I have always been interested in the entanglement between religious thought, science and modernity. My PhD research was focused on the history of a papal statement, which well exemplifies the encounter of moral theology with medical science in regulating sexuality. For the first time in XX Century it dealt with reproductive rights and bioethics and it played a fundamental role in shaping Italian ideas about conjugal sexuality and gender roles. To trace this history, I prevalently worked on archival records from Vatican Secret Archives. I looked at the topic from a transnational perspective, comparing Italian and German contexts, crossing the disciplines and using a gender framework. This work was therefore highly innovative in Italian historiography and is therefore quoted by historians of marriage and sexuality. My skills in languages, namely in Latin, German, English, French made this research possible and my approach close to history of ideas along with my previous background in religious sociology framed it into a more coherent pattern.
I exposed the results of this work in numerous international conferences (Providence 2010, Glasgow 2012, München 2013, Rome 2016, München 2016). Since 2012 I have been forging some relevant contacts, with the aim of developing a postdoctoral research project on religion and medicine. I am currently collaborating with the Director of Bruno Kessler Foundation, Prof. Paolo Pombeni, and its team of researchers, namely Dr. Fernanda Alfieri, on a project about science and religion. A first meeting on the topic will held in Munich in October 2016. To the purpose of this project, I have been working on archival records of the Historical Archive of Gregorian University in Rome with its Director Prof. Martin Morales. I have recently collaborated with the Museum for Contraception and Abortion (Museum für Verhütung und Schwangerschaftsabbruch MUVS Wien) in Vienna (Austria), helping their archivists to reconstruct the relationships between Austrian gynecologist Hermann Knaus and Catholic theologians. I am in contact with Prof. Mary Louise Roberts, a leading expert of gender history University of of Madison-Wisconsin (USA), who I met during my stay in Madison as a grant recipient. Besides, in the last months I was involved by Prof. Thomas Brechenmacher, Dean of the Historical Institute of the University of Potsdam (Germany), in the proceedings of a conference on Catholic Church and the debates on eugenics and racism between the World Wars. I have steadily talks with the advisor of my PhD research, Claude Langlois, Emeritus Professor of history and sociology of contemporary Catholicism at the École Pratique des Hautes Études of Sorbonne University (France), who was a pioneer in the history of Catholicism and bioethics.
The outcome of my everyday confrontations with those leading scholars results in a monograph currently under contract with Palgrave Macmillan.
Supervisors: Claude Langlois
I exposed the results of this work in numerous international conferences (Providence 2010, Glasgow 2012, München 2013, Rome 2016, München 2016). Since 2012 I have been forging some relevant contacts, with the aim of developing a postdoctoral research project on religion and medicine. I am currently collaborating with the Director of Bruno Kessler Foundation, Prof. Paolo Pombeni, and its team of researchers, namely Dr. Fernanda Alfieri, on a project about science and religion. A first meeting on the topic will held in Munich in October 2016. To the purpose of this project, I have been working on archival records of the Historical Archive of Gregorian University in Rome with its Director Prof. Martin Morales. I have recently collaborated with the Museum for Contraception and Abortion (Museum für Verhütung und Schwangerschaftsabbruch MUVS Wien) in Vienna (Austria), helping their archivists to reconstruct the relationships between Austrian gynecologist Hermann Knaus and Catholic theologians. I am in contact with Prof. Mary Louise Roberts, a leading expert of gender history University of of Madison-Wisconsin (USA), who I met during my stay in Madison as a grant recipient. Besides, in the last months I was involved by Prof. Thomas Brechenmacher, Dean of the Historical Institute of the University of Potsdam (Germany), in the proceedings of a conference on Catholic Church and the debates on eugenics and racism between the World Wars. I have steadily talks with the advisor of my PhD research, Claude Langlois, Emeritus Professor of history and sociology of contemporary Catholicism at the École Pratique des Hautes Études of Sorbonne University (France), who was a pioneer in the history of Catholicism and bioethics.
The outcome of my everyday confrontations with those leading scholars results in a monograph currently under contract with Palgrave Macmillan.
Supervisors: Claude Langlois
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Workshop organised by Dr Anna Corrias and Dr Lucia Pozzi and co-sponsored by the School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry and the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities. Tuesday, 20 August
The University of Queensland, St Lucia