CURRENT AND PREVIOUS POSITIONS
15.04.2023 to date: Associate Professor in History of Religions [Ricercatore a t.d. tipo B in M-STO/06] at the Department of Humanities (SARAS), Sapienza University of Rome.
15/04/2020–14.04-2023: Researcher in History of Religions [Ricercatore a t.d. tipo B in M-STO/06] at the Department of Humanities (SARAS), Sapienza University of Rome.
15/06/2018–14/04/2020: Researcher in History of Religions [Ricercatore a t.d. tipo A in M-STO/06] at the Department of Humanities (SARAS), Sapienza University of Rome.
01/04/2017–31/03/2018: Post-doctoral fellow (one-year contract) [Assegnista di ricerca in M- STO/06] at the Department of Humanities, Sapienza University of Rome.
01/04/2016–31/03/2017: Post-doctoral fellow (one-year contract) [Assegnista di ricerca in M- STO/06] at the Department of Humanities, Sapienza University of Rome.
01/08/2014–31/07/2015: Post-doctoral fellow (one-year contract) [Assegnista di ricerca in M- STO/06] at the Department of Humanities, Sapienza University of Rome.
01/08/2013–31/07/2014: Post-doctoral fellow (one-year contract) [Assegnista di ricerca in M- STO/06] at the Department of Humanities, Sapienza University of Rome.
EDUCATION
2018: National Academic Qualification as Associate Professor (11/A4). Validity from 13/09/2018 to 13/09/2024.
2012: Ph.D. in Religious History (Sapienza University of Rome). Title: Yajña: fatti e immagini. Ripensare il sacrificio a partire dal caso indiano [Yajña: Facts and Representations: Rethinking Sacrifice Based on the Indian Case Study].
2004: Degree in Philosophy, University of Palermo. Title: Uguaglianza e disuguaglianza sociale in Grecia e in India nell’età antica [Social Equality and Inequality in Ancient Greece and India].
FELLOWSHIP
1.04.2019–31.07.2019 Fellowship at Käte Hamburger Kolleg Bochum, Germany- Progetto: How to Negotiate “Sacrifice” and “Idolatry” in Religious Encounters: Identifying the Native Religious Informants of Catholic Missionaries in Early Modern South Asia.
OTHER EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCES
2014: (Leiden, Olanda): “Summer School in Languages and Linguistics” (9th edition), Department of Comparative Indo-European Linguistics, Faculty of Humanities, Leiden University (LUCL). Courses: “Features of Vedic Poetry” and “The Syntax of Vedic Prose”.
2012: (Procida, Italia): “Vedica Neapolitana”, Workshop of Vedic Language and LIterature, University of Naples “L’Orientale”.
2010: (Leiden, Olanda): “Summer School in Languages and Linguistics” (9th edition), Department of Comparative Indo-European Linguistics, Faculty of Humanities, Leiden University (LUCL). Courses: “Features of Vedic Poetry” and “The Syntax of Vedic Prose”.
TEACHING EXPERIENCES
2023–2024: MA Teaching course: “Religions and Gender,” Sapienza University of Rome, Department of Humanities.
2023–2024: BA Teaching course: “History of Religions,” Sapienza University of Rome, Department of Humanities.
2023–2024: BA Teaching course: “Symbology in the History of Clothing,” Sapienza University of Rome, Department of Humanities.
2022–2023: MA Teaching course: “Religions and Gender,” Sapienza University of Rome, Department of Humanities.
2022–2023: BA Teaching course: “History of Religions,” Sapienza University of Rome, Department of Humanities.
2022–2023: BA Teaching course: “Symbology in the History of Clothing,” Sapienza University of Rome, Department of Humanities.
2021–2022: BA Teaching course: “History of Religions,” Sapienza University of Rome, Department of Humanities.
2021–2022: BA Teaching course: “Symbology in the History of Clothing,” Sapienza University of Rome, Department of Humanities.
2020–2021: BA Teaching course: “History of Religions,” Sapienza University of Rome, Department of Humanities.
2020–2021: BA Teaching course: “Symbology in the History of Clothing,” Sapienza University of Rome, Department of Humanities.
2019–2021: MA Teaching course: “Methodology of the History of Religions II”, Sapienza University of Rome, Department of Humanities
2019–2020: BA Teaching course: “History of Religions,” Sapienza University of Rome, Department of Humanities.
2019–2020: BA Teaching course: “Symbology in the History of Clothing,” Sapienza University of Rome, Department of Humanities.
2018–2019: BA Teaching course: “History of Religions,” Sapienza University of Rome, Department of Humanities.
2018–2019: BA Teaching course: “Symbology in the History of Clothing,” Sapienza University of Rome, Department of Humanities.
2017–2018: MA Teaching course: “History of Indian and Asian Religions,” Sapienza University of Rome, Department of Humanities.
2016–2017: MA Teaching course: “History of Indian Religions,” Sapienza University of Rome, Department of Humanities.
2015–2016: MA Teaching course: “History of Indian Religions,” Sapienza University of Rome, Department of Humanities.
2015-2016: Slot (2h): “Sacrifice: Theories and Patterns”. Corso di Alta Formazione di Storia delle Religioni, Dept. di Storia, Culture, Religioni. Sapienza University of Rome.
2015–2016: Cycle of Lectures on Hinduism, Buddhism, from Ancient to Contemporary Societies, Master in Religions and Cultural Mediation, Department of Humanities, Sapienza University of Rome.
2014–2015: Cycle of Lectures on Hinduism, Buddhism, from Ancient to Contemporary Societies, Master in Religions and Cultural Mediation, Department of Humanities, Sapienza University of Rome.
GRANT AND AWARDS
2014: Award for the Best PhD student in Religious Studies, Department of Humanities (A.Y. 1999–2012) granted by the Sapienza University of Rome.
DIRECTION OF RESEARCH PROJECTS
2023: Visiting Professor. Dr. Daniel Barbu, CNRS Paris. Funded by Sapienza U. di Roma.
2020: Progetto di Ateneo (Progetti Medi). Project: “Objects, Frontiers, and Encounters in the Stories about Prester John: Transcultural and Emotional Aspects in a Centuries-Old Myth between Cohabitation and Religious Contact (centuries 12th–18th)”. Funded by Sapienza U. di Roma.
2019: Visiting Professor. Dr. Eduard Iricinschi, Ruhr University Bochum. Project: “Spiritual Scholarship: The Search for a Personalized History of Religion at the Eranos Meetings”. Funded by Sapienza U. di Roma.
MEMBERSHIP IN INTERNATIONAL AND NATIONAL RESEARCH PROJECTS
2022: PRIN. Entangled Chronotopies: Language, Power, Bodyscapes and Religion in the First Ten Books of the Śaunaka Atharvaveda-Saṃhitā [ŚS]. Finanziato da MUR.
2022: Materialità dell’invisibile. Vita sociale degli oggetti sciamanici in alcuni contesti contemporanei. Finanziato da Sapienza Università di Roma.
2021: The Exhibition of Peace Over Time: Restoring Meanings, Materialisation, and Heritage of Peace from the Cultural Environment into the Museal Field. (PI: Alessandro Saggioro, Department of Humanities).
2019: Member of the Research Project funded by Sapienza University of Rome: Negotiating Stories in Cohabitation: Dynamics and Narratives of Peace in the Great Empires of the Past (from Antiquity to Present Times) (PI: Alessandro Saggioro, Department of Humanities).
2019: Member of Käte Hamburger Kolleg „Dynamics in the History of Religions between Asia and Europe” (KHK). Funded by Ceres-Ruhr University Bochum, Germany.
2018: Member of the Research Project funded by Sapienza University of Rome: Una teoria globale della religione nell’opera di Lorenzo Pignoria: una prospettiva storico-religiosa (PI: Sergio Botta, Department of Humanities).
2017: Member of the Research Project funded by Sapienza University of Rome: “Shamanism and the Arts of Healing’” (PI: Sergio Botta, Department of Humanities).
2016: Member of the Research Project funded by Sapienza University of Rome: “Catalogo ragionato dell'autobiografia italiana. L’Ottocento edito. Per un’antropologia storica della cultura italiana ‘vista dall'interno’” (PI: Anna Iuso, Department of Humanities).
2015: Member of the Research Project funded by Sapienza University of Rome: “Defining Religious Pluralism: A Research Hub for the Study of Religions (PI: Alessandro Saggioro, Department of Humanities).
2015: Member of the Research Project funded by Sapienza University of Rome: “Migrazioni e interazioni tra culture e religioni a Roma tra passato e presente (XVI–XX secolo)” – “Past and Present Migrations and Interactions between Cultures and Religions in Rome (16th–20th century)” (PI: Marina Caffiero, Department of Humanities).
2015: Member of the Research Project funded by the Loyola University of Chicago in collaboration with University of Naples Federico II - Università di Bari: “The Emergency and Effects of the Sacred” (PI: Edmondo Lupieri, Department of Theology).
2012: Member of the Research Project funded by Sapienza University of Rome: “Corpi sciamanici: la nozione di persona tra estasi e possessione” (PI: Alessandro Saggioro, Department of Humanities).
2010: Member of the Research Project funded by Sapienza University of Rome: “Prospettive comparate fra mondo antico e attualità (mondo classico, cristianesimo, India)” (PI: Alessandro Saggioro, Department of Humanities).
2008–2009: Member of the Research Project funded by Sapienza University of Rome: “Sapienza sciamanica: Revisione critica, mappatura interdisciplinare e prospettive globali di un concetto religioso” (PI: Alessandro Saggioro, Department of Humanities).
EDITORIAL EXPERIENCE AND ACTIVITIES IN SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS AND BOOK SERIES
From 2020: Member of the Scientific Board, Book Series “Donne, Fedi, Culture” (Publisher: Storia e Letteratura. Directors: Liviana Gazzetta, Alessia Lirosi).
From 2020: Member of the Editorial Board, Books Series “Scienze della Moda e del Costume” (Publisher: Nuova Cultura: Roma. Directors: Romana Andò, Cinzia Capalbo, Barbara Mastropietro, Alessandro Saggioro).
From 2016: Chief of Editorial Committee, Responsible for editing and proofreading at the Journal Studi e Materiali di Storia delle Religioni (SMSR), Sapienza University of Rome (Morcelliana: Brescia; Editor in chief: A. Saggioro, Sapienza University of Rome).
From 2016: Editorial Coordinator of the book series “Alti Studi di Storia intellettuale e delle Religioni” (Società Editrice Fiorentina: Florence. Editor in chief: F. Squarcini, University of Venice Ca’ Foscari).
From 2015: Chief of Editorial Committee, Responsible for editing and proofreading of the book series “Quaderni di Studi e Materiali di Storia delle Religioni,” Supplements of the Journal SMSR, Sapienza University of Rome (Editor in chief: A. Saggioro. Morcelliana: Brescia).
From 2014: Editorial Coordinator, Responsible for editing, proofreading and layout of the book series “Sapienza sciamanica,” Sapienza University of Rome (Nuova Cultura: Rome. Editors in chief: A. Saggioro, S. Botta, Sapienza University of Rome).
From 2012: Editorial Coordinator, Book series “South Asian Normative Traditions Studies”, Anthem Press (Director: Federico Squarcini).
From 2011: Editorial Coordinator, Book series “Cultural, Historical and Textual Studies of South Asian Religions”, Anthem Press (Director: Federico Squarcini).
INSTITUTIONAL ASSIGNEMENTS
2020– Member of the Scientific-Editorial Board of “Sapienza University Press” (SUE).
2018– Member of the PhD Board in Storia, Antropologia, Religioni, Sapienza Università di Roma.
2018– Academic Responsible for Mobility (RAM) Erasmus, LT-3 in Scienze della moda e del costume, Sapienza Università di Roma.
2018– Coordinator of the Corso di Alta Formazione in Storia delle Religioni, Sapienza Università di Roma.
2017– Member of the Scientific Board of the Master I Livello Religione e Mediazione culturale, Sapienza Università di Roma (Director: A. Saggioro), URL:
MEMBERSHIPS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES
Consulta Universitaria per la Storia delle Religioni (CUSR)
Gesellschaft für Anglophone Postkoloniale Studien (GAPS)
European Association of the Study of Religions (EASR)
European Association for South Asian Studies (EASAS)
IAHR Women Scholars Network (IAHR-WSN)
International Association for the History of Religions (IAHR)
Società Italiana di Storia delle Religioni (SISR)
Associazione Italiana di Studi Sanscriti (AISS)
ACTIVE MEMBERSHIPS IN CONFERENCES AND WORKSHOPS (2011–2023)
2023: International Conference “La sacra scena” – Palermo, 9-10 Nov. 2023, Fondazione Buttitta. Title: Uomini che bruciano le donne: il rito della sai tra spettacolo, orrore e meraviglia dei viaggiatori.
2023: International Workshop Riso. Colture e culture in Europa e nel Mediterraneo (secc. XV–XX) – ERC Water-Cultures. The Water Cultures of Italy (1500–1900), Università Ca’ Foscari, Venezia (30 May). Title: “Edible encounters: rice, bread, and religion in the early modern Italian travel writing and the missionary accounts about Asia”.
2023: Cycle of Seminars DAFNE. Divino Al Femminile - PRA 2022-23 Dipartimento di Civiltà e Forme del Sapere - Università di Pisa (28 Apr). Title: “La sposa del cavallo nei grandi rituali vedici”.
2023: Conference "L’universale e le differenze. Percorsi dialogici tra Oriente e Occidente" (March, 30–31), Dipartimento di Antichità, Filosofia e Storia, Università di Genova. Title: “Religioni e pace all’ombra dei conflitti mondiali: l’eredità di Eranos nel dialogo fra Oriente e Occidente”.
2023: Cycle of Seminars Poikilia VII “Norma & Costruzione dell’Umano” (15 Feb.), Università di Venezia Ca’ Foscari. Title: “Emozioni per lo studio delle religioni”.
2023: Roundtable on Cosmologies in the Cotswolds, Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation.
2022: International Conference "Imaginis tempora currunt", Museo internazionale delle marionette Antonio Pasqualino / Fondazione Ignazio Buttitta (15-17 Dec.). Title: “Culture e fratture nel graphic novel in India”.
2022: Second Meeting of the Interdisciplinary Seminars "Le statue degli dèi: immagini e rappresentazioni politeistiche in prospettiva comparativa". Title: Rituali dedicati alle statue divine.
2022. International Conference “La sacra scena. Spettacolo e rito dal mondo antico alla contemporaneità folklorica” (I edition) – Palermo, 16 Nov. Title: Scene sacre nell’arte di Wolfgang Laib.
2022: (with Andrea Maria Nencini) Annual Conference of the University Consultation of History of Religions (9 Sep.). Title: Dire Fare Sentire. Storia delle religioni ed emozioni.
2022. Online Workshop on Rice in Italy and Japan, May 27, 2022, Scuola Italiana di Studi sull’Asia Orientale (ISEAS). Title: Edible encounters: Rice and Fish in the Early Modern Italian Travel Writing About «The Orient».
2022: (with Chiara Cremonesi) Online Seminar. PRIN “Sacrifice in the Europe of the religious conflicts and in the early modern world: comparisons, interpretations, legitimations”, ed. Sabina Pavone (Unità di Macerata). Title: “Politiche del vegetarianesimo rituale tra Grecia e India antica”.
2022: Online Seminar. Master Yoga Studies, Università di Venezia Ca’ Foscari. Title: “Yoga ai tempi di yóga”.
2022: Online Seminar. Corso di Formazione “Donne, diritti e pari opportunità tra passato e presente”, Dipartimento SARAS, Sapienza. Title: “Donne e Religious Studies: metodi e ricerche intorno al gender”.
2021: Teaching activities for the Certificate of Advanced Studies (CAS) in Insegnamento di Storia delle religioni nella scuola media. Scuola universitaria professionale della Svizzera Italiana (SUPSI). Unit 1: STORIA DELLE RELIGIONI: PERCHÉ?. Unit 2: ORIENTALISMO.
2021: Paper at the Convegno “Il corpo della parola. Inni, poemi e performance nell’India antica e contemporanea”, Museo Internazionale delle Marionette Antonio Pasqualino / University of Palermo / Fondazione Buttitta (25-26 June). Title: “Parole d’odio nella poesia vedica fra emozioni socialmente rilevanti e codici sociali”.
2021: paper at the Ciclo di Seminari “(In)esclusioni. Ripensare le diversità nei linguaggi”, Sapienza LINK Coordinamento Universitario (19 May). Title: “Epica e femminismo tra comics e graphic novel in India”.
2021: Paper at the Ciclo di Conferenze DSU 2021 “Racconti/miti di origine, racconti/miti di fondazione”, University of L'Aquila (14 May). Title: “Ayodhyā: luoghi contesi in India fra mito, storia e memoria”.
2021: Paper at the “Winter School Religions and Peaceful Coexistence”, Sapienza (15-20 Feb). Title: “Promoting peace in an overextended empire: South Asia from the Mauryas to the Mughals”.
2021: Paper at the PCTO Mare Nostrum project, Sapienza (25 Jan). Title: “Graphic Novel e discorso religioso”.
2020: Paper at the Workshop “Storia e antropologia dello sport” (Corso per docenti, educatori e studiosi I edizione – Anno 2020-2021), Museo delle Civiltà (Rome), in collaboration with Società Italiana di Storia dello Sport (SISS) (2 Dec). Title: “Sport e religione”.
2019: Paper at the Conference “Tra cielo e terra: spazi del sacro nel Rāmāyaṇa”, University of Pisa, Dipartimento di Civiltà e Forme del Sapere (Pisa, 14 October). Title: “L’epica ai tempi di internet tra animazione e graphic novel”.
2019: Paper at the I National Congress of the Consulta Universitaria per la Storia delle religioni (Montecompatri, RM, 19-20 September). Title: “Le sfide della comparazione: un ménage à trois inevitabile”.
2019: Paper at the International Conference “L’uomo e il cosmo nella storia. Paradigmi, miti, simboli”, University of Palermo (Palermo, 18-20 September). Title: “Il rito conteso nell’India antica: poeti, teologi e asceti tra vecchi e nuovi ordini del mondo”.
Tartu 2019 Paper at the Conference European Association for the Study of Religions (EASR), topic: “Continuity and Disruption” (Tartu, 25–29 June). Title: “ Promoting peace in an overextended empire: Dārā Shīkōh and the Indo-Muslim relationships (17th c.) ” (Panel: Peaceful co-existence of religions: past and present).
2019: Paper at the Workshop “Ritual, Normativity, and Representation: New Methods and Theories in the Study of Religious Contact” (Bochum, 9–10 May). Title: “Ruling is not proper for Brahmins. The ‘civic’ and the ‘religious’ according to the Catholic missionaries to Early Modern India”.
2018: Paper at the Workshop “La blasfemia. Prospettive storiche e attualità culturale” (P.I.: G. Lettieri), Sapienza Università di Roma (Rome, 23 October). Title: “Sulle offese contro le religioni in India” [On offence against religion in India].
2018: Paper at the Workshop “La nozione di persona nello sciamanismo. Una svolta ontologica?” [The Notion of Personhood in the Shamanism: An Ontological Turn?], ISARS–Dipartimento di Storia, Culture, Religioni, Sapienza Università di Roma (Rome, 1–2 October). Title: “Dall’homo religiosus alle nuove ontologie della persona: possibili assonanze eliadiane con la svolta ontologica allo sciamanesimo?” [From homo religious to the new ontologies of the person: is there some analogies between the Eliadian approach to shamanism and the ontological turn?].
2018: Paper at the Annual Meeting of CISSR – Italian Centre for Advanced Studies on Religions (Bertinoro, Bologna, 27–29 September). Title: “Incomparable Magic: Jonathan Z. Smith and the Redescription of Ancient Indian Canons” (Panel: Remembering Jonathan Z. Smith).
2018: Paper at the Conference European Association for the Study of Religions (EASR), topic: “Multiple Religious Identities – Individuals, Communities, Traditions” (Bern, 17–21 June). Title: “Earth, heart, art: ‘re-tracing’ religion and identity in the Indian graphic novels” (Panel: Gendered eco-spirituality: conceptual reflections).
2018: Paper presented at the Cycle of Seminars “Shamanism and the Arts of Healing” (Rome, 16 March), in the field of the Project “Shamanism as Anthropotechnics: A Multidisciplinary Research on the ‘Arts of Healing’”. Title: “A.A.A. Cercasi yogin per sciamano ‘estroverso’. Eliade legge Jung” [Wanted Yogins for ‘extrovert’ Shamans. An Eliadian reading of Jungian thought].
2018: Paper presented at the Conference “Motherhood, Women, and Religions,” Museo di Storia delle Religioni “R. Pettazzoni” (Rome, 2–3 March). Title: “Da Sitā a Saritā: quando le madri della tradizione diventano ‘correnti’ di pensiero” [From Sīta to Saritā: when the mothers of tradition become mind ‘midstream’].
2017: Conference European Association for the Study of Religions (EASR), “Communicating Religion,” (Leuven, 18–21 September).
1) Panel Chair: “The Ethics and Aesthetics of Visual Narratives in South Asia (with M. Matta, Sapienza).
2) Paper: “Communicating the Sacred. The Paradigm of ‘Indian spirituality’ in Eliade’s Making Religion” (Panel: “Pulp Religion: Popularizing the Study of Religion in the Late 19th and the 20th Century).
3) Paper: “More than Entertainment. Religious Discourse and the Graphic Novel Genre in India” (Panel: “The Ethics and Aesthetics of Visual Narratives in South Asia”).
2017: Paper presented at the Conference “Religions and Violence,” Museo di Storia delle Religioni “R. Pettazzoni” (Velletri, Rome, 13–17 June). Title: “Ottenere il meglio con la violenza: sul lessico coercitivo dell’efficacia rituale” [“Gaining the Best through Violence: On the Coercive Lexicon of the Ritual Efficacy”].
2017: Paper presented at the Conference of Gesellschaft für Anglophone Postkoloniale Studien (GAPS), on the topic: “Representing Poverty and Precarity in a Postcolonial World” (Bonn, 25–27 May). Title: “India’s Poverty and Devotion in the Graphic Novel Genre: From Stereotyping to Resistance” (Panel: “Images of South Asia: Poverty and Precarity in Narratives of and from the Postcolony”).
2017: Paper presented at the Cycle of Seminars “Definire il pluralismo religioso: un “research Hub” per lo studio delle religioni / Defining Religious Pluralism: A Research Hub for the Study of Religions,” Sapienza University of Rome (Rome, 4 April). Title: “Pluralismo religioso / Religioni pluraliste: a partire dalla nozione di induismo” [Rethinking Religious Pluralism/Pluralist Religions: Based on the Notion of Hinduism].
2016: Paper at the 24th European Conference on South Asian Studies (ECSAS). Panel: “The Study of South Asian Languages in the Context of the Early Modern Intercultural Encounters between India and Europe” (Warsaw, 27–30 July). Title: “Which Sacrifice? Entangled Languages and Disputed Practices in Early Modern South Asia.”
2016: Panel Chair “Relocating Sacrifice in the History of Religions: Rethinking the Relationship between Theory and Practice,” Conference “Relocating Religion,” European Association for the Study of Religions (EASR) (Helsinki, 28 June–1 July).
2016: Paper at the International Conference “Relocating Religion,” European Association for the Study of Religions (EASR), University of Helsinki (Helsinki, 28 June–1 July). Title: “Displacing Sacrifice from the Vedas: Towards Rethinking the ‘Orthopractic Nature’ of the Vedic Tradition.”
2016: Paper at the National Conference of the Società Italiana di Storia delle Religioni (SISR) “La storia delle religioni e la sfida dei pluralismi,” Sapienza Università di Roma (Rome, 8–9 April). Title: “Bramanismo, Gentilidade, Hinduismo: imagologia e classificazioni in Età moderna” [Bramanismo, Gentilidade, Hinduismo: Imagology and Classification in Early Modern History].
2015: Paper presented at the Colloquium on Future India “Fare e disfare mondi: mito, rito e altre strategie dell’oblio,” University of Venice Ca’ Foscari (Venice, 1 December). Title: “Le pratiche religiose in India attraverso gli occhi degli europei (XV–XVII sec.)” [Religious India through the Eyes of the Europeans (15-17th centuries)].
2015: Paper presented at the International “Coffee Break Conference” on “The ‘Religion’ Challenge: Comparative Religious Studies and the Trouble to Transfer Conceptual Terms from Europe to Asia,” Sapienza Università di Roma (Rome, 17–19 September). Title: “The Sacrifice of Others in the Early Modern Sources on South Asia.”
2015: Panel Chair: “Defining Religious Minorities,” Erfurt (Germany), 24–25 August: XXI International Association for the History of Religions (IAHR) World Congress.
2015: Paper at the XXI Quinquennial World Congress of the IAHR “Dynamics of Religion: Past and Present” (Erfurt, Germany, 25 August). Title: “The ‘Useful’ Brahmin: Understanding the Cohabitation of Minorities in South Asia through the Descriptions of Brahmins in the Italian Travel Chronicles (XVI–XVII centuries).”
2015: Paper at the International Conference “The Sacred: Emergence and Effects” (Naples, 15-17 June). Title: “Indology and the centrality of sacrifice in the notion of “sacred” between 19th and 20th cent.”
2015: Paper at the National Conference: “Il sacrificio. Forme rituali, linguaggi e strutture sociali,” Sapienza University of Rome (Rome, 27–29 May), Seminar on “Storia e Archeologia Greca II” . Title: “Quale sacrificio? Ripensare la categoria a partire dal caso vedico.”
2015: Workshop: “Definire le minoranze religiose / Defining Religious Minorities,” Sapienza University of Rome (Rome, March–June 2015), organized together with S. Botta and A. Saggioro, with the participation of R. Alciati (Turin), A. Annese (Rome), P. Aranha (München), L. Arcari (Naples), F. Berno (Rome), M. Caffiero (Rome), T. Canella (Rome), L. Carnevale (Bari), S. Di Nepi (Rome), G. Lettieri (Rome), U. Longo (Rome), M. Mantovani (Rome), M. Marcos (Santander), F. Ronco (Pisa), and E.R. Urciuoli (Turin).
2014: Conference/Book Presentation: “La lotta per il sacrificio by M. Ferrara,” International Puppetry Museum “Antonio Pasqualino” (Palermo, Sicily, 20 June), organised by Prof. Nicola Cusumano, University of Palermo, in collaboration with the Ph.D. Course in Philology and Greek and Latin Cultures and History of the Ancient Mediterranean, University of Palermo. Discussants: Igor Spanò and Sebastiano Mannia.
2014: Conference: “IV Incontro sulle Religioni del Mediterraneo Antico “Politeismo, Costruzione e Percezione delle Divinità nel Mediterraneo Antico,” Museo di Storia delle Religioni “Raffaele Pettazzoni” (Velletri, Rome, 10–14 June). Title of the paper: “‘Tremilatre, trecentotre, trentatre, sei, tre, due, uno e mezzo, uno.’ Il politeismo vedico come ‘discorso’ tra tradizione e innovazione” [“‘Three thousand and three, three hundred and three, thirty-three, six, three, two, one and half, one.’ Vedic Polytheism as a ‘Discourse’ between Tradition and Innovation”].
2014: Seminar Project “Corpi Sciamanici,” Department of Humanities, Sapienza University of Rome (Rome, 9 June). Title of the paper: “Eliade, l’ascensione difficile e l’albero cosmico nella letteratura sanscrita: ridescrivere l’‘esperienza estatica’ nella teologia vedica” [Eliade, the Difficult Ascent, and the Cosmic Tree in Sanskrit literature: Rethinking ‘Ecstatic Experience’ in Vedic Theology].
2014: International Conference of the Coffee Break Conference Project – Italian Institute of Oriental Studies, Sapienza University of Rome “Theatrical and Ritual Boundaries in South Asia” (Rome, 22–23 May). Title of the paper: “Theatricality and Performativity in the Vedic Ritual: A methodological Approach to an Impressive Display of Power.”
2014: Conference-Book presentation “La lotta per il sacrificio by M. Ferrara” (L’Aquila, 14 May), University of L’Aquila, Department of Humanities, organised by Prof. Paolo Taviani, in collaboration with the PhD Course in Medieval Archaeology. Title of the paper: “Il rito del sacrificio nell’India antica” [“The Rite of Sacrifice in Ancient India”].
2013: International Conference of the Coffee Break Conference Project – T-wai Institute – Museo Egizio of Turin, “Sociocultural Constructions of Sexuality in South Asia” (Turin, 5–7 September). Title of the paper: “Discourse on Sexuality and Promotion of Power: How the Queen Becomes a Means of Persuasion.”
2013: International Seminar of the University of Cagliari, “The Broken World of Sovereignty in India and beyond” (Cagliari, Sardinia, 27–28 June). Title of the paper: “The ‘Implied Leader’ and the Vedic Discourse on Sovereignty: Rethinking the Exclusion of the Vrātyas from Social Intercourse in the Framework of the Reading Process.”
2012: Cycle de formation doctorale “Genre et religion: sociologie, anthropologie, histoire,” École française de Rome – École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (Rome, 13–16 November). Title of the paper: “La sposa regina nel discorso sul rituale vedico tra negoziazione simbolica e performatività” [“The Married Queen in the Discourse on Vedic Ritual between Symbolical Negotiation and Performativity”].
2012: Vedica Neapolitana Workshop, University of Naples L’Orientale (Procida, Naples, 1–6 October). Title of the paper: “The Construction of Yajña in the Ṛgveda.”
2012: National Conference of the Italian Association of Sanskrit Studies (AISS) (Cagliari, Sardinia, 16 June). Title of the paper: “La funzione dello yajña, tra praticanti e fruitori. Ripensare la genesi, l’appropriazione e il controllo della pratica a partire dal Ṛgveda” [The Function of Yajña between Practitioners and Clients: Rethinking the Genesis, Appropriation, and Control of the Practice from Ṛgveda Onwards].
2012: FIRB – National research project “Spazi sacri e percorsi identitari” – Sapienza University of Rome, Panel in Conference “Sulle Rive dell’Acheronte. Costruzione e Percezione della sfera del post mortem nel Mediterraneo Antico,” Museo delle Religioni “Raffaele Pettazzoni” (Velletri, Rome, 12–16 June). Title of the paper: “I topografi dell’aldilà tra desiderio di prosperità e timore della rovina. Strategie di demarcazione e di controllo nelle rappresentazioni vediche dei luoghi oltre la morte” [Topographers of Afterlife between the Wish for Prosperity and the Fear of Ruin: Strategies of Demarcation and Control in the Vedic Representations of the Places of Death].
2011: Conference “Costruzione e percezione delle entità ibride e mostruose nelle culture del Mediterraneo Antico,” Museo delle Religioni “Raffaele Pettazzoni” (Velletri, Rome, 8–11 June). Title of the paper: “Teste animali, lingue infuocate, corpi anguiformi. A riguardo di pericoli e rimedi nell’esegesi vedica dei rituali” [“Animal Heads, Fired Tongues, Snake-bodies: On Dangers and Remedies in the Vedic Exegesis on Ritual”].
2011: Seminar project “Autorità e canone” [“Authority and Canon”], Sapienza University of Rome, Discussants: F. Scialpi, S. Botta (Rome, 4 February). Title of the paper: “Sulla ricezione del Veda e le diramazioni della tradizione brāhmaṇica: dai testi alle scuole e dalle scuole ai testi come metodo di ricerca storica” [“On the Reception of the Veda and the Branches of the Brahmanical Tradition: Moving from the Texts to the Schools and from the Schools to the Texts as a Historical Method of Research”].
2011: Seminar Project “Research Evenings for Indian Studies,” organised by J. Bronkhorst, Université de Lausanne, Section de langues et civilisations orientales (Lausanne, 22 October). Title of the paper: “The Reception of the Vedic Sacrifice in the Earlier Upaniṣads and in the Sutta Piṭaka: A Conflict between Practices or between Representations?”
ORGANISATION OF SCIENTIFIC MEETINGS
2023: Organisation and Coordination of the Cycle of Seminars “Primavera Queer / Queering Spring”, Rome, May, 3–29. Sapienza.
2023: Organisation of the International Conference “Retelling Prester John: frontiers, routes, and emotions about a failed encounter”. Rome, May, 12. Sapienza.
2022: Coordinator (with A. Saggioro, M. Ceravolo) of the activities of EPOT project (The Exhibition of Peace Over Time: Restoring Meanings, Materialisation, and Heritage of Peace from the Cultural Environment into the Museal Field). PI A. Saggioro. Round Table 23 giugno 2022. Sapienza Università of Rome.
2020: Responsible for the Workshop in Scientific Writing of MSCA Projects in History of Religions in collaboration with Alessandro Saggioro (PO) and Angela Bernardo (MSCA Fellow) (12–19 June 2020).
2020: Responsible for the Workshop in Scientific Writing of MSCA Projects in the Humanities in collaboration with Alessandro Saggioro (PO) and Rosa Di Stefano (Area Internazionalizzazione) (2 March–20 April 2020).
2019: Organizer (with E. Iricinschi and G. Evolvi, Ceres) of the Workshop “Ritual, Normativity, and Representation: New Methods and Theories in the Study of Religious Contact” (Bochum, 9–10 May), Bochum-RUB University.
2019: Coordinator of the Corso di Alta Formazione in Storia delle Religioni (Director: A. Saggioro), Dipartimento di Storia Antropologia Religioni Arte Spettacolo, Sapienza Università di Roma.
2018: Organiser (with S. Botta) of the Workshop “La nozione di persona nello sciamanismo. Una svolta ontologica?”, ISARS–Dipartimento di Storia, Culture, Religioni, Sapienza Università di Roma (1–2 Oct).
2018: Organization (with S. Botta) of the Cycle of Seminars “Shamanism and the Arts of Healing” (Rome, 1 March–1 July), in the field of the Project “Shamanism as Anthropotechnics: A Multidisciplinary Research on the ‘Arts of Healing’” (PI: S. Botta). Sapienza Università di Roma.
2017: Organizer (with M. Matta, Sapienza) of the Panel: “The Ethics and Aesthetics of Visual Narratives in South Asia”. Conference of the European Association for the Study of Religions (EASR), Leuven, 18–21 September.
2017: Organization and coordination (with A. Saggioro) of the Cycle of Seminars “Defining Religious Pluralism: A research hub for the study of religions”, Dip. di Storia, Culture, Religioni, Sapienza Università di Roma (Projects coord. by A. Saggioro (Rome, Apr–Jun 2016).
2016: Organizer of the Panel “Relocating Sacrifice in the History of Religions: Rethinking the Relationship between Theory and Practice”, Conference of the European Association for the Study of Religions (EASR), University of Helsinki (28 June–1 July 2016).
2016: Scientific Committee (with A. Saggioro and S. Botta) of the National Conference “La Storia delle religioni e la sfida dei pluralismi” [The History of Religions and the Challenges of the Religious Pluralisms], Sapienza University of Rome, 8–9 April 2016.
2015: Organizer and coordinator of the Cycle of Seminars on “Verso Erfurt: Minoranze religiose / Toward Erfurt: Religious minorities,” Department of Humanities, Sapienza University of Rome, towards the preparation of the double panel on “Defining Religious Minorities in a Pre-Global World (Antiquity and Late Antiquity)” and “Defining Religious Minorities in a Global World” presented together with Alessandro Saggioro, Mar Marcos, and Sergio Botta at the XXI IAHR World Congress 2015.
2014: Editorial Assistant and Coordinator of the Research Project Seminars “Corpi sciamanici” [“Shamanic Bodies”], Sapienza University of Rome.
2011: Organiser of the Seminar Project “Autorità e canone” [“Authority and Canon”], held at Sapienza University of Rome, and Editor of the Proceedings “Canone, norma e autorità / Canon, Law and Authority,” published as a Theme Section in Studi e Materiali di Storia delle religioni 78(1) (Brescia: Morcelliana, 2012).