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Vera Lazzaretti studied Philosophy and Cultural Anthropology in Italy and holds a Ph.D. in Indian and Tibetan Studies from the University of Turin (2013). She is a Senior Researcher (Investogadora Auxiliar, FCT 2020.02275.CEECIND) at the Centre for Research in Anthropology (CRIA) at ISCTE-IUL, Lisbon, where she's currently working on alignments and collusions of heritage and security in urban South Asia and Southern Europe. Before joining CRIA, Vera worked at the University of Milan, the University of Oslo and the South Asia Institute at Heidelberg University. Her main field site is urban north India, and her research interests include the anthropology of space and place; religion and politics; contested heritage; securitisation and policing; inter-religious violence; religious offence; pilgrimage; religious nationalism; inequality; and ethnography. Her research has been funded by the Cariplo Foundation (2009-2010), the Universities of Milan and Turin (2010-2013, and 2015-2017), the German Academic Research Exchange (2015 and 2020), the Research Council of Norway (2017-2019), the University of Heidelberg (2020) and the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (2021-ongoing). Her publications include one research monograph, one book, a variety chapters in peer-reviewed edited volumes, two special issues in Q1 journals and several articles in international peer-reviewed journals, including South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies, International Journal of Heritage Studies and Contemporary South Asia.
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Identification

Personal identification

Full name
Vera Lazzaretti

Citation names

  • Lazzaretti, Vera

Author identifiers

Ciência ID
F518-99AB-C4C9
ORCID iD
0000-0002-5621-189X
Google Scholar ID
v0BP6WwAAAAJ
Scopus Author Id
57164873100

Email addresses

  • vera.lazzaretti@iscte-iul.pt (Professional)

Websites

Knowledge fields

  • Social Sciences - Sociology - Anthropology
  • Humanities - Philosophy, Ethics and Religion - Religious Studies

Languages

Language Speaking Reading Writing Listening Peer-review
Italian (Mother tongue)
English Proficiency (C2) Proficiency (C2) Proficiency (C2) Proficiency (C2) Proficiency (C2)
Hindi Advanced (C1) Upper intermediate (B2) Intermediate (B1) Advanced (C1) Advanced (C1)
French Upper intermediate (B2) Advanced (C1) Upper intermediate (B2) Advanced (C1) Upper intermediate (B2)
Portuguese Intermediate (B1) Intermediate (B1) Intermediate (B1) Intermediate (B1) Intermediate (B1)
German Beginner (A1) Beginner (A1) Beginner (A1) Beginner (A1) Beginner (A1)
Education
Degree Classification
2010/01/01 - 2013/05/29
Concluded
 PhD in Euro-Asian Studies (section of Indology and Tibetan Studies) (Dottorato di Ricerca)
Major in Cultural Anthropology; Ethnography; Indology; Religious Studies
Università degli Studi di Torino, Italy
2008/01/01
Concluded
 Hindi Certificate Diploma (Pós-Graduação)
Delhi Central Hindi Directorate, India
2007/05/02
Concluded
 Scienze Filosofiche (Mestrado)
Università degli Studi di Milano, Italy
Affiliation

Positions / Appointments

Category
Host institution 		Employer
2021/10/01 - Current Researcher Centro em Rede de Investigação em Antropologia, Portugal
ISCTE-Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, Portugal
2020/05/01 - 2021/09/30 Researcher Ruprecht Karls Universität Heidelberg, Germany
Ruprecht-Karls Universität Heidelberg Sudasien-Institut, Germany
2019/10/01 - 2020/04/30 Guest Researcher Universitetet i Oslo Institutt for kulturstudier og orientalske språk, Norway
Universitetet i Oslo Det humanistiske fakultet, Norway
2017/10/01 - 2019/09/30 Post-doctoral fellow Universitetet i Oslo Institutt for kulturstudier og orientalske språk, Norway
Universitetet i Oslo Det humanistiske fakultet, Norway
2015/06/01 - 2017/09/30 Post-doctoral fellow Università degli Studi di Milano, Italy
Università degli Studi di Milano, Italy

Others

Category
Host institution 		Employer
2015/10/01 - 2016/07/31 Visiting scholar DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) , Germany
Ruprecht Karls Universität Heidelberg Exzellenzcluster Asien und Europa im globalen Kontext, Germany
(...)
2013/10/01 - 2015/12/31 Assistant Professor Università degli Studi di Milano, Italy
Università degli Studi di Milano, Italy
Projects

Grant

Designation Funders
2024/07 - 2026/08 Antarctic Living Heritage
GA 101180620
GA 101180620
Co-Principal Investigator (Co-PI)
Centro em Rede de Investigação em Antropologia, Portugal
 EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions
Ongoing
2023/11/01 - 2024/10/31 Na Mouraria: Heritage-making, (in)securities and urban imaginaries in Lisbon's historic centre.
PExCRIA/2023.2/NaMoura
Principal investigator
Centro em Rede de Investigação em Antropologia, Portugal

ISCTE-Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, Portugal
Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
Ongoing
2017/10/01 - 2019/09/30 The burden of security. Exploring spatial regulation of religious offence and the geographies of enforcement
231569
Post-doc Fellow
Universitetet i Oslo Institutt for kulturstudier og orientalske språk, Norway
 Norges forskningsråd
Concluded
2009/01/01 - 2009/12/31 History and mythological transmission in the temple of Gauri Kedareshvar in Varanasi
45673
Scientific Initiation Fellow
Banaras Hindu University, India
 Fondazione Cariplo

Università degli Studi di Milano
Concluded

Contract

Designation Funders
2021/10/01 - 2027/09/30 Security and heritage. Alignments and collusions of two global leitmotifs
2020.02275.CEECIND/CP1634/CT0001
10.54499/2020.02275.CEECIND/CP1634/CT0001
Principal investigator
Centro em Rede de Investigação em Antropologia, Portugal
 Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
Ongoing
2020/07/01 - 2021/10/01 Transformative Heritage
ExU 6.2.20/H SF6
Principal investigator
Ruprecht Karls Universität Heidelberg, Germany
 Ruprecht Karls Universität Heidelberg
2021/05/01 - 2021/09/30 [DAAD Prime] Security and heritage: Globalised aspirations and material futures in urban north India
57567612
Principal investigator
Ruprecht Karls Universität Heidelberg, Germany
 DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service)

Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst
Concluded
2020/05/01 - 2021/04/30 Security and heritage. Alignments and collusions of two global leitmotifs
ExU 6.2.3
Principal investigator
Ruprecht Karls Universität Heidelberg, Germany
 Ruprecht Karls Universität Heidelberg
Concluded
2015/06/01 - 2017/09/30 Evolution and transformations of local urban pilgrimage in Varanasi
1001000
Post-doc Fellow
Università degli Studi di Milano, Italy
 Università degli Studi di Milano
Concluded
2010/01/01 - 2013/05/29 "When the copy darkens the model. Study on spatial transposition and Banaras: the case of jyotirlingas".
9996745
PhD Student Fellow
Università degli Studi di Torino, Italy
 Università degli Studi di Torino
Concluded

Other

Designation Funders
2015/10/01 - 2016/07/31 Waterscapes of Banaras
5243687
Post-doc Fellow
Ruprecht-Karls Universität Heidelberg Sudasien-Institut, Germany
 DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service)
Concluded
Outputs

Publications

Book
  1. Lazzaretti, Vera. Here and elsewhere: Transposed Deities, Substitute Pilgrimages and Geographic Imagination in North India. Heidelberg, Germany: Heidelberg Asian Studies Publishing (Ethno-Indology: Heidelberg Studies in South Asian Rituals, Band 17). 2025.
    Published • https://doi.org/10.11588/hasp.1528
  2. Lazzaretti, Vera. Qui e altrove. Divinità trasposte, pellegrinaggi sostitutivi e immaginazione geografica nell’India del Nord (‘Here and elsewhere. Transposed deities, substitute pilgrimages and geographic imagination in north India’). Milan, Italy: Biblioteca di Studi Antropologici, Edizioni Unicopli.. 2018.
    Published
  3. Lazzaretti, Vera. Varanasi. Milan, Italy: Unicopli. 2016.
    Published
Book chapter
  1. Frøystad, Kathinka; Lazzaretti, Vera. "Rethinking religious offence and its containment: towards a new research agenda". In Beyond Courtrooms and Street Violence: Rethinking Religious Offence and Its Containment. Routledge, 2022.
    Published • 10.5281/zenodo.7357638
  2. Lazzaretti, Vera. ""We know how to behave and that's why we feel safe": Peace and insecurity in Banaras". In Beyond Courtrooms and Street Violence Rethinking Religious Offence and Its Containment. Routledge, 2022.
    Published • 10.5281/zenodo.7357653
  3. Lazzaretti, Vera. "The boundary within: Demolitions, dream projects and the negotiation of Hinduness in Banaras". In Spaces of Religion in Urban South Asia. Routledge, 2021.
    Published • 10.5281/zenodo.7350771
  4. Lazzaretti, Vera. "Water And Conflicts Around Religious Heritage: Oscillations Between Centre And Periphery?". In Split Waters The Idea of Water Conflicts, edited by Luisa Cortesi; K.J.Joy. 2021.
    Published • 10.5281/zenodo.7350873
  5. Lazzaretti, V.. "Water and conflicts around religious heritage: Oscillations between centre and periphery?". 135-152. 2021.
  6. Lazzaretti, Vera. "Sacred wells of Banaras: Glorifications, Ritual practices and Healing". In Sacred Waters: A Cross-Cultural Compendium of Hallowed Springs and Holy Wells, edited by Celeste Ray, 159-167. Routledge, 2020.
    Published • 10.4324/9781003010142-18
  7. Lazzaretti, Vera. "Paradoxes of Heritage". In Ways of Worship, edited by Radhika Chopra. Delhi, India: Penguin Random House, 2020.
    Published
  8. Lazzaretti, Vera. "Waterscapes in transition: past and present reshape of sacred water places in Banaras". In Water, Knowledge and the Environment in Asia, edited by Baghel, Ravi; Stepan, Lea. Routledge, 2017.
    Published
  9. Lazzaretti, Vera. "Jnanavapi tra etnografia e storia: note di una ricerca su un pozzo sacro al centro dei pellegrinaggi locali di Varanasi". In Anantaratnaprabhava. Studi in onore di Giuliano Boccali. Ledizioni, 2017.
    Published
  10. Lazzaretti, V.. "Waterscapes in transition: Past and present reshaping of sacred water places in Banaras". 230-245. 2017.
  11. Lazzaretti, V.. "Tradition versus urban public bureaucracy? Reshaping pilgrimage routes and religious heritage around contested space". 80-96. 2016.
  12. Lazzaretti, Vera. "Tradition versus urban public bureaucracy? Reshaping pilgrimage routes and religious heritage around contested places". In Religion and Urbanism. Routledge, 2015.
  13. Lazzaretti, Vera. "Repetition and adaptation: narrative style of the Kashikedaramahatmya". In Stylistic devices in Indian literature and art. Quaderni di Acme, 2013.
    Published
Book review
  1. Lazzaretti, Vera. "Review of Composing Violence: The Limits of Exposure and the Making of Minorities by Moyukh Chatterjee. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2023". Review of Composing Violence: The Limits of Exposure and the Making of Minorities 14, 1 (2023):
    Accepted
  2. Lazzaretti, Vera. "Banaras Reconstructed: Architecture and Sacred Space in a Hindu Holy City". 41, 3 (2018):
    Published
  3. Lazzaretti, Vera. "Banaras. Urban forms and cultural histories". Review of Banaras. Urban forms and cultural histories 16, (2013):
    Published
Conference abstract
  1. Lazzaretti, Vera. "Unpacking Sanatana Dharma: Genealogies and Potentialities of a Pliable Concept". Paper presented in 28th Conference of the European Association of South Asian Studies, Heidelberg, 2025.
    Published
  2. Lazzaretti, Vera. "Silence, self-censorship and compromise as ordinary violence: An ethnographic portrait of a Muslim businessmen in the Hindu pilgrim economy". Paper presented in 28th Conference of the European Association of South Asian Studies, Heidelberg, 2025.
    Published
Edited book
  1. Lazzaretti, Vera; Frøystad, Kathinka, ed. Beyond Courtrooms and Street Violence: Rethinking Religious Offence and Its Containment. Routledge. 2022.
    Published • 10.5281/zenodo.7357621 • Editor
Journal article
  1. Lazzaretti, Vera. "The afterlives of repatriation: heritage, emancipation and violence in Hindu nationalist India". International Journal of Heritage Studies (2025): 1-26. https://doi.org/10.1080/13527258.2025.2496881.
    10.1080/13527258.2025.2496881
  2. Vera Lazzaretti. "Security and heritage in the making of urban futures: A new research avenue". Ethnography (2024): https://doi.org/10.1177/14661381241266918.
    Open access • Published • 10.1177/14661381241266918
  3. Lazzaretti, Vera; Jacobsen, Knut A.. "Jurisprudence and geography of Hindu majoritarianism: thinking with the 2019 Ayodhya judgement". Contemporary South Asia (2024): 1-9. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09584935.2023.2301545.
    Published • 10.1080/09584935.2023.2301545
  4. Lazzaretti, Vera. "Ayodhya 2.0 in Banaras? Judicial discourses and rituals of place in the making of Hindu majoritarianism". Contemporary South Asia (2023): 1-18. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09584935.2023.2188173.
    10.1080/09584935.2023.2188173
  5. Lazzaretti, Vera. "New monuments for the new India: heritage-making in a 'timeless city'". International Journal of Heritage Studies 27 11 (2021): 1085-1100. https://zenodo.org/record/7350790#.Y33_iezP3vU.
    Published • 10.1080/13527258.2021.1954055
  6. Frøystad, Kathinka; Lazzaretti, Vera. "Introduction: Containing Religious Offence beyond the Courts". South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies (2021): 1-12. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00856401.2021.1923449.
    Open access • 10.1080/00856401.2021.1923449
  7. Lazzaretti, Vera. "Religious Offence Policed: Paradoxical Outcomes of Containment at the Centre of Banaras, and the ‘Know-How’ of Local Muslims". South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies 44 3 (2021): 584-599. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00856401.2021.1923760.
    Open access • 10.1080/00856401.2021.1923760
  8. Lazzaretti, Vera. "The Burden of Security: Moral Frictions and Everyday Policing in a Contested Religious Compound". Journal of Extreme Anthropology 4 1 (2020): 74-93. http://dx.doi.org/10.5617/jea.7526.
    Open access • Published • 10.5617/jea.7526
  9. Lazzaretti, Vera. "Making the story new. Individuals, variations and embodiment in local urban pilgrimage". Rivista degli Studi Orientali XCII fasc. I-II (2019): 165-182.
    Published
  10. Lazzaretti, V.. "MAKING THE STORY NEW. INDIVIDUALS, VARIATIONS AND EMBODIMENT IN LOCAL URBAN PILGRIMAGE". Rivista degli Studi Orientali 92 (2019): 165-182. http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-85118434201&partnerID=MN8TOARS.
    10.19272/201903802013
  11. Lazzaretti, Vera. "Questioning Meaningful Layers of Locality in a Pan-Indian tirtha". Cracow Indological Studies 18 18 (2016): 119-144. http://dx.doi.org/10.12797/cis.18.2016.18.06.
    Published • 10.12797/cis.18.2016.18.06
  12. Lazzaretti, Vera. "Banaras jyotirlingas: constitution and transformations of a transposed divine group and its pilgrimage". Kervan, International Journal of Afro-Asian Studies 17 (2013):
    Open access • Published
  13. Lazzaretti, Vera. "Considerazioni antropologiche sulla trasposizione spaziale: voci e strategie di Kedar ji, un jyotirlinga di Varanasi". Quaderni Asiatici 104 (2013):
    Published
  14. Lazzaretti, Vera. "Constructing the eternal city of light through history and society: evolution of the image of Kashi in the Eighteenth-Twentieth century picture maps". Cracow Indological Studies 14 1 (2013):
    Published
Journal issue
  1. Lazzaretti, Vera; Knut A. Jacobsen. "Jurisprudence and Geography of Hindu Majoritarianism: Thinking with the 2019 Ayodhya Judgement". Contemporary South Asia 32 1 (2024):
    Published • Coeditor
  2. Lazzaretti, Vera; Frøystad, Kathinka. "Containing religious offence beyond the courts.". South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies 44 3 (2021):
    Published • Coeditor
Newsletter article
  1. Lazzaretti, Vera. Corresponding author: Lazzaretti, Vera. "Who is afraid of free-living dogs?", Unruly Dialogues, 2025, https://unrulydialogues.com/who-is-afraid-of-free-living-dogs/.
    10.5281/zenodo.17266347.
Online resource
  1. Lazzaretti, Vera; Soares, Pedro Pestana; Marçano, Isabel. CRIAções - Projeto Na Mouraria: Património, (in)seguranças e imaginários urbanos no centro histórico de Lisboa. 2025. https://heyzine.com/flip-book/033d00e48b.html.
    10.5281/zenodo.14891952

Other

Other output
  1. New Books Network Podcast on Indian Religions on 'Beyond Courtrooms and Street Violence Rethinking Religious Offence and Its Containment' (ROUTLEDGE 2022) with the editors Vera Lazzaretti and Kathinka Frøystad hosted by Raj Balkaran. 2024. Lazzaretti, Vera; Frøystad, Kathinka. https://newbooksnetwork.com/beyond-courtrooms-and-street-violence.
    10.5281/zenodo.10491948
  2. NaMouraria: Heritage-Making, (In)securities and Urban Imaginaries in Lisbon’s Historic Centre. Workshop ‘Gentrification, heritage and diversity in the city’. 2024. Lazzaretti, V.; Soares, P.; Mapril, J,; Blanes, R..
Activities

Oral presentation

Presentation title Event name
Host (Event location)
2024/11/14 Of Goddesses and Mosques: Heritage, Repatriation and Violence in Hindu Nationalist India Visualizing Ancient Histories Symposium, organised by the PURANA Project (ERC, 101054849)
Leiden University (Leiden, Netherlands)
2024/11 Notes about the project: NaMouraria: Heritage-Making, (In)securities and Urban Imaginaries in Lisbon’s Historic Centre Workshop ‘Gentrification, heritage and diversity in the city’
NOVA FSCH Lisboa (Lisbon, Portugal)
2024/10/25 NaMouraria: Heritage-Making, (In)securities and Urban Imaginaries in Lisbon’s Historic Centre Course Crime, Justiça e Segurança Humana
Iscte (Lisbon, Portugal)
2024/05/16 The Afterlife of Repatriation: Heritage and Violence in Hindu Nationalist India Course on ‘Cultural Heritage, Identities, and Religion in a Postcolonial World’
University of Zürich (Zürich, Switzerland)
2024/04/18 Repatriation, Heritage and Violence In Hindu nationalist India Invited teacher at the PhD course ‘Regional approaches in anthropology’
University Institute of Lisbon - ISCTE (Lisbon, Portugal)
2024/03/14 The Kashi Vishvanath Dham in Banaras: A tale of contorted heritage-making and insecurities in new India ‘Religious Foundations – Recent Research on the Built Environment in South Asia ’
Ghent University (Ghent, Belgium)
2023/07/28 Paper presentation "Security, heritage and future-making: Exploring the nexus through ethnographic insights from urban north India", at ECSAS 2023 in Turin. 27th ECSAS European Conference for South Asian Studies
2022/09/16 Introduction to the panel "Religion, heritage and the "post-secular age": Insights from Asia and the Middle East".¿ 34th Deutsche Orientalistentag (DOT)
Freie Universität Berlin (Berlin, Germany)
2022/09/07 Heritage unbounded: Destruction, construction and the ill-logics of heritage in Hindu nationalist India The 8th Congress of the Portuguese Anthropological Association (APA)
University of Évora (Évora, Portugal)
2022/06/27 Liberators and encroachers: Banaras and the shifting meanings of heritage in new India The Decolonisation Seminar Series of the Project 'Heritage ad Placemaking: The Politics of Solidarity and Erasure in South Asia'
2022/04/06 The unperceived mosque: Heritage paradoxes and (in)security in Banaras WebiNAR-Online seminar cycle organised by NAR (Anthropology of Religion Network, CRIA)
Centro em Rede de Investigação em Antropologia (Lisboa, Portugal)
2021/11/13 The shadow of Ayodhya in Banaras: Reflections around disruption and its reverberations Heidelberg Indology Doctoral Symposium
South Asia Institute, Heidelberg University (Heidelberg, Germany)
2021/06/29 Religion, Heritage and Urban renewal in Banaras Seminar Urban Heritage
Centre for Asian and Transcultural Studies, Heidelberg University (Heidelberg, Germany)
2021/06/09 Participation to to the panel on Heritage, Conflicts, Tourism and the Role of Researchers , 9-12 June 2021. Paper presented: Ethical puzzles and enduring precarity at a contested heritage site in north India. 8th Ethnography and Qualitative Research Conference
(Italy)
2021/05/11 Jurisprudence and Geography in the Making of Hindu Majoritarianism Research Colloquium at the Department of Cultural and Religious History of South Asia
South Asia Institute, Heidelberg University
2020/07/20 Paper: Aspiration Panel 116: The Future of Security EASA 16th Conference of the European Association of Social Anthropology
Virtual Lisbon (Lisbon)
2019/09/20 The haunted mosque. Memories of destruction and spatial ambiguities at Gyan Vapi. 2019 – International Workshop on ‘Liminal Spaces and Identity Transformations in Indian Cultural History’.
Università degli Studi di Milano (Milan, Italy)
2019/07/01 Facets of offence and securitisation at the centre of Banaras. Research Colloquium of the Department of Cultural and Religious History of South Asia
South Asia Institute, University of Heidelberg (Heidelberg, Germany)
2018/06/07 Securitisation and the potentiality of offence at the centre of Banaras. International Conference of the Indian Cosmopolitan Alternatives research group on ‘Containing Religious Offence in South Asia’
University of Oslo (Oslo, Norway)
2018/06/05 Roundtable discussion: Fieldwork in a volatile region.¿ South Asia Across the Nordic Regions Annual Meeting
University of Oslo (Oslo, Norway)
2017/11/01 The burden of security. Exploring spatial regulation of religious offence and the geographies of enforcement. Invited Talk for a Morgenstierne double lecture with Devleena Ghosh (University of Technology, Sydney)
University of Oslo (Oslo, Norway)
2016/07/28 ‘Banaras and Beyond. Confluences of devotion at the three Cities of Gaya, Kasi and Prayag in a Pilgrimage Scroll (tirthapatta) from Mewar’. ECSAS 24th Conference of the European Association of South Asian Studies
University of Warsaw (Warsaw, Poland)
2016/07/21 In the footsteps of pilgrims. Examples of displacement, resistance and creativity from the practice of local urban pilgrimage in heritagizing Varanasi. EASA 14th Conference of the European Association of Social Anthropology
Università degli Studi di MIlano-Bicocca (Milan, Italy)
2016/06/11 Ethnographic perspectives from an urban religious compound in transition. 6th Ethnography and Qualitative Research Conference
Università degli Studi di Bergamo (Bergamo, Italy)
2016/06/07 Framing Jnanavapi between ethnography and history. Space and boundaries around a sacred well at the centre of local urban pilgrimage in Banaras. Invited talk for the Research Colloquium of the Institute of Geographical Sciences
Freie Üniversität Berlin (Berlin, Germany)
2016/04/21 The urban trajectories of pilgrimage: divine lists, spatial practices and agencies in the making of heritage and local circuits in Bananas (Varanasi). Invited presentation for an interview for a Junior Professorship in Anthropology and History of Religions in South Asia,
Max Weber Kolleg, University of Erfurt (Erfurt, Germany)
2016/01/27 Jnanavapi in transition: spatial aspects and ethnographic perspectives from research around a sacred well in Banaras. Research Colloquium of the Department of Cultural and Religious History of South Asia
South Asia Institute, University go Heidelberg (Heidelberg, Germany)

Supervision

Thesis Title
Role 		Degree Subject (Type)
Institution / Organization
2024/07/01 - Current Supervision of the MSCA post-doctoral project Antarctic Living Heritage. The ALIGHT project will shed light on Antarctica's living heritage, building tools to promote the understanding of the continent's cultural diversity.
Supervisor of Gerusa Radicchi
Centro em Rede de Investigação em Antropologia, Portugal

ISCTE-Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, Portugal
2024/01/01 - Current ALIGHT - Antarctic Living Heritage Map - Programa Marie Curie MSCA PF 2023
Supervisor of Gerusa Radicchi
ISCTE-Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, Portugal
2024/01/30 - 2025/07/07 The production of the touristic space in contemporary Mouraria between global imaginaries and resistant narratives
Co-supervisor of Silvia Decina
 Anthropology (Master)
Università degli Studi di Torino, Italy

Event organisation

Event name
Type of event (Role) 		Institution / Organization
2025/06/30 - Current (with Daniela Bevilacqua and Giacomo Mantovan) - Organisation of the Seminário CEAS: ‘(Re)Searching for the Karthigai Poo: Mapping post-conflict accountability’ with Dalia N. (Visiting fellow, PhD student at the Indian Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar & CRIA-ISCTE) (2025/06/30)
Seminar (Co-organisor)
 Centro em Rede de Investigação em Antropologia, Portugal
2025/04/04 - Current Seminar of the South Asian Studies Circle at CRIA 'Performances of History, Nostalgia and Technology in India and Diaspora’ with Aishwarya Walvekar (EUTOPIA Co-tutelle PhD Fellow, University of Warwick & NOVA FCSH)' (2025/04/04 - 2025/04/04)
Seminar (Co-organisor)
 Centro em Rede de Investigação em Antropologia, Portugal

ISCTE-Instituto Universitário de Lisboa Centro de Estudos de Antropologia Social, Portugal
2025/10/01 - 2025/10/04 Organisation of the panel 'Unpacking Sanatana Dharma: Genealogies and Potentialities of a Pliable Concept' at the 28th Conference of the European Association of South Asian Studies (2025/10/01 - 2025/10/04)
Conference (Co-organisor)
 Universität Heidelberg Heidelberg Centre for Transcultural Studies, Germany
2025/06/03 - 2025/06/03 (with Elizabeth Challinor) – Organisation of Seminário CPL: ‘Museus e migrações: algumas notas sobre os casos de Dublin e de Paris’ with Sónia Ferreira e José Mapril (2025/06/03)
Seminar (Co-organisor)
 Centro em Rede de Investigação em Antropologia, Portugal
2025/05/09 - 2025/05/09 Organisation and charing (with Elizabeth Challinor) of the seminar for the GI Circulação e Produção de Lugares 'ALIGHT -Antarctic Living Heritage: apresentação do projeto’ with Gerusa Radicchi (2025/05/09 - 2025/05/09)
Seminar
 Centro em Rede de Investigação em Antropologia, Portugal
2025/03/25 - 2025/03/25 Organising and charing (with Elizabeth Challinor) the Seminar of the GI Circulação e Produção de Lugares: ‘Património migrante: reflexões sobre museus e migrações em Portugal’ with Inês Lourenço (2025/03/25 - 2025/03/25)
Seminar
 Centro em Rede de Investigação em Antropologia, Portugal

ISCTE-Instituto Universitário de Lisboa Escola de Ciências Sociais e Humanas, Portugal
2024/06/06 - 2024/06/06 South Asian Studies Circle's PhD students and Young Researchers Workshop (2024/06/06 - 2024/06/06)
Workshop (Co-organisor)
 Centro em Rede de Investigação em Antropologia, Portugal

ISCTE-Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, Portugal
2024/05/10 - 2024/05/10 Seminar of the South Asian Studies Circle at CRIA 'Heritage preservation or religious majoritarianism? Placemaking and Affect in Janakpurdham, Nepal' with Sabin Ninglekhu (Social Science Baha, Kathmandu, Nepal). (2024/05/10 - 2024/05/10)
Seminar (Co-organisor)
 Centro em Rede de Investigação em Antropologia, Portugal

ISCTE-Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, Portugal
2024/04/23 - 2024/04/23 Seminar of the South Asian Studies Circle at CRIA ‘Sacred Heritage’: The Nation and Other Communities in Pakistan’s Sufi Shrines with Amen Jaffer (Lahore University of Management Sciences, Pakistan) (2024/04/23 - 2024/04/23)
Seminar (Co-organisor)
 Centro em Rede de Investigação em Antropologia, Portugal

ISCTE-Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, Portugal
2023/07/26 - 2023/07/29 Organiser of the panel "Security and heritage Security and heritage in the making of urban futures: Insights from South Asia and its diasporas" at the European Conference of South Asian Studies, Turin, 26-29 July 2023. (2023/07/28 - 2023/07/28)
Call (Other)
 Università degli Studi di Torino Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici, Italy
2023/06/29 - 2023/06/30 Organiser of the international online workshop "Heritage and religion in South Asia and its diasporas: Frictions, entanglements and reconfigurations".¿ (2023/06/29 - 2023/06/30)
Workshop (Other)
 Centro em Rede de Investigação em Antropologia, Portugal

ISCTE-Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, Portugal
2022/09/12 - 2022/09/17 Organisation of the panel 'Religion, heritage and the "post-secular age": Insights from Asia and the Middle East” at the 34th Deutsche Orientalistentag (DOT). (2022/09/12 - 2022/09/17)
Call (Co-organisor)
 Freie Universität Berlin, Germany
2021/04/15 - 2021/07/22 As religiões asiáticas e a política do património (2021/04/15)
Seminar (President of the Organising Committee)
2019/03/25 - 2019/03/29 Writing Workshop of the ‘Indian Cosmopolitan Alternatives’ research group (2019/03/25)
Workshop (Member of the Organising Committee)
2018/06/07 - 2018/06/08 International Workshop on Containment of Religious Offence (2018/06/07)
Conference (Member of the Organising Committee)
2016/07/27 - 2016/07/30 Organisation of the panel "Spatial and Visual Dimensions of Pilgrimage in South Asia" at the ECSAS 24th—Conference of the European Association of South Asian Studies—together with Prof. Jörg Gengnagel (2016/07/27 - 2016/07/30)
Conference (Co-organisor)
 Uniwersytet Warszawski, Poland
2016/07/27 - 2016/07/30 Organisation of the panel ‘Spatial and Visual Dimensions of Pilgrimage in South Asia’ at the ECSAS 24th Conference of the European Association of South Asian Studies, together with Prof. Jörg Gengnagel (2016/07/27)
Conference (Member of the Organising Committee)

Event participation

Activity description
Type of event 		Event name
Institution / Organization
2020/02/17 - 2020/03/06 Co-teacher of the module on Hindu pilgrimage of the Lived Sanskrit Cultures international course held in Varanasi (India).
Seminar
 Lived Sanskrit Cultures
Ruprecht Karls Universität Heidelberg, Germany

Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, Germany

Indian Institute of Technology BHU Varanasi, India

Ad Hoc journal article review

Journal title (ISSN) Publisher
2025 - 2025 Millennium: Journal of International Studies (1477-9021)
2025 - 2025 Etnográfica (2182-2891)
2024 - 2024 South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies (1479-0270)
2023 - 2023 International Journal of Heritage Studies (470-3610)
2022 - 2022 International Journal of Urban and Regional Research (1468-2427)
2021 - 2021 Journal of Extreme Anthropology (2535-3241)
2020 - 2020 International Journal of Hindu Studies (1022-4556)
2019 - 2019 Kervan, International Journal of Afro-Asiatic Studies (1825-263X)
2018 - 2018 South Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal (1960-6060)

Association member

Society Organization name Role
2019/01/01 - Current Association of Critical Heritage Studies
2015/01/01 - Current European Association of Social Anthropologists
2014/01/01 - Current European Association of South Asian Studies

Committee member

Activity description
Role 		Institution / Organization
2023/01/01 - Current Editorial Board member for the Ethno-Indology series of Heidelberg Studies in South Asian Rituals (HASP)
Member

Course / Discipline taught

Academic session Degree Subject (Type) Institution / Organization
2022/09 - Current Co-leading teacher for the module ‘Goddess Temples’ and lead for the Workshop ‘Urban representations and the remaking of Banaras’ for students of the International Winter School ‘Lived Sanskrit Cultures’ organised in Varanasi by the University of Heidelberg and the University of Würzburg, in collaboration with IIT BHU, Varanasi, India and aimed at MA and PhD students from India and Europe.
2018/03 - Current 2018: Co-leading teacher for the module ‘Pilgrimage’ and lead of the Workshop ‘The contemporary scene of local urban pilgrimage in Varanasi: Actors, texts, performances and new traditions’ for students of the the international Winter School ‘Lived Sanskrit Cultures’ organised in Varanasi by the University of Heidelberg and the University of Würzburg in collaboration with IIT BHU, Varanasi, India and aimed at MA and PhD students from India and Europe.
2024/02 - 2024/07 Regional Approaches in Anthropology Doctorate Degree (PhD) in Anthropology (Doutoramento) ISCTE-Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, Portugal
2021/04/15 - 2021/07/22 Seminar and lecture series: Asian Religions and the Politics of Heritage Transcultural studies; Anthropology; Heritage Studies; religious Studies; Asian Studies (Magister) Ruprecht-Karls Universität Heidelberg Sudasien-Institut, Germany
2021/04 - 2021/07 2021: Co-leading teacher for the Spring Semester seminar and lecture series ‘Asian Religions and the Politics of Heritage’ at the Centre for Transcultural Studies, Heidelberg University aimed at MA students in anthropology, transcultural studies, heritage studies and area studies. (Magister) Universität Heidelberg Fakultät für Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften, Germany
2020/10/13 - 2021/02/25 Seminar: Heritage in Interdisciplinary Perspective: Past, present and Future of a contested concept Heritage Studies; Transcultural Studies; Anthropology; Asian studies; Area Studies; Religious studies (Master) Ruprecht Karls Universität Heidelberg, Germany
2020/11 - 2021/01 2020: Co-leading teacher for the Winter Semester seminar ‘Heritage in interdisciplinary perspective: Past, present and future of a contested concept’ at the Centre for Transcultural Studies, Heidelberg University aimed at MA students in anthropology, transcultural studies, heritage studies and area studies. (Master)
2018/02/19 - 2020/03/16 Co-teacher of the module on Hindu pilgrimage for the International Winter School Lived Sanskrit Cultures [2018-2020] (Master) Ruprecht-Karls Universität Heidelberg Südasien-Institut Bibliothek, Germany

Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, Germany
2018 - 2018 Seminar: The sacred city. Past, present and future renditions of the idea of Banaras. South Asian Studies; Anthropology Universitetet i Oslo Institutt for kulturstudier og orientalske språk, Norway
2013/10/01 - 2015/12/30 ‘Sacred geography and pilgrimage in Indian religious traditions’ Humanities, Indian Studies, Philosophy; Cultural Anthropology (Master) Università degli Studi di Milano, Italy

Evaluation committee

Activity description
Role 		Institution / Organization Funding entity
2021/08 - 2021/10 Reviewer a PhD thesis for the Doctoral Course in Civiltà dell'Asia e dell'Africa at La Sapienza University of Rome
Evaluator
 Università degli Studi di Roma La Sapienza Dipartimento Istituto italiano di Studi Orientali, Italy
2010/01/01 - 2017/09/30 Member of the Examining Committee for under-graduate and post-graduate courses of the Indian Studies section at the Department of Literary, Philological and Linguistic Studies of the University of Milan, Italy.
Evaluator
 Università degli Studi di Milano, Italy

Interview (newspaper / magazine)

Activity description Newspaper / Forum
2025 Interview for the platform CRIAções about the research project Na Mouraria: Património, (in)seguranças e imaginários urbanos no centro histórico de Lisboa CRIAções

Interview (tv / radio show)

Program Topic
2024/11/01 - Current New Books Network Podcast on Indian Religions Book launch for on 'Beyond Courtrooms and Street Violence Rethinking Religious Offence and Its Containment' (ROUTLEDGE 2022) with the editors Vera Lazzaretti and Kathinka Frøystad hosted by Raj Balkaran

Journal scientific committee

Journal title (ISSN) Publisher
2021 - 2021 Journal of Extreme Anthropology (2535-3241)
2020 - 2020 International Journal of Hindu Studies (1574-9282) Springer

Mentoring / Tutoring

Topic Student name
2023/11/01 - 2024/10/31 Supervision within an Ersamus Traineeship and integration of the student into the team of the research project NaMoura Silvia Decina

Scientific expedition

Activity description Institution / Organization
2025/01/17 - 2025/03/10 Fieldwork in Varanasi and Delhi
2022/09/27 - 2023/02/20 Fieldwork in Varanasi
Distinctions

Title

2025 National Scientific Habilitation as Associate Professor in Anthropology (Italian higher education system and Ministry for University and Research)
Governo Italiano Ministero dell'Istruzione dell'Università e della Ricerca, Italy
2020 National Scientific Habilitation as Associate Professor in Asian Studies (Italian higher education system and Ministry for University and Research)
Governo Italiano Ministero dell'Istruzione dell'Università e della Ricerca, Italy