of Social Anthropology, Jagiellonian University. Paper: «African dance as an expression of primitive people? Old and new stereotypes in the literature on the history of dance».
2004, Turin, conference «Morte e trasformazione dei corpi. Interventi di tanatometamórfosi». Paper: «“I combattenti li seppelliamo”: mutamenti del trattamento del corpo morto tra le Tigri tamil (Sri Lanka)».
LESSONS WITH PERFORMANCE AND CONFERENCES/PERFORMANCES
2019, University of Bologna: lesson with performance of bharata natyam, with the dancer Alessandra Pizza.
2018, University of Bologna: lesson with performance of bharata natyam, with the dancer Alessandra Pizza.
2017, Bologna, conference-performance «Focus on Young Arab Choreographers», in the «Danza urbana» festival.
2017, University of Bologna: lesson with performance of bharata natyam, with the dancer Alessandra Pizza.
2016, University of Milan: «L’India, la danza e gli dèi», lesson with performance of bharata natyam, with the dancer Alessandra Pizza.
2016, Reggio Emilia, dance school Let’s Dance, conference/performance «Il rapporto con il suolo nelle pratiche coreutiche: la danza afro»
2015, Rimini, Teatro Atti: conference/performance of bharata natyam, with the dancer Alessandra Pizza.
2013, University of Bologna: lesson with performance of bharata natyam, with the dancer Alessandra Pizza.
2008, University of Milan: lesson with performance of bharata natyam, with the dancer Alessandra Pizza.
November 2007, University of Bologna: Seminar on the anthropology of dance, with the contemporary dancer Nicola Laudati and the bharata natyam dancer Alessandra Pizza. Titles of the theoretical-practical classes: «L'antropologia della danza: confini e prospettive di una disciplina», «Il bharata natyam», «La danza contemporanea», «L'afro-danza», «Codici, repertori e trasformazioni» (12 hours).
2006, University of Bologna, Department of Linguistic and Oriental Studies, lesson with performance «Bharata natyam: esecuzioni e trasformazioni di una danza indiana», with the dancer Alessandra Pizza.
2004, University of Milan, lesson with performance «Bharata natyam: esecuzioni e trasformazioni di una danza indiana», with the dancer Alessandra Pizza.
SCHOLARSHIP
2007: Marco Polo scholarship from the University of Bologna for a three-month period at the University of Manchester (UK).
AWARDS
2005, Leeds: award for the best paper at the annual conference of BASAS (British Association for South Asian Studies). Paper: «Building cemeteries, constructing identities. Funerary practices and nationalist discourse among the Tamil Tigers of Sri Lanka».
MEMBERSHIP OF SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEES AND SCIENTIFIC ASSOCIATIONS
EASA (European Association of Social Anthropologists), EASAS (European Association for South Asian Studies), SIAC (Società Italiana di Antropologia Culturale), ICTM (International Council for Traditional Music), DSA (Dance Studies Association).
Since 2010, part of the scientific committee of the Journal Antropologia e Teatro.
Since 2020, part of the scientific committee of Errantes. Journal of Social and Cultural Anthropology.
Since 2021, part of the scientific committee of the BUP (Bologna University Press) publishing house.
REFEREE
For the book series “Antropologia”, published by SEID, and "Biblioteca di studi antropologici" published by Unicopli.
For the scientific journals Antropologia e Teatro, Antropologia Pubblica, Archivio Antropologico Mediterraneo, Danza e ricerca, Ethnorêma, Etnografia e ricerca qualitativa, Etnografie sonore/Sound Ethnographies, International Feminist Journal of Politics, Journal of Perpetrator Research, L'Uomo, Studi Tanatologici.
