- Religious History, History of Religions, History of Religion, Religious Studies, Comparative Religion, Asian Studies, and 22 moreSouth Asian Studies, Oral Traditions, Canonicity, Canonization and sanctity, Indology, Orality, Brahmanism, Comparative Religions, Storia delle Religioni, Role of Religion in migration, Religion and nature, Sitayana, Sacrifice (Anthropology Of Religion), Shamanism, Vedic Studies, South Asian Religions, Hinduism, Comics and Graphic Novels, Gender and Sexuality, Gender Studies, Gender Discourse, and Women and Gender Issues in Islamedit
- I got a degree in Philosophy and a PhD in History of Religions. I am interested in the ancient religious history of S... moreI got a degree in Philosophy and a PhD in History of Religions. I am interested in the ancient religious history of South Asia, and I read ancient texts on rituals in Sanskrit. Specifically, my primary research deals with the relationship between politics and religion and with the historical dimension of discursive acts in symbolic and ritual topics. In the last few years, I have been interested in early modern sources to explore religious contact in South Asia, the relationship between religions and graphic novels in India and, more recently, the debate on gender and religious studies.edit
https://www.einaudi.it/catalogo-libri/antropologia-e-religione/religione/karma-e-rinascita-nel-pensiero-indiano-wilhelm-halbfass-9788806249687/ Con questo libro, rivolto a un pubblico generale e non solo di specialisti, uno dei più... more
https://www.einaudi.it/catalogo-libri/antropologia-e-religione/religione/karma-e-rinascita-nel-pensiero-indiano-wilhelm-halbfass-9788806249687/
Con questo libro, rivolto a un pubblico generale e non solo di specialisti, uno dei più illustri studiosi delle tradizioni culturali sudasiatiche offre una visione chiara e completa della storia e del significato delle diverse dimensioni filosofiche delle dottrine indiane sul karma e sulla rinascita: due concetti intimamente correlati e i cui ambiti coprono l’intero spettro del vissuto umano, passato, presente e futuro. Infatti, se la parola sanscrita karman indica l’agire, l’operare e il fare in senso lato, l’idea di «rinascita» – veicolata dal termine sanscrito saṃsāra – è sempre relativa ai diversi modi di intendere le conseguenze che derivano da tale agire. Non c’è azione che non risenta degli effetti dell’aver operato in passato, così come non c’è gesto presente estraneo ai timori e alle speranze circa ciò che andrà a produrre. In che modi il gesto venga reso azione e l’azione venga collegata a conseguenze necessarie è il tema che Wilhelm Halbfass affronta a partire dalla storia intellettuale del Sudasia, sollevando problemi e questioni che vanno ben oltre l’analisi di aspetti peculiari degli studi indologici.
Con questo libro, rivolto a un pubblico generale e non solo di specialisti, uno dei più illustri studiosi delle tradizioni culturali sudasiatiche offre una visione chiara e completa della storia e del significato delle diverse dimensioni filosofiche delle dottrine indiane sul karma e sulla rinascita: due concetti intimamente correlati e i cui ambiti coprono l’intero spettro del vissuto umano, passato, presente e futuro. Infatti, se la parola sanscrita karman indica l’agire, l’operare e il fare in senso lato, l’idea di «rinascita» – veicolata dal termine sanscrito saṃsāra – è sempre relativa ai diversi modi di intendere le conseguenze che derivano da tale agire. Non c’è azione che non risenta degli effetti dell’aver operato in passato, così come non c’è gesto presente estraneo ai timori e alle speranze circa ciò che andrà a produrre. In che modi il gesto venga reso azione e l’azione venga collegata a conseguenze necessarie è il tema che Wilhelm Halbfass affronta a partire dalla storia intellettuale del Sudasia, sollevando problemi e questioni che vanno ben oltre l’analisi di aspetti peculiari degli studi indologici.
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«Nothing beyond the Vedas». With these words Angelo Brelich opens the section on literary sources of Hinduism in his handbook on the history of religion to introduce the methodological difficulties encountered in studying the history of... more
«Nothing beyond the Vedas». With these words Angelo Brelich opens the section on literary sources of Hinduism in his handbook on the history of religion to introduce the methodological difficulties encountered in studying the history of ancient Hinduism. With the same words I would introduce the methodological issues that arise when studying the history of religions in ancient India through the sources at disposal. It is a matter of fact that, as far as the study of ancient Brahmanism concerns, any historian of religious texts has to face the same problem: little or nothing beyond the Vedas. This is the framework in which I will focus on the symbolical practice that has come to represent the Vedic tradition: the yajña or more commonly the ‘Vedic sacrifice’. On the one hand the yajña practice had been codified, systematised, and then placed at the very center of the religious discourse by different groups of specialists who were engaged in teaching ritual practices and preserving transmission; at the same time it has been qualified and re-qualified as ‘institute’, and brought in the theological discussions that had been preserved in the Vedas. On the other hand the yajña practice has been receipted, interpreted, and re-interpreted by the scholarship in their academic disciplines – first of all, anthropologists, philologists, and historians of religion who considered the ‘sacrifice’ an adequate category to interpret the historical complexity of the Brahmanical institute. The ‘struggle for sacrifice’, that gives the title to this volume, is therefore a paradigm to bring under the eyes of everyone – specialists and not – the underlying debate within the Brahmanical tradition and also the discussions arisen among the intellectual producers of the religious discourse from the XIX century up until today.
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In questo saggio si analizza il tema della pace e della pacifica convivenza fra gruppi religiosi nel contesto della produzione epigrafica attribuita ad Aśoka Maurya. Si esplorano alcuni degli editti nei quali lo scenario di pace trova... more
In questo saggio si analizza il tema della pace e della pacifica convivenza fra gruppi religiosi nel contesto della produzione epigrafica attribuita ad Aśoka Maurya. Si esplorano alcuni degli editti nei quali lo scenario di pace trova fondamento nel su- peramento della guerra, che nell’autonarrazione aśokea coincide con la conquista di Kaliṅga (odierno Oḍiśa). L’obiettivo è provare a ricostruire il discorso politico aśokeo sulla strategia più efficace a garantire la durevolezza della pace. Di fronte alla fragilità della pace quale condizione di assenza di guerra, merita attenzione che Aśoka abbia affidato i suoi editti a rocce, pietre e rupi, simbolicamente indistruttibili e collocate a vista d’uomo in luoghi strategici lungo le vie commerciali, i pellegri- naggi e gli avamposti militari.
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This paper explores the initial years of the Eranos initiative, highlighting that Olga Fröbe-Kapteyn’s vision can be fully grasped only by considering Eranos’ establishment during the interwar period and its connection with the... more
This paper explores the initial years of the Eranos initiative, highlighting that Olga Fröbe-Kapteyn’s vision can be fully grasped only by considering Eranos’ establishment during the interwar period and its connection with the Lebensreform movements of the early twentieth century and the School of Wisdom in Darmstadt. Notably, Monte Verità and the School of Wisdom, predating Eranos, were significant cultural and intellectual experiments. The idea of Eranos, while drawing inspiration from such realities, distinctively emphasized scientific inquiry, a direction greatly influenced by Carl G. Jung. The initiative fostered a unique melding of mythology, religious symbolism, and anthropology with emerging psychological theories, positioning itself as a novel platform for academic discourse about the study of religion in the transformative era of the 1930s.
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Lucca Comics & Games è uno degli eventi italiani più attesi da cosplayers e amanti di comics di tutto il mondo, nel quale il graphic novel si distingue come genere letterario in grado di integrare l’analisi storica con memorie e... more
Lucca Comics & Games è uno degli eventi italiani più attesi da cosplayers e amanti di comics di tutto il mondo, nel quale il graphic novel si distingue come genere letterario in grado di integrare l’analisi storica con memorie e testimonianze di guerra, consegnate al grande pubblico attraverso lo sguardo dell’illustratore che veste i panni del graphic reporter. Mostrerò la relazione fra narrazione storica e nuovi media a partire dalle tavole di Will Eisner (1917-2005), uno dei più apprezzati illustratori del Novecento, celebrato nell’edizione 2021 del Lucca Comics & Games, tenutasi tra il 29 ottobre e il 1° novembre. Terrò in considerazione anche altre opere di pregio, che negli ultimi venti anni hanno modificato profondamente il linguaggio cosiddetto comic.
Research Interests: Religion, Sociology of Religion, History of Religion, Comics Studies, Comics, and 9 morePopular Culture and Religious Studies, Graphic Novels, Graphic Novels Study, Comics and Graphic Novels, Religion and Popular Culture, Theory of Comics, Comics Journalism, Anthropology of Religion, and Reliigon and popular culture
Ayodhyā è una cittadina indiana sacra agli occhi degli hindu perché considerata il luogo in cui è nato il dio Rāma. Teatro di violenze fra hindu e musulmani tra ’800 e ’900, Ayodhyā è meglio nota dalle recenti cronache internazionali... more
Ayodhyā è una cittadina indiana sacra agli occhi degli hindu perché considerata il luogo in cui è nato il dio Rāma. Teatro di violenze fra hindu e musulmani tra ’800 e ’900, Ayodhyā è meglio nota dalle recenti cronache internazionali sulla moschea cinquecentesca che nel 1992 venne demolita perché ritenuta costruita sulle rovine di un tempio dedicato a Rāma. Esplorando le fonti che la descrivono come una mitica città inespugnabile e le vicissitudini legali che ne preservano il passato mitico, questo saggio ripercorre l’intreccio fra mito, storia e memoria suggerendo che il caso di Ayodhyā con le sue complicazioni legali e culturali lancia una sfida per ripensare i confini fra mito e storia.
Ayodhyā is an Indian town that is sacred in the eyes of Hindus because it is considered the birthplace of the god Rāma. As a stage of violence between Hindus and Muslims in the 19th-20th century, Ayodhyā is well-known from the recent international news about the demolition, in 1992, of the 16th-century mosque allegedly built on the ruins of a temple dedicated to Rāma. Exploring the sources that describe it as a mythical unconquerable city and the legal vicissitudes that preserve its legendary past, this essay traces the intertwining of myth, history, and memory, suggesting that the case of Ayodhyā with its legal and cultural intricacies poses a challenge to rethink the borders between myth and history.
Ayodhyā is an Indian town that is sacred in the eyes of Hindus because it is considered the birthplace of the god Rāma. As a stage of violence between Hindus and Muslims in the 19th-20th century, Ayodhyā is well-known from the recent international news about the demolition, in 1992, of the 16th-century mosque allegedly built on the ruins of a temple dedicated to Rāma. Exploring the sources that describe it as a mythical unconquerable city and the legal vicissitudes that preserve its legendary past, this essay traces the intertwining of myth, history, and memory, suggesting that the case of Ayodhyā with its legal and cultural intricacies poses a challenge to rethink the borders between myth and history.
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Studiare criticamente il ruolo delle donne nelle società antiche è stato a lungo considerato uno dei contributi più significativi dei Women’s Studies agli studi storici, ma le riflessioni sulla centralità del genere nelle costruzioni... more
Studiare criticamente il ruolo delle donne nelle società antiche è stato a lungo considerato uno dei contributi più significativi dei Women’s Studies agli studi storici, ma le riflessioni sulla centralità del genere nelle costruzioni culturali si sono rivelate incredibilmente fruttuose per gli studi antropologico-religiosi, nei quali, nonostante i recenti sviluppi, tali prospettive ancora faticano a farsi strada. Nel campo degli studi sull’India antica, i tentativi più riusciti sono quelli intorno all’epica sanscrita. Il contesto nel quale le donne sono descritte coma parti attive è per lo più lo spazio rituale, in funzione di una visione eteronormativa del mondo e di forme di organizzazione sociale regolate dal patriarcato e dalla stratificazione secondo la nascita. Nonostante il contesto rituale sia di fatto lo spazio privilegiato al quale accediamo avventurandoci fra le fonti più lontane nel tempo, in questo saggio si intende mostrare come uno studio critico del ruolo delle donne nel Sud Asia antico possa essere condotto anche sul piano normativo all’incirca a partire dal III secolo p.e.v., quando all’interno della classe brahmanica si affermano gli specialisti del dharma, da intendersi nel senso più ampio di ‘specialisti della norma’ a cui conformarsi. Simostrerà come nel prescrivere il comportamento da seguire tali legislatori enunciano obblighi e interdizioni che interessano diversi aspetti della vita collettiva e privata, che intervengono nella risoluzione di questioni contrattuali come l’eredità, il matrimonio, la testimonianza nelle dispute pubbliche, la dote, e sanciscono le azioni considerate illecite, come il furto, lo stupro, l’incesto, la vendita di bambini, l’omicidio, l’uccisione di animali sacri. Come è prevedibile, fra le azioni illecite non compare la schiavitù, ed è tollerata la prostituzione.
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The Eranos endeavor started in Switzerland with the aim of creating a cultural bridge between East and West in the European political scene of the 1930s. Its founder, Olga Fröbe-Kapteyn was an artist, an intellectual, a scholar with a... more
The Eranos endeavor started in Switzerland with the aim of creating a cultural bridge between East and West in the European political scene of the 1930s. Its founder, Olga Fröbe-Kapteyn was an artist, an intellectual, a scholar with a political agenda and a personal vision of the study of religions as a path of consciousness, a psychological healing, and a political instrument of harmony among religions. Olga Fröbe-Kapteyn also actively built a network of relevant relationships in the cultural and political landscape of central Europe, which facilitated the success of Eranos and its survival beyond the disturbances of the Second World War. This article explores the relational capital Fröbe-Kapteyn with the help of the theologian Rudolf Otto; it also examines how her interest in the Eastern religions and analytical psychology entangled with biases and gender stereotypes differently pursued by the academic trio of C.G. Jung, Heinrich Zimmer, and Jakob Wilhelm Hauer.
Research Interests: Religion, Hinduism, Comparative Religion, Sociology of Religion, Religion and Politics, and 10 morePsychology of Religion, Myths and Symbols as carriers of unconscious content, History of Religions, Gender and religion (Women s Studies), World Religions, Carl Gustav Jung, Eranos, Anthropology of Religion, Great Mother, and The Great Mother Goddess and Goddesses
From a longue durée perspective, the term yoga has been scholarly understood as a philosophical system or a religious phenomenon. Such an approach, however, does not take into account the uses of the word yóga in the early Vedic texts,... more
From a longue durée perspective, the term yoga has been scholarly understood as a philosophical system or a religious phenomenon. Such an approach, however, does not take into account the uses of the word yóga in the early Vedic texts, mainly the R̥gveda, where this term is linked with the art of war. This article suggests that the term yóga should be understood in the social and political context of the mobility and warfare of the semi nomadic communities of ancient India. It also addresses the question of historiography of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It is suggested that the scholarly understanding of the word yóga in the early Vedic literature has been impacted by many attempts to search for an original, pure or essential yoga. For the purposes of this article, the invention of the Ur-Yoga will be discussed to show how they contributed to forging ideologies in the course of the twentieth century.
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In questo saggio si suggeriscono nuove prospettive nella metodologia storico-antropologica attraverso l’analisi delle emozioni – in particolare le emozioni dello scontro, della lotta, del conflitto, in un contesto guerriero qual era... more
In questo saggio si suggeriscono nuove prospettive nella metodologia storico-antropologica attraverso l’analisi delle emozioni – in particolare le emozioni dello scontro, della lotta, del conflitto, in un contesto guerriero qual era quello vedico – che traspaiono attraverso il linguaggio, e quindi dalla parola, e che forniscono un quadro della società e delle norme alle quali la società si adegua.
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Nel rito brahmanico viene eretto un particolare ordine del mondo, teso a garantire il funzionamento di una società composta di una moltitudine di sudditi e guidata da un capo. I riferimenti alla vita politica, economica e sociale del... more
Nel rito brahmanico viene eretto un particolare ordine del mondo, teso a garantire il funzionamento di una società composta di una moltitudine di sudditi e guidata da un capo. I riferimenti alla vita politica, economica e sociale del regno compaiono nelle formule di offerta e riverenza agli dèi e prendono parte al rito, rendendolo un dispositivo simbolico capace di prescrivere il posto che ogni membro sociale deve occupare, la funzione che deve svolgere, i divieti a cui deve sottostare.
Là dove il rito è appannaggio delle élite (governanti e brahmani), il suo linguaggio contribuisce al mantenimento di relazioni di potere fondate sulla distinzione sociale: le classi dominanti sono poste in alto e mangiano, quelle dominate sono poste in basso e sono mangiate. La disposizione della società nello spazio del rito fa eco a un ordine economicamente, socialmente e politicamente costituito, che nelle narrative della creazione del mondo stabilisce lo status quo per conservare le relazioni di potere. Seguendo il ragionamento di “coloro che sanno questo”, il potere politico e quello religioso non devono mai consentire l’ingerenza dell’uno nella sfera dell’altro, né sostituirsi nelle funzioni stabilite, ma devono coadiuvarsi per la stabilità del regno. La condizione ideale del regno viene rappresentata nella scena rituale in occasione dei riti solenni, destinati ai sovrani e da questi sponsorizzati: la prosperità del regno coincide con la gloria del patrocinatore del rito. I riti solenni forniscono dunque la piattaforma simbolica ma anche lo spazio performativo per prescrivere i divieti che tutelano la classe deputata al comando dal diventare di pari livello del popolo.
Là dove il rito è appannaggio delle élite (governanti e brahmani), il suo linguaggio contribuisce al mantenimento di relazioni di potere fondate sulla distinzione sociale: le classi dominanti sono poste in alto e mangiano, quelle dominate sono poste in basso e sono mangiate. La disposizione della società nello spazio del rito fa eco a un ordine economicamente, socialmente e politicamente costituito, che nelle narrative della creazione del mondo stabilisce lo status quo per conservare le relazioni di potere. Seguendo il ragionamento di “coloro che sanno questo”, il potere politico e quello religioso non devono mai consentire l’ingerenza dell’uno nella sfera dell’altro, né sostituirsi nelle funzioni stabilite, ma devono coadiuvarsi per la stabilità del regno. La condizione ideale del regno viene rappresentata nella scena rituale in occasione dei riti solenni, destinati ai sovrani e da questi sponsorizzati: la prosperità del regno coincide con la gloria del patrocinatore del rito. I riti solenni forniscono dunque la piattaforma simbolica ma anche lo spazio performativo per prescrivere i divieti che tutelano la classe deputata al comando dal diventare di pari livello del popolo.
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Text available at: https://www.libreriauniversitaria.it/civilta-religioni-2020-6/rivista/24213152/2020/6/civilta-religioni-2020-6.htm This article addresses the controversy between the two Jesuit missionaries, Roberto Nobili and... more
Text available at: https://www.libreriauniversitaria.it/civilta-religioni-2020-6/rivista/24213152/2020/6/civilta-religioni-2020-6.htm
This article addresses the controversy between the two Jesuit missionaries, Roberto Nobili and Gonçalo Fernandes Trancoso, at the beginning of the 17th century. The article revisits the arguments the two Jesuits used against each other to establish, before the Holy Office, whether the Brahmanical thread (Skr. yajñopavīta, Tam. pūṇūl) carried a religious meaning (i.e., it was a means of idolatry; thus, converts ought to be forbidden to wear it) or represented a mark of social distinction (i.e., converts could wear it without sinning). Moreover, the article explores the political and economic background of this Catholic controversy, to highlight the network of relationships through which the Jesuits gradually entered Southern India during the 16th-17th centuries. In doing so, it takes into consideration the roles of some strategical converts, such as the Indian merchant Dom João da Cruz and the Rāja of Tanor, analyzing their resonance not only in geopolitical key, but also in the construction of the narratives about the spread of Christianity in South India.
This article addresses the controversy between the two Jesuit missionaries, Roberto Nobili and Gonçalo Fernandes Trancoso, at the beginning of the 17th century. The article revisits the arguments the two Jesuits used against each other to establish, before the Holy Office, whether the Brahmanical thread (Skr. yajñopavīta, Tam. pūṇūl) carried a religious meaning (i.e., it was a means of idolatry; thus, converts ought to be forbidden to wear it) or represented a mark of social distinction (i.e., converts could wear it without sinning). Moreover, the article explores the political and economic background of this Catholic controversy, to highlight the network of relationships through which the Jesuits gradually entered Southern India during the 16th-17th centuries. In doing so, it takes into consideration the roles of some strategical converts, such as the Indian merchant Dom João da Cruz and the Rāja of Tanor, analyzing their resonance not only in geopolitical key, but also in the construction of the narratives about the spread of Christianity in South India.
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Che cosa possono avere in comune una principessa dell’epica indiana, sottoposta agli obblighi del suo status sociale, e una donna dei nostri tempi alle prese con le prepotenze della società contemporanea? Cartoni animati, comics e graphic... more
Che cosa possono avere in comune una principessa dell’epica indiana, sottoposta agli obblighi del suo status sociale, e una donna dei nostri tempi alle prese con le prepotenze della società contemporanea? Cartoni animati, comics e graphic novel mostrano che l’elemento in comune siano i sentimenti, le emozioni, in particolare quelle che accompagnano la nascita di un amore, la passione degli amanti, ma anche la rottura di una promessa, di un vincolo di fiducia quando sorgono le difficoltà, le incomprensioni o le aspettative disattese. Attraverso le opere di Nina Paley, Samhita Arni e Moyna Chitrakar, Saraswati Nagpal e R. Manikandan, Devdutt Pattanaik, si mostrerà come nel dare un volto animato ai personaggi del poema indiano Rāmāyaṇa, gli illustratori di oggi, sia in India che altrove, affrontano nuove sfide con narrative solo apparentemente antiche.
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In the essay In Comparison a Magic Dwells (1979/1982), J.Z. Smith discusses the problems of comparison and analyzes the limits of standard models applied in the study of religions: how to compare, what one can compare, and, above all,... more
In the essay In Comparison a Magic Dwells (1979/1982), J.Z. Smith discusses the problems of comparison and analyzes the limits of standard models applied in the study of religions: how to compare, what one can compare, and, above all, which comparison is adequate for the history of religions? Starting from these methodological questions, this article will deal with magic as an abstract notion for the interpretation of textual canons in the religious traditions of ancient India, especially as concerns the alleged exclusion and late inclusion of the “fourth Veda” in the mainstream of tradition. This article will redescribe the construction of the Vedic canon, adopting Smith’s proposal to consider “magic” as “just one possibility in any given culture’s rich vocabulary of alterity” (Trading Places, 1992/1995, 221) and “canon” as “one form of a basic cultural process of limitation and of overcoming that limitation through ingenuity” (Sacred persistence: Toward a redescription of canon, 1977/1982, 52).
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This essay investigates the theoretical and methodological challenges undertaken in the research of “religious pluralism” which aspires to use comparison as a method to achieve inter-religious dialogue. In particular, the essay addresses... more
This essay investigates the theoretical and methodological challenges undertaken in the research of “religious pluralism” which aspires to use comparison as a method to achieve inter-religious dialogue. In particular, the essay addresses the debate at the heart of Comparative Theology and Hindu-Christian Studies, which today are moving beyond the legacy of John Hick’s theoretical works to a new research track, adopting comparison as a means of stripping theological inquiry of its essentialist and ideological assumptions and, at the same time, promoting a comparative and inter-religious approach. The essay also analyses the strategic role of “comparison” as a cognitive tool in the methods and theories that historians of religions have used over the past five decades. In doing so, it also pays close attention to the destabilising effects that recent postmodernist critiques have had on “comparison.” Finally, the purpose of this essay is to establish whether comparison, a well-accepted method in the history of religions, could be adopted to evaluate inter-religious practices.
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Text available at: https://www.cairn.info/imaginaires-queers--9782940648160.htm This text considers some examples of the new literature from India authored by women, where gender, nature, and religion are all engaged in criticism... more
Text available at: https://www.cairn.info/imaginaires-queers--9782940648160.htm
This text considers some examples of the new literature from India authored by women, where gender, nature, and religion are all engaged in criticism against the sacralised foundation of a society, that justifies and allows the exploitation of its subalterns. Drawing on examples from the universe of visual story-telling, this text discusses a selection of recent graphic novels where epic narration has found fresh space and is being brought to the attention of new audiences. While looking at India’s ancient history and mythological heritage through graphic novel genre, not only the younger generations, but also so-called ‘young adult’, and women especially, have found an unconventional space in which to claim a voice to speak on the country’s traditions, to share ideas, and approach contemporary issues debated in the public.
This text considers some examples of the new literature from India authored by women, where gender, nature, and religion are all engaged in criticism against the sacralised foundation of a society, that justifies and allows the exploitation of its subalterns. Drawing on examples from the universe of visual story-telling, this text discusses a selection of recent graphic novels where epic narration has found fresh space and is being brought to the attention of new audiences. While looking at India’s ancient history and mythological heritage through graphic novel genre, not only the younger generations, but also so-called ‘young adult’, and women especially, have found an unconventional space in which to claim a voice to speak on the country’s traditions, to share ideas, and approach contemporary issues debated in the public.
Research Interests: Sociology of Religion, Popular Culture, History of Religions, Graphic Novels, Gender and religion (Women s Studies), and 8 moreGraphic Novels Study, Women In Hinduism, Comics and Graphic Novels, Religion and Popular Culture, Indian Mythology, Hindu Mythology, Anthropology of Religion, and reliigon and gender
Power and glory in ancient India in Johannes Bronkhorst’s trilogy · Between 2007 and 2016, the Indologist Johannes Bronkhorst published three volumes about the religious, social, and political history of Northern regions of ancient India,... more
Power and glory in ancient India in Johannes Bronkhorst’s trilogy · Between 2007 and 2016, the Indologist Johannes Bronkhorst published three volumes about the religious, social, and political history of Northern regions of ancient India, released by Brill as the volumes 19, 24 and 30 of the “Handbuch der Orientalistik” series. As a whole, these three works draw an original fresco of ancient India as they provide an historical-religious enquiry that embraces a millennium of political events and religious doctrines. During this time, a religious minority without an army was able to establish the ideology that supported its social supremacy in the succeeding centuries. The ideology of the four varṇa ended up becoming an integral part of the religious, political, and social order guaranteed by Brahmins. Bronkhorst highlights those elements of historical discontinuity that contributed to redefining the religious system. He also captures the vicissitudes of the Brahmanical circles and provides an elaborate analysis of the history of Brahmanism in ancient India. Not only the religious oppositions but also the political interactions impacted on the redefinitions of political borders on the eastern and western sides of the Ganges valley. Consequently, the redefinition of political borders encouraged migrations, facilitating the circulation of ideas, people and religious groups.
In this paper, I aim to highlight the originality of Bronkhorst’s works and I wish to emphasise the importance of his contribution to the history of religions of ancient India.
In this paper, I aim to highlight the originality of Bronkhorst’s works and I wish to emphasise the importance of his contribution to the history of religions of ancient India.
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Othering defines boundaries and produces social demarcation. More specifically, within religious and political discourses, othering involves the process of locating alterity. This is a powerful strategy that creates a semantic field of... more
Othering defines boundaries and produces social demarcation. More specifically, within religious and political discourses, othering involves the process of locating alterity. This is a powerful strategy that creates a semantic field of authority that, in turn, effectively displaces unauthorized speakers. In this paper, I will treat Ṛgvedic poetry as a form of authoritative field. I will analyze its discourse of alterity through its use of māyā, extraordinary power, artifice, cunning, tricks or wiles. I will suggest that ‘others,’ from the viewpoint of Vedic poets, were those who could not make use of authorized speech, i.e. the sūktá. I will illustrate how the poetical activity constituted a semantic field within which the Ṛṣis distinguished themselves from malicious, tricking speakers and charlatans, i.e. the māyíns and other untrustworthy speakers assigned to the art of manipulating words.
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Come studioso delle religioni interessato a rintracciare la forma “originaria”, “autentica”, “non contaminata” dello sciamanesimo, Eliade guarda alle tradizioni religiose dell’India perché là lo conduce il vocabolario indoeuropeo sulle... more
Come studioso delle religioni interessato a rintracciare la forma “originaria”, “autentica”, “non contaminata” dello sciamanesimo, Eliade guarda alle tradizioni religiose dell’India perché là lo conduce il vocabolario indoeuropeo sulle tecniche ascetiche; là trova i praticanti di yoga e in essi individua l’anello di congiunzione tra gli sciamani nordasiatici e gli asceti di un passato remoto; là, infine, sono stati composti i Veda, le opere da cui Eliade attinge per testimoniare un’«eredità spirituale immemore» fondata sull’«esperienza estatica». Nel descrivere l’India antica e la religione dei Veda, Eliade fa eco ai molti studiosi ottocenteschi e coevi che consideravano il “brahmanesimo” una religione unitaria e monolitica, frutto di una società immobile e di un ritualismo austero e immutabile. Questa idea dell’immobilità del “pensiero indiano” assieme a quella di una spiritualità unica, ricondotta all’onnipresenza di uno yoga altrettanto unico, finiscono per alimentare la ricerca di modelli arcaici e universali e l’ideale di uno sciamanesimo d’altri tempi, fondato sull’ascesi e sulla meditazione. In questo saggio si cercherà di mostrare che l’equivalenza fra sciamanesimo e pratiche estatiche scricchiola nel momento in cui si rinuncia alla necessità logica del punto “che sta in mezzo”. Seguendo Jonathan Z. Smith, si cercherà altresì di indagare se e come l’ideologia del costruire possa dirsi presente nei miti e nelle idee preservate nei Veda. Ripercorrendo ed esaminando le medesime fonti che Eliade menziona a sostegno del suo discorso sul centro, ci si avvia verso una graduale desciamanizzazione dell’India antica, con l’esito di verificare gli effetti distorcenti dell’ideologia estatica in contesti dove le logiche e le retoriche esprimono una dimensione fortemente politica e sociale.
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While the debate on the relationship between ritual and theatre goes back decades, the most recent speculation can be fully understood in the framework of the cross-influences between the social sciences and the performance studies.... more
While the debate on the relationship between ritual and theatre goes back decades, the most recent speculation can be fully understood in the framework of the cross-influences between the social sciences and the performance studies. Looking back years later, the spreading of structuralism to anthropology, sociology, and history (among other fields) and the absorption of theory-oriented terms in the theatre studies terminology have facilitated a linguistic and conceptual ambiguity (when not confusion). Such ambiguity arises especially from the attempt to outline the borders between the religious and the aesthetic.
In this paper, I will focus on the crucial role of conventional terms such as performance and performative, whose increased use in different fields has given rise to new dichotomies, such as performativity vs theatricality, self vs role. I will discuss some theoretical issues that allow us to define a ritual text as ‘religious’ instead of ‘theatrical’, focusing on the performative effect of recitation, more specifically on the Vedic texts on ritual prescriptions and their aim to display the officiants’ skills and authoritativeness.
In this paper, I will focus on the crucial role of conventional terms such as performance and performative, whose increased use in different fields has given rise to new dichotomies, such as performativity vs theatricality, self vs role. I will discuss some theoretical issues that allow us to define a ritual text as ‘religious’ instead of ‘theatrical’, focusing on the performative effect of recitation, more specifically on the Vedic texts on ritual prescriptions and their aim to display the officiants’ skills and authoritativeness.
Research Interests: Hinduism, Theatre Studies, Performance Studies, Indian studies, Ritual, and 13 moreDrama, History of Religions, Theological Aesthetics, Ritual (Anthropology), Sacrifice (Anthropology Of Religion), Ritual Theory, Theatre, Ritual Studies, Rituals, Hindu Studies, Vedic Studies, Ritual Practices, and Wolfgang Laib
What I intend to discuss in this paper is an issue that has strongly marked the attempts to define religion as a comparative notion in the early modern age, at the beginning of the great encounter between the European conquerors,... more
What I intend to discuss in this paper is an issue that has strongly marked the attempts to define religion as a comparative notion in the early modern age, at the beginning of the great encounter between the European conquerors, merchants, and travellers and the inhabitants of the faraway lands. In order to discuss the construction of religion as a colonial concept, I will focus on the use of ‘sacrifice’ as a semantically efficient term in various attempts made, from 15th c. onwards, by Christian Europeans to describe India and the Indian people, rites, and laws for their audience. I will suggest that ‘sacrifice’, strictly connected with idolatry, has served as a category that is ‘good to think with’ for the understanding of Others. It served, at the same time, as a cultural instrument to visualise the features of false religions when the discourse and the narratives on ‘otherness’ have definitively shifted from simple description to obsessive stereotypisation.
Research Interests: Comparative Religion, Cultural History, Early Modern History, Renaissance Studies, Renaissance Humanism, and 14 moreSouth Asian Studies, South Asian History, Study of Religions, History of Religions, Renaissance literature, Animal Sacrifice (Anthropology), Sacrifice (Anthropology Of Religion), World Religions, India, Antrhopology, Indology, Travelling, Anthropology of Religion, and Religious Studies /Indology
Research Interests: Religion, Comparative Religion, Cultural History, Renaissance Studies, South Asian Studies, and 10 moreRenaissance, Study of Religions, History of Religions, Renaissance literature, India, Religious Diversity, Indo-Persian Cultural History, Viaggiatori italiani, Italian travellers, and Anthropology of Religion
Sacrifice is a keyword in religious studies. Yajña is a governing concept of Vedic literature. On the basis of the major theories of rituals that flourished between the 18th and the 19th centuries, yajña has been referred to as a perfect... more
Sacrifice is a keyword in religious studies. Yajña is a governing concept of Vedic literature. On the basis of the major theories of rituals that flourished between the 18th and the 19th centuries, yajña has been referred to as a perfect example of sacrificial pattern in Vedic tradition. However, while ‘sacrifice’ as a category has been widely discussed among scholars from different fields, the equivalence between ‘sacrifice’ and yajña has been tacitly assumed in the notion of ‘Vedic sacrifice’.Focusing on the rise of Indology as a discipline, this article explores the success of ‘sacrifice’ as a category in the history of scholarship in 18th- and 19th-century Europe. The main argument is that the equivalence between ‘sacrifice’ and yajña has developed at the crossroads between Indology and the socio-anthropological studies, while the Vedic notion of yajña is, indeed, strictly related to the semantic field that has developed around the root yaj-, of which it is proposed to maintain the etymological meaning “to honour, offer, dedicate”. As a result, it is suggested that the translation of yajña as ‘sacrifice’ may be rejected by three types of arguments: linguistic, theoretical, and historical.
Research Interests: Hinduism, Comparative Religion, Cultural History, History of Religion, South Asian Studies, and 15 moreVedic Language and Classical Sanskrit, Study of Religions, Vedic Sanskrit, History of Religions, Animal Sacrifice (Anthropology), Sacrifice (Anthropology Of Religion), Indology, History of the Study of Religions, Indology, Veda, Yoga, Vedic Studies, Vedic religion, South Asian Studies, Indology, History, Indology, sanskrit Studies, Indian History, Religious Studies /Indology, and History of Indology
In the ancient South Asian texts about ritual known as Saṃhitās and Brāhmaṇas, the wives of the king play an interesting role in terms of bodily actions and ritual rhetoric. Especially the so-called " chief wife " (mahiṣī) is described as... more
In the ancient South Asian texts about ritual known as Saṃhitās and Brāhmaṇas, the wives of the king play an interesting role in terms of bodily actions and ritual rhetoric. Especially the so-called " chief wife " (mahiṣī) is described as a central and liminal player who serves as a sexual counterpart of the king at the main solemn rituals, i.e. Aśvamedha and Rājasūya, involving the travel of a horse in unconquered lands and the royal consecration, respectively. In this essay I suggest that the construction of female sexuality is a crucial point to fix the boundaries around the notion of authority, not only that of the king, but also that of his practitioner, i.e. the brāhmaṇa or purohita. From this starting point I suggest also that the chief wife of the king may be reconsidered as one of the most strategic actor on a ritual and political stage. I will try to show that the mahiṣī's sexual function in the ritual exegesis had gained value, in connection with the attempt to deify the human primus inter pares of the political organisation, i.e. the king. More specifically, I will deal with the ritual language and codification concerning the mahiṣī's sexuality in order to illustrate the formulation of her body in the rituals prescribed in the Brāhmaṇas about solemn rites. I will discuss how the persuasive force of description and prescription about her bodily actions served as a means of persuasion in displaying the king's power. Finally, I suggest rethinking the role of gender in royal rituals from the perspective of literary criticism.
Research Interests: Hinduism, Gender Studies, History of Religion, Religion and Sexuality, South Asian Studies, and 10 moreGender and Sexuality, Study of Religions, History of Religions, Animal Sacrifice (Anthropology), Sacrifice (Anthropology Of Religion), Women In Hinduism, Religious Studies, Vedic Studies, Vedic religion, and Anthropology of Religion
In this paper I will focus on the construction and promotion of the yajña practice in the different layers of the Ṛgveda Saṃhitā. I will show that in the canonical collection of hymns there are all the data to sustain the proposition that... more
In this paper I will focus on the construction and promotion of the yajña practice in the different layers of the Ṛgveda Saṃhitā. I will show that in the canonical collection of hymns there are all the data to sustain the proposition that the yajña had become a “practice” through three main purposes: 1) to establish an institutionalized relationship between the practitioner and the client; 2) to gain the consent of a particular social group; 3) to excel among other (brāhmaṇa) responsible for honoring and satisfying the gods.
My attempt is to reconstruct the system through which the brāhmaṇas realized their goal to make yajña a symbolic practice for honoring and satisfying gods in the form of the precepts we know from the prose texts.
My attempt is to reconstruct the system through which the brāhmaṇas realized their goal to make yajña a symbolic practice for honoring and satisfying gods in the form of the precepts we know from the prose texts.
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In a long paper on vrātya, now considered to be a classical survey on this topic, the indologist Jan Heesterman states that “the impurity and exclusion of the vrātya from social intercourse is . . . undeniable.” Heesterman’s analysis... more
In a long paper on vrātya, now considered to be a classical survey on this topic, the indologist Jan Heesterman states that “the impurity and exclusion of the vrātya from social intercourse is . . . undeniable.” Heesterman’s analysis deserves consideration because of its originality. The Dutch scholar collected a lot of data on vrātyahood from Brāhmaṇa and Śrautasūtra texts, fewer from the Saṁhitā texts, to show that the condition of being vrātya shares several aspects with the Vedic ideal-type of warriorhood. The historical approach led Heesterman to draw a schema of the relationships between kṣatriyas and brāhmaṇas that does not fit in with the structuralist standpoint based on the Dumézilian theory of tri-functionality, still dominant among scholars of ancient Indian culture in the 1960s. As Heesterman noticed, what we learn about the vrātya from the Vedic texts suffers from a series of contradictions that cannot be understood through the interpretations of sovereignty as an organized principle of brāhmaṇahood. The vrātyas, in the words of Heesterman, are “betwixt and between” and share with both the “religious” and “secular” actors some features which cannot be reduced to one or the other. No doubt these and other similarities suggest some links among the vrātyas, the ritual practitioners and the political leaders mentioned in the Vedic texts, but I would like to draw attention to the fact that the negative attributes of the vrātya are, in many points, comparable with what a political leader (kṣatriya) ought not to do or ought not to be in preparing for the ritual performances in the view of many Vedic theologians. In contrast with this picture, according to other ancient authors, the vrātya seems to have also some good qualities that stress a link between the vrātya and the brāhmaṇa. The fact that the warrior-like features of the vrātya are negative enough, while the features evoking the brāhmaṇahood are with no doubt positive, suggests something else that cannot be reduced to an organized social interrelation.
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In Mircea Eliade’s researches on shamanism the Sanskrit literature plays a crucial role in relation to his theorization of yoga as a mystique technique. The yoga in the singular is postulated by Eliade as a unique and trans-historical... more
In Mircea Eliade’s researches on shamanism the Sanskrit literature plays a crucial role in relation to his theorization of yoga as a mystique technique. The yoga in the singular is postulated by Eliade as a unique and trans-historical phenomenon, while, indeed, the Indic sources at disposal on yogas (in the plural) do not justify such reductio ad unum. This papers deals with the Eliade’s (and not only) attempt in constructing a unique and original background within which his discourse on archaic yoga and shamanism is supposedly historically-based.
Research Interests: Comparative Religion, Indian Philosophy, History of Religion, Yoga, Shamanism, and 11 moreStudy of Religions, Mircea Eliade, Archaeology of shamanism, History of the Study of Religions, Shamanism and Shamanic Healing, Vedic Studies, Vedic religion, Mircea Eliade, History of religion, Religious studies, History of yoga, Anthropology of Religion, and Shamanism and Other Archaic Form of Religion
La dialettica fra tradizioni mitopoietiche e le loro riscritture è al centro di questo articolo, che prende le mosse da una rivisitazione moderna del Sītāyaṇa, il “viaggio di Sītā”, ovvero le vicende del principale personaggio femminile... more
La dialettica fra tradizioni mitopoietiche e le loro riscritture è al centro di questo articolo, che prende le mosse da una rivisitazione moderna del Sītāyaṇa, il “viaggio di Sītā”, ovvero le vicende del principale personaggio femminile del Rāmāyaṇa, testo classico della tradizione sudasiatica, che è protagonista del pluripremiato lungometraggio di animazione di Nina Paley “Sita Sings the Blues” (USA 2009). L'analisi si allarga poi alla crescente attenzione verso Sītā fra fumettisti e graphic novelist.
Il lungometraggio di Nina Paley ha suscitato grande amore e grande odio fra gli indiani e le indiane figli della diaspora, perché, se da un lato attinge arbitrariamente a un testo considerato sacro, dall’altro lo “contamina” rendendolo noto anche agli outsiders, superando i confini imposti dagli apologeti della tradizione. Il successo del graphic novel come genere di scrittura nuovo fra gli indiani della diaspora consente di riflettere sulla capacità propria dei linguaggi artistici odierni di porsi come veicolo di trasmissione per le tradizione antiche, i cui contenuti vengono così riqualificati e attualizzati, i cui modelli sono riplasmati e integrati. In particolare Sītā, che nella tradizione “autorizzata” è inscritta in un registro linguistico, simbolico e narrativo profondamente patriarcale, diventa, attraverso i nuovi linguaggi della popular culture, lo strumento attraverso cui molte giovani donne del Sudasia ridefiniscono il proprio ruolo nella tradizione, tra diaspora, globalizzazione e glocalizzazione.
Il lungometraggio di Nina Paley ha suscitato grande amore e grande odio fra gli indiani e le indiane figli della diaspora, perché, se da un lato attinge arbitrariamente a un testo considerato sacro, dall’altro lo “contamina” rendendolo noto anche agli outsiders, superando i confini imposti dagli apologeti della tradizione. Il successo del graphic novel come genere di scrittura nuovo fra gli indiani della diaspora consente di riflettere sulla capacità propria dei linguaggi artistici odierni di porsi come veicolo di trasmissione per le tradizione antiche, i cui contenuti vengono così riqualificati e attualizzati, i cui modelli sono riplasmati e integrati. In particolare Sītā, che nella tradizione “autorizzata” è inscritta in un registro linguistico, simbolico e narrativo profondamente patriarcale, diventa, attraverso i nuovi linguaggi della popular culture, lo strumento attraverso cui molte giovani donne del Sudasia ridefiniscono il proprio ruolo nella tradizione, tra diaspora, globalizzazione e glocalizzazione.
Research Interests: Hinduism, History of Religion, Literature and cinema, Indian studies, Social and Cultural Anthropology, and 21 moreSouth Asian Studies, Popular Culture and Religious Studies, History of Religions, Graphic Novels, Migration Studies, Diaspora Studies, South Asian Literature, Indian Literature, Women In Hinduism, Postmodern Literary Theory and Popular Culture, Comics and Graphic Novels, Religion and Popular Culture, Women and Gender Studies, Woman Studies, Ramayana, Cultural Anthrpology, English Literature, Graphic Novels, Comics Studies, Manga Studies, Popular Culture, Cultural Studies, Women's Studies, Gender Studies, Visual Culture, Sita Sings the Blues, Ramayana retellings, Anthropology of Religion, and Patachitra and Patuas of Bengal
"Canon, as Jonathan Z. Smith said, is the subtype of the genre “list“. However, Smith stated, “where there is a canon, it is possible to predict the necessary occurrence of a hermeneute, of an interpreter whose task is continually to... more
"Canon, as Jonathan Z. Smith said, is the subtype of the genre “list“. However, Smith stated, “where there is a canon, it is possible to predict the necessary occurrence of a hermeneute, of an interpreter whose task is continually to extend the domain of the closed canon over everything that is known or everything that exists without altering the canon in the process“ (J.Z. Smith, Imagining Religion. From Babylon to Jonestown, Chicago 1982, p. 48). In this perspective, I will investigate the functional concepts through which the dominant communities of brahmins of the Southasian antiquity had produced the Vedic canons, i.e. the established canons of the “heard“ liturgical recitations.
I will show that the concept of canon is useful to recognise the subjectivity of the Vedic text and to interpret the historical rivalries among the lineages of poets and ritual codifiers."
I will show that the concept of canon is useful to recognise the subjectivity of the Vedic text and to interpret the historical rivalries among the lineages of poets and ritual codifiers."
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Il 29 ottobre scorso l’Università di Padova è stata la sede di una tavola rotonda sul travagliato rapporto tra la Storia delle religioni come disciplina accademica e l’ora di Religione come materia scolastica. L’incontro, dal titolo Una... more
Il 29 ottobre scorso l’Università di Padova è stata la sede di una tavola rotonda sul travagliato rapporto tra la Storia delle religioni come disciplina accademica e l’ora di Religione come materia scolastica. L’incontro, dal titolo Una proposta educativa: storia delle religioni (o scienze delle religioni?) a scuola, è stato promosso da Paolo Scarpi, presidente del corso di Laurea Magistrale interateneo in Scienze delle Religioni che coinvolge le Università di Padova e di Venezia Ca’ Foscari. Tra i partecipanti sono intervenuti docenti di diverse aree di studio che afferiscono a varie univer- sità italiane: Giampiera Arrigoni per l’Università Statale di Milano, Sergio Botta e Alessandro Saggioro per Sapienza Università di Roma, Chiara Cremonesi, Paolo Bettiolo e Marco Zambon per l’Università di Padova, Nicola Gasbarro per l’Università di Udine, Chiara Ghidini per l’Università di Napoli L’Orientale, Massimo Raveri, Antonio Rigopoulos e Federico Squarcini per l’Università di Venezia Ca’ Foscari, Paolo Taviani per l’Università dell’Aquila. La tavola rotonda è stata coordinata da Paolo Scarpi, il quale, da promotore dell’incontro, ha dato inizio ai lavori ponendo una questione secca e precisa: parlare di una Storia delle religioni nella scuola obbliga a una preliminare definizione di religione e questo è un problema ineludibile. Una volta acquisita una sia pure approssimativa definizione entrano poi in gioco non pochi altri problemi, in cui il più rilevante è, ha continuato il promotore dell’incontro, quello di stabilire quale può essere il rapporto di uno Stato che si proclami laico con le diverse confessioni religiose che si trovino ad abitare il suo territorio. Da ciò infine discende inevitabilmente stabilire quali scelte deve operare il legislatore dal punto di vista dei princìpi educativi per non produrre discriminazioni, nel momento in cui un accordo internazionale tra Stati ha inserito l’Insegnamento della Religione Cattolica (irc), sia pure opzionale, nelle scuole. Più che lasciar proliferare gli insegnamenti confessionali nelle scuole, difficilmente gestibili, o abolire per converso anche l’attuale ora di Religione, parrebbe quasi naturale introdurre, in quale modo e da chi è tutto da verificare, una Storia delle religioni non viziata da ipoteche teologiche e nemmeno fenomenologiche, né condizionata da pregiudizi ideologici. Cosa purtroppo più facile a dirsi che a farsi.
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In this essay I will try to show that the semantic construction of the afterlife and of its topography are functional for defining the boundaries between earth-world and netherworld, but they are orientated by the strategies to control... more
In this essay I will try to show that the semantic construction of the afterlife and of its topography are functional for defining the boundaries between earth-world and netherworld, but they are orientated by the strategies to control the access, passage, and closure to afterworld. A comparison between the different strata of the earliest Vedic texts (the family books of Ṛgveda, Ṛgveda I and X, Atharvaveda, and the prose-texts, respectively) allows us to hold that the interest in talking about death and afterlife changed from a certain point onwards. This change provides us with a new parameter to rethink why and for what reasons the interest in talking about afterlife increased in the latest strata of the Ṛgveda. I will try to illustrate that the increasing interest for afterlife and the claim to mark the boundaries of the otherworldly places had two rhetoric effects: on the one hand the afterlife was represented as the celestial world, the ideal place where the leaving and the dead members of the group reckoned their common identity; on the other one the brahmanical practice to honour gods, namely, yajña, was furthered as being the gateway to the afterlife world, but also the means that provided the most meritorious people with a distinguishing mark from their enemies and rivals, and from those who transgressed the rules devoted to defend the yajña-practice and its eminent practitioners.
In questo contributo si cercherà di mostrare che le scelte semantiche per qualificare l’aldilà e la sua topografia sono funzionali alla definizione della soglia fra mondo terreno e mondo ultraterreno, ma sono orientate dalle strategie per controllarne gli accessi, i passaggi, le chiusure. Il confronto tra diversi strati della letteratura vedica più antica (rispettivamente i “libri famigliari” del Ṛgveda, Ṛgveda I e X, Atharvaveda, i testi in prosa) ci consente di sostenere che c’è un mutato interesse per le rappresentazioni della morte e dei luoghi ultraterreni a essa connessi. Questo cambiamento ci fornisce un nuovo parametro per ripensare le ragioni che percorrono il crescente interesse per la sorte dell’uomo dopo la morte nel Ṛgveda. Prendendo le mosse da questa constatazione cercherò di illustrare che la concettualizzazione e la delimitazione spaziale del post-mortem ha due effetti retorici dalla funzione altamente performativa: da un lato l’aldilà inteso come luogo celeste era il luogo ideale nel quale i vivi e i morti del gruppo si riconoscevano come nucleo identitario; dall’altro lato la pratica brahmanica per rendere onore agli dèi (yajña) era promossa come la porta sull’aldilà che consentiva ai meritevoli del gruppo di distinguersi nel post-mortem non solo dai nemici e dai rivali, ma anche dai trasgressori di quelle norme che tutelavano i praticanti dello yajña in veste di rappresentanti in terra degli dèi.
In questo contributo si cercherà di mostrare che le scelte semantiche per qualificare l’aldilà e la sua topografia sono funzionali alla definizione della soglia fra mondo terreno e mondo ultraterreno, ma sono orientate dalle strategie per controllarne gli accessi, i passaggi, le chiusure. Il confronto tra diversi strati della letteratura vedica più antica (rispettivamente i “libri famigliari” del Ṛgveda, Ṛgveda I e X, Atharvaveda, i testi in prosa) ci consente di sostenere che c’è un mutato interesse per le rappresentazioni della morte e dei luoghi ultraterreni a essa connessi. Questo cambiamento ci fornisce un nuovo parametro per ripensare le ragioni che percorrono il crescente interesse per la sorte dell’uomo dopo la morte nel Ṛgveda. Prendendo le mosse da questa constatazione cercherò di illustrare che la concettualizzazione e la delimitazione spaziale del post-mortem ha due effetti retorici dalla funzione altamente performativa: da un lato l’aldilà inteso come luogo celeste era il luogo ideale nel quale i vivi e i morti del gruppo si riconoscevano come nucleo identitario; dall’altro lato la pratica brahmanica per rendere onore agli dèi (yajña) era promossa come la porta sull’aldilà che consentiva ai meritevoli del gruppo di distinguersi nel post-mortem non solo dai nemici e dai rivali, ma anche dai trasgressori di quelle norme che tutelavano i praticanti dello yajña in veste di rappresentanti in terra degli dèi.
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Tentare di parlare del mostruoso e dell’ibrido come categorie interpretative nell’ambito delle esegesi religiose del Sudasia antico rischia di presentarsi come un’operazione dalle tinte vagamente orientalistiche, perché si tratta di... more
Tentare di parlare del mostruoso e dell’ibrido come categorie interpretative nell’ambito delle esegesi religiose del Sudasia antico rischia di presentarsi come un’operazione dalle tinte vagamente orientalistiche, perché si tratta di categorie elaborate a partire da ambiti storici e geografici precisi – greco e romano – che potrebbero assumere una vita propria e piegare i dati storici alla metastoria.
Tuttavia, nell’intraprendere la strada della comparazione bisogna assumere una posizione teorica: sostenere se c’è commensurabilità o incommensurabilità fra l’ambito culturale che s’intende esaminare e quelli cui genealogicamente riconducono le categorie interpretative in oggetto. Inevitabilmente anche questa operazione sarà altrettanto condizionata e condizionante.
Alla luce dei recenti studi, saremmo tentati di andare verso la posizione dell’incommensurabilità, secondo cui le specificità culturali sono irriducibili e le categorie incongruenti fuori dal conteso nativo. Ma io non sposo questa tesi, perché nell’indagare il variegato contesto vedico, oltre le differenze, si nota una profonda commensurabilità, che a tratti è perfino identità. Mi sto riferendo a ciò che si coglie oltre la semantica dell’ibrido e del mostruoso, che è l’interesse a marcare una difformità rispetto al normato; difformità, sia inteso, che i testi notano e fanno notare. Sicché, mentre gli etimi di “ibrido” e “mostruoso” ci dicono molto sul contesto genealogico, è, invece, all’uso della loro costitutiva difformità che intendo volgere l’attenzione.
Tuttavia, nell’intraprendere la strada della comparazione bisogna assumere una posizione teorica: sostenere se c’è commensurabilità o incommensurabilità fra l’ambito culturale che s’intende esaminare e quelli cui genealogicamente riconducono le categorie interpretative in oggetto. Inevitabilmente anche questa operazione sarà altrettanto condizionata e condizionante.
Alla luce dei recenti studi, saremmo tentati di andare verso la posizione dell’incommensurabilità, secondo cui le specificità culturali sono irriducibili e le categorie incongruenti fuori dal conteso nativo. Ma io non sposo questa tesi, perché nell’indagare il variegato contesto vedico, oltre le differenze, si nota una profonda commensurabilità, che a tratti è perfino identità. Mi sto riferendo a ciò che si coglie oltre la semantica dell’ibrido e del mostruoso, che è l’interesse a marcare una difformità rispetto al normato; difformità, sia inteso, che i testi notano e fanno notare. Sicché, mentre gli etimi di “ibrido” e “mostruoso” ci dicono molto sul contesto genealogico, è, invece, all’uso della loro costitutiva difformità che intendo volgere l’attenzione.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
“How did Christianity make its remarkable voyage from the Roman Mediterranean to the Indian subcontinent?”. This question represents the core of the book by Nathanael J. Andrade, associate professor in the Department of History at State... more
“How did Christianity make its remarkable voyage from the Roman Mediterranean to the Indian subcontinent?”. This question represents the core of the book by Nathanael J. Andrade, associate professor in the Department of History at State University of New York, Binghamton. Andrade immediately answers in the subtitle of the book: “Networks and the Movement of Culture”. Indeed, Andrade’s volume, The Journey of Christianity to India in Late Antiquity, deals with networks, commercial roots, connections, circulation of people, objects, and ideas. All these interesting themes introduce the reader to the thematic of how the religious history of South Asia was connected to that of the Mediterranean in late Antiquity through the Christian narratives about the apostle “Judas Thomas”.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
CFP EASR / LEUVEN 2017 Marianna Ferrara and Mara Matta (Sapienza University of Rome) have submitted a panel proposal for the upcoming 2017 EASR conference (18-21 September), hosted by the Belgian Association for the Study of Religion,... more
CFP EASR / LEUVEN 2017
Marianna Ferrara and Mara Matta (Sapienza University of Rome) have submitted a panel proposal for the upcoming 2017 EASR conference (18-21 September), hosted by the Belgian Association for the Study of Religion, Babel.
Our panel is titled:
"The ethics and aesthetics of visual narratives in South Asia"
KINDLY CONSIDER SUBMITTING A PAPER PROPOSAL for our PANEL.
<https://kuleuvencongres.be/easr2017/articles/submitproposal>
If you need more info, get in touch via email , FB or academia.edu.
marianna.ferrara@uniroma1.it
mara.matta@uniroma1.it
Kindly SHARE IT among your friends and colleagues
who may be interested.
Thank you for your help in spreading the word!
deadline 31 January
Marianna Ferrara and Mara Matta (Sapienza University of Rome) have submitted a panel proposal for the upcoming 2017 EASR conference (18-21 September), hosted by the Belgian Association for the Study of Religion, Babel.
Our panel is titled:
"The ethics and aesthetics of visual narratives in South Asia"
KINDLY CONSIDER SUBMITTING A PAPER PROPOSAL for our PANEL.
<https://kuleuvencongres.be/easr2017/articles/submitproposal>
If you need more info, get in touch via email , FB or academia.edu.
marianna.ferrara@uniroma1.it
mara.matta@uniroma1.it
Kindly SHARE IT among your friends and colleagues
who may be interested.
Thank you for your help in spreading the word!
deadline 31 January
Research Interests: Sociology of Religion, Visual Anthropology, Southeast Asian Studies, Animation, Religion and Politics, and 15 moreLiterature and cinema, Visual Culture, Visual Semiotics, South Asia, Study of Religions, History of Religions, South Asian Literature, Hindi Cinema, Southeast Asian Politics, Visual Arts, Southeast Asian history, Comics and Graphic Novels, Cinema Studies, English Literature, Graphic Novels, Comics Studies, Manga Studies, Popular Culture, Cultural Studies, Women's Studies, Gender Studies, Visual Culture, and Anthropology of Religion
From Friday, May 3rd, at 4:00 PM, in the Romeo room (third floor) of the SARAS Department, the seminar series "Queer Spring / Queering Spring" will take place, as part of the course "Religions and Gender" inaugurated in 2023. The seminars... more
From Friday, May 3rd, at 4:00 PM, in the Romeo room (third floor) of the SARAS Department, the seminar series "Queer Spring / Queering Spring" will take place, as part of the course "Religions and Gender" inaugurated in 2023.
The seminars aim to provide various research methodologies to identify and explore the role of gender dynamics and relationships within different religious and symbolic systems.
The following will participate in the seminar series: Deborah Scolart (University of Naples L’Orientale), Malgorzata Sacha (Jagiellonian University of Krakow), Igor Spanò (University of Palermo), Daniela Bonanno (University of Palermo), Joanna Malita-Kròl (Jagiellonian University of Krakow), and Davide Torri (Sapienza).
The initiative is part of the activities of the laboratory "Religions and Social Change."
All seminars can also be attended remotely via the link provided on the poster.
The seminars aim to provide various research methodologies to identify and explore the role of gender dynamics and relationships within different religious and symbolic systems.
The following will participate in the seminar series: Deborah Scolart (University of Naples L’Orientale), Malgorzata Sacha (Jagiellonian University of Krakow), Igor Spanò (University of Palermo), Daniela Bonanno (University of Palermo), Joanna Malita-Kròl (Jagiellonian University of Krakow), and Davide Torri (Sapienza).
The initiative is part of the activities of the laboratory "Religions and Social Change."
All seminars can also be attended remotely via the link provided on the poster.
Research Interests: Religion, Sociology of Religion, Gender Studies, History of Religion, Religion and Politics, and 15 morePsychology of Religion, Gender and Sexuality, Gender and the Law, Popular Culture and Religious Studies, Study of Religions, History of Religions, Women and Gender Issues in Islam, Religion and Social Change, Ancient myth and religion, Witchcraft (Anthropology Of Religion), Women In Hinduism, Comparative Religions, Religious Studies, Wiccan and Pagan Traditions, and Anthropology of Religion
Nell'ambito del progetto di Eccellenza del Dipartimento SARAS sul tema della Vulnerabilità come risorsa: patrimonio culturale, memoria storica, costruzione del futuro, il 9 maggio si terrà il convegno intitolato "La presenza induista in... more
Nell'ambito del progetto di Eccellenza del Dipartimento SARAS sul tema della Vulnerabilità come risorsa: patrimonio culturale, memoria storica, costruzione del futuro, il 9 maggio si terrà il convegno intitolato "La presenza induista in Italia", frutto della convenzione fra Sapienza e l'Unione induista italiana, con il coordinamento scientifico di Marianna Ferrara, Paolo Naso e Alessandro Saggioro.
All'incontro saranno presenti Franco Di Maria Jayendranatha (Presidente Unione Induista Italiana) e Svamini Hamsananda Giri (Vicepresidente Unione Induista Italiana). Seguiranno gli interventi di Bruno Lo Turco (Sapienza, ISO), Carmela Mastrangelo (Sapienza, ISO), Gianni Pellegrini (Università di Torino), Federico Squarcini (Università di Venezia Ca' Foscari), Bernadette Fraioli (Sapienza), Igor Spanò (Università di Palermo), Eugenio Giorgianni (Università di Messina), Chiara Tommasini (Sapienza).
Il convegno potrà essere eseguito anche da remoto attraverso il link indicato sulla locandina.
All'incontro saranno presenti Franco Di Maria Jayendranatha (Presidente Unione Induista Italiana) e Svamini Hamsananda Giri (Vicepresidente Unione Induista Italiana). Seguiranno gli interventi di Bruno Lo Turco (Sapienza, ISO), Carmela Mastrangelo (Sapienza, ISO), Gianni Pellegrini (Università di Torino), Federico Squarcini (Università di Venezia Ca' Foscari), Bernadette Fraioli (Sapienza), Igor Spanò (Università di Palermo), Eugenio Giorgianni (Università di Messina), Chiara Tommasini (Sapienza).
Il convegno potrà essere eseguito anche da remoto attraverso il link indicato sulla locandina.
Research Interests:
Il 12 maggio 2023 alle ore 9.00, in occasione dei lavori conclusivi del Progetto di Ateneo 2020 "Oggetti, frontiere e incontri nelle storie sul Prete Gianni: aspetti transculturali ed emozionali di un mito plurisecolare tra coabitazione e... more
Il 12 maggio 2023 alle ore 9.00, in occasione dei lavori conclusivi del Progetto di Ateneo 2020 "Oggetti, frontiere e incontri nelle storie sul Prete Gianni: aspetti transculturali ed emozionali di un mito plurisecolare tra coabitazione e contatti religiosi (secoli XII-XVIII)", nell'Aula Odeion presso l'Edificio di Lettere si terrà il convegno internazionale Retelling Prester John: frontiers, routes, and emotions of a failed enconter. Interverranno: Pier Giorgio Borbone (Univ. di Pisa), Paolo Chiesa (Univ. di Milano), Marco Di Branco (Sapienza), Chiara Di Serio (Univ. di Cipro), Marianna Ferrara (Sapienza), Marco Giardini (EPHE), Adam Knobler (Univ. di Bochum/CERES), Margherita Mantovani (Univ. di Amburgo), Antonio Musarra (Sapienza), Agostino Soldati (Sapienza), Christopher E. Taylor (Univ. di Austin/New Mexico), Davide Torri (Sapienza) e Jana Valtrová (Univ. Masaryk di Brno).
Il convegno si terrà in presenza con possibilità di seguire a distanza attraverso il collegamento Meet indicato.
Il convegno si terrà in presenza con possibilità di seguire a distanza attraverso il collegamento Meet indicato.
Research Interests: Religion, Mythology, Medieval History, Medieval Studies, Religion and Politics, and 9 morePower and Authority in the Middle Ages, History of Religions, Ancient myth and religion, Religious Studies, Jewish-Christian-Muslim relations in the Middle Ages, Middle Ages, Prester John, Anthropology of Religion, and Religiion and Theology
Theme Section «Conflicts, Tensions, and Mythmaking at Eranos Before and After World War II» ed. by Marianna Ferrara & Eduard Iricinschi. The volume analyzes the 1933-1962 annual Eranos meetings that gathered eminent historians of... more
Theme Section «Conflicts, Tensions, and Mythmaking at Eranos Before and After World War II» ed. by Marianna Ferrara & Eduard Iricinschi.
The volume analyzes the 1933-1962 annual Eranos meetings that gathered eminent historians of religions, analysts, and scientists in Ascona, Switzerland. The SMSR guest authors examine the ways in which the participants to these Eranos conferences discussed the effects of the two world wars on twentieth-century culture by combining concepts from the study of spirituality and mythology, from the history of religion, and, most importantly, C.G. Jung’s analytical psychology. The eight contributions consider "Eranos mythmaking" during the early key decades and sketch the transition from interwar epistemological innovation and social optimism to the postwar rise of humanistic studies, highlighting that the Eranos meetings provided both a sanctuary from modernity and a crucible for forging new intellectual outlooks in an age of global turmoil.
The volume analyzes the 1933-1962 annual Eranos meetings that gathered eminent historians of religions, analysts, and scientists in Ascona, Switzerland. The SMSR guest authors examine the ways in which the participants to these Eranos conferences discussed the effects of the two world wars on twentieth-century culture by combining concepts from the study of spirituality and mythology, from the history of religion, and, most importantly, C.G. Jung’s analytical psychology. The eight contributions consider "Eranos mythmaking" during the early key decades and sketch the transition from interwar epistemological innovation and social optimism to the postwar rise of humanistic studies, highlighting that the Eranos meetings provided both a sanctuary from modernity and a crucible for forging new intellectual outlooks in an age of global turmoil.
Research Interests: Religion, Comparative Religion, History of Religion, Religion and Politics, Psychology of Religion, and 8 moreJungian psychology (Religion), Study of Religions, History of Religions, Religion and Social Change, Ancient myth and religion, Comparative Religions, Comparative Study of World Religions, and Anthropology of Religion
Theme Section «Retelling Prester John. Objects, Routes, and Emotions» ed. by Marianna Ferrara. The legend of Prester John has been a subject of considerable debate within the field of medieval studies since the nineteenth century.... more
Theme Section «Retelling Prester John. Objects, Routes, and Emotions» ed. by Marianna Ferrara.
The legend of Prester John has been a subject of considerable debate within the field of medieval studies since the nineteenth century. However, it was during the twentieth century, particularly in recent years, that scholars from a diverse array of disciplines have shown an increased interest in this topic. Historical research has highlighted the conspicuous absence of any real individuals akin to Prester John among the key figures of the Crusades, the explorations to the East, or the unsuccessful diplomatic engagements with potential allies beyond Christian territories. Consequently, the extant historical evidence supports two notions: firstly, that Prester John is a fictitious character who never existed, and secondly, that stories circulated about Prester John among significant historical rulers have influenced the conceptualisation of potential allies in distant lands. This has rendered Prester John an in-demand character, emphasizing the significant material and historical impact stemming from his fictional status. In this volume, experts from various fields offer fresh perspectives, rejuvanating the debate with a fundamental question: Can we reassess the stories about Prester John through methodological reflections that have advanced our comprehension of myths?
The legend of Prester John has been a subject of considerable debate within the field of medieval studies since the nineteenth century. However, it was during the twentieth century, particularly in recent years, that scholars from a diverse array of disciplines have shown an increased interest in this topic. Historical research has highlighted the conspicuous absence of any real individuals akin to Prester John among the key figures of the Crusades, the explorations to the East, or the unsuccessful diplomatic engagements with potential allies beyond Christian territories. Consequently, the extant historical evidence supports two notions: firstly, that Prester John is a fictitious character who never existed, and secondly, that stories circulated about Prester John among significant historical rulers have influenced the conceptualisation of potential allies in distant lands. This has rendered Prester John an in-demand character, emphasizing the significant material and historical impact stemming from his fictional status. In this volume, experts from various fields offer fresh perspectives, rejuvanating the debate with a fundamental question: Can we reassess the stories about Prester John through methodological reflections that have advanced our comprehension of myths?
Research Interests:
Theme Section «Embodiment in Religious Resilience» ed. by Sergio Botta and Tessa Canella
Research Interests:
Theme Section «Ritualità e cerimonie nella storia» a cura di Andrea Nicolotti
Research Interests:
Theme Section «Movimenti e funzioni rituali nel Mediterraneo antico
Danza, estasi e corpi» a cura di Mélanie Lozat
Danza, estasi e corpi» a cura di Mélanie Lozat
Research Interests:
Theme Section «Sacrificio e sacerdozio. Letture del Levitico tra giudaismo e cristianesimo» a cura di Federica Candido, Caterina Moro e Carla Noce.
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Theme Section «L’immagine delle religioni indigene nelle cronache novoispane. Nuove vie di indagine» a cura di Sergio Botta e Clementina Battcock
Research Interests:
On Thursday, 17 november, Brian A. Hatcher, a Professor of Theology at Tufts University (Medford, Massachusetts), will give a lecture on “Cowherds, kings and sadhus aspects of religious place-making in modern Bengal”. The interests of... more
On Thursday, 17 november, Brian A. Hatcher, a Professor of Theology at Tufts University (Medford, Massachusetts), will give a lecture on “Cowherds, kings and sadhus aspects of religious place-making in modern Bengal”.
The interests of Brian A. Hatcher are Hinduism and Religion in modern South Asia Religion and Colonialism Modern Bengal. Among his publications are: “Vidyasagar. The Life and After-life of an Eminent Indian” (Routledge, 2014), “Bourgeois Hinduism, or Faith of the Modern Vedantists: Rare Discourses from Early Colonial Bengal” (Oxford University Press, 2008), and the translation of “Ishvarchandra Vidyasagar, Hindu Widow Marriage: An Epochal Work on Social Reform from Colonial India” (Columbia University Press, 2011).
Time and Venue
Date: Thursday 17 November 2015
Time: 17.00 - 18.30
Venue: Lettere, II floor / Aula A Studi Storico-religiosi
Info
Marianna Ferrara - Dipartimento di Storia, Culture, Religioni
marianna.ferrara@uniroma1.it
The interests of Brian A. Hatcher are Hinduism and Religion in modern South Asia Religion and Colonialism Modern Bengal. Among his publications are: “Vidyasagar. The Life and After-life of an Eminent Indian” (Routledge, 2014), “Bourgeois Hinduism, or Faith of the Modern Vedantists: Rare Discourses from Early Colonial Bengal” (Oxford University Press, 2008), and the translation of “Ishvarchandra Vidyasagar, Hindu Widow Marriage: An Epochal Work on Social Reform from Colonial India” (Columbia University Press, 2011).
Time and Venue
Date: Thursday 17 November 2015
Time: 17.00 - 18.30
Venue: Lettere, II floor / Aula A Studi Storico-religiosi
Info
Marianna Ferrara - Dipartimento di Storia, Culture, Religioni
marianna.ferrara@uniroma1.it