Comparative Studies of Civilisations and Spiritualities Archives - Fondazione Giorgio Cini

Istituto: Comparative Studies of Civilisations and Spiritualities

Call for Papers Libertinism and Spirituality: Between Desire and Rebellion

Call for Papers Libertinism and Spirituality: Between Desire and Rebellion
Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Venice 16-18 December 2025

Deadline 30 June 2025.

The term libertinism commonly refers to licentiousness, particularly of a sensual nature. In reality, however, libertinism has a long philosophical history rooted in antiquity, where freedom is paramount and sexuality and sensuality are secondary. In this sense, libertinism indicates currents that theorize and practice freedom of thought in matters related to religion, social norms, and political authority. It has therefore often been associated with radicalism, skepticism, and atheism. Various forms of libertinism have historically clashed with religious dogmatism and more moderate strands of philosophical thought. Frequently persecuted, libertinism was often forced to disseminate its ideas through secret and clandestine channels. In these contexts, it is not uncommon to find intersections with alternative and esoteric forms of spirituality, an area that has yet to receive systematic scholarly attention.

The conference will welcome contributions addressing the many facets of this long-standing and often still unexplored relationship.

Marking the 300th anniversary of the birth of Giacomo Casanova, special attention will be given to the famous Venetian author, whose intellectual and sensual libertinism could be combined with an interest in the esoteric.

Spiritualities and Healing in Global and Transhistorical Perspectives

The conference, dedicated to the relationship between spirituality and medicine from a comparative and trans-historical perspective, explores folk, vernacular, complementary, alternative, indigenous and biological medicine. The healing movements alternative to scientific medicine that challenged the management of the pandemic often have religious and/or spiritual roots and lead to political repercussions of great impact, providing new energy to nationalism, populism and fundamentalism. The conference will bring together anthropologists, ethnographers, sociologists, historians and experts in religious studies.

The conference is organized jointly by the Centre for Comparative Studies of Civilisations and Spiritualities (Fondazione Giorgio Cini) the Center for the Study of World Religions (Harvard Divinity School), the Center for the Study of Lived Religion (Università Ca’ Foscari) and the HEAL Network for the Ethnography of Healing.

Spiritualities and Healing in Global and Transhistorical Perspectives is part of the annual thematic programme Democracy and Pandemics, which will be highlighted by the exhibition Venice and Epidemies, taking place at the Longhena Library from 20 June.

programmE

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9:30 – 10am | Welcome Greetings
  • Francesco Piraino (Fondazione Giorgio Cini)
  • Giovanna Parmigiani (Harvard University)
  • Emily Pierini (Sapienza University of Rome)
10 – 11:30am | Panel: Spiritualities and Healing in the Mediterranean and Beyond
  • Giovanna Parmigiani (Harvard University)
    Magic and Healing in Southern Italy: Spiritual Pizzica as a Magical Practice
  • Theodoros Kyriakides (University of Cyprus)
    Magico-Religious Proximity and the Aesthetics of Healing in Cypriot Yitíes and Yiatrosóphia
  • Francesca Conti (The American University of Rome)
    Secret Words Revealed: Gender, Tradition, and Change among Italian Folk Healers and Segnature

Chair: Francesco Piraino (Fondazione Giorgio Cini)

11:30 – 12pm | Coffee Break
12 – 1pm | Panel: Spirituality, Healing, and COVID-19
  • Bettina E. Schmidt (University of Wales Trinity Saint David)
    Non-Ordinary Experiences during the COVID-19 Pandemic
  • Felicia Cucuta (Harvard University)
    Au Creux de l’Oreille / In Your Ear: The Curative Potential of Arts during the Pandemic

Chair: Giovanna Parmigiani (Harvard University)

2:30 – 4:30pm | Panel: Spiritualities and Healing in Historical Perspective
  • Tatiana Tiaynen-Qadir and Ali Qadir (Tampere University, Finland)
    Mystical Consciousness and Healing: Modern Eastern Orthodox Mystics between Trascendence and Community
  • Claudia Stella Geremia (Harvard University)
    Enchanting Remedies: The Donne de Fora and the Blurred Lined between Magic and Healing (16 th -20 th Centuries)
  • Silke Felber (University of Arts, Linz, Austria)
    Tracing the Pomander: Aromatic Medicine, Colonial Extraction, and the Becoming of the Body in Early Modern Europe
  • Maryam Abbasi (Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg)
    The Zar Ritual: Spirits, Healing, and Cultural Heritage in Southern Iran

Chair: Giovanna Capponi (Universitade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro)
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10 – 11:30am | Panel: Healing between Spiritualities and Biomedicine
  • Emily Pierini (Sapienza University of Rome)
    Doctors, Saints, and Spirits: Therapeutic Itineraries between Spirituality and Biomedicine
  • Géraldine Mossière (Université de Montréal, Canada)
    The Work of Energy in Mind-Body Practices: A New Medicine? The Cases of 5 Rhythms and Core Energetics
  • Cecilia Draicchio (KU Leuven)
    Taking Belief Seriously? Looking at the Intersections of Psychiatry and Spiritual Healing in Ghana Through and Old-Fashioned Category

Chair: Joseph Sanzo (Ca’ Foscari Universtiy of Venice)

11:30 – 12pm Coffee Break
12 – 13pm | Panel: Healing Sounds
  • Jessica Roda (Georgetown University)
    Jewish Healing, Sounds, Body, and the Global Culture of Wellness
  • Zeynep Bulut (Queen’s University Belfast)
    Experimental Music as a Sustainable Care Model

Chair: Francesco Piraino (Fondazione Giorgio Cini)

2:30 – 4pm | Panel: Spiritualities, Healing, and Politics
  • Luis Fernando Bernardi Junqueira (University of Cambridge)
    Mental Healing, Nation Building, and Alternative Modernities in Early 20th-Century China
  • Pilar Morena d’Alò (Newcastle University)
    Spirituality as Decolonisation: Co-option and Embracement in Argentine Feminism
  • Fernanda Gebara (Yorenka Tasorentsi Institute)
    Ancestral Medicines, Biocultural Conservation, and the Politics of Recognition: Indigenous Spiritualities as Pathways to Healing the Future

Chair: Giovanna Parmigiani (Harvard University)
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10 – 11am | Panel: Spiritualities and Healing from South America
  • Giovanna Capponi (Universitade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro)
    Health Practices in Afro-Brazilian Religions: Navigating Science, Ecology, and Public Health Crises
  • Piera Talin (Center for the Study of Lived Religion at Cà Foscari University of Venice)
    Rite and Treatment in Ayahuasca Religions and Urban Neo-Shamanic Ayahuasca Groups

Chair: Emily Pierini (Sapienza University of Rome)

11 – 11:30am Coffee break
11:30 – 12:30pm Round Table

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The conference will be held in English.

Call For Papers | Symposium “Transcendence in the Small Gestures of Life”

Call for papers for the symposium
Transcendence in the Small Gestures of Life
Attention and Care for Nature and Humans in Religious Traditions
Fondazione Giorgio Cini, 2-3 October 2025

Deadline: 15 May 2025

 

The symposium aims to explore spiritual states within religious traditions that promote attentiveness and care for the world, humanity, and creation, with a particular focus on the ecological crisis. The seminar concentrates on “passive” modes of relationship such as contemplation, silence, and the pursuit of peace, which are considered pathways to transcendental experiences within religions.

Transcendence in the Small Gestures of Life examines how believers cultivate an awareness of transcendence through the small daily gestures, exploring how the extraordinary can emerge from everyday life, beyond religious rituals. In contrast to social theories that emphasise autonomy and individual action, the symposium seeks to explore acts of surrender to God or nature as responses to contemporary crises, reflecting on the significance of sensory aspects in connecting with the world and analysing how these experiences might influence research and lead to new methodological implications.

The conference is organised by the Centre for Comparative Studies of Civilisations and Spiritualities (Fondazione Giorgio Cini) in collaboration with the Muslim Worlds Network of the European Association of Social Anthropologists (EASA).

Religiographies vol.3 n.2

Open-access and peer-reviewed journal, curated by the Centre for Comparative Studies of Civilisations and Spiritualities at the Fondazione Giorgio Cini.

With an interdisciplinary approach, Religiographies fosters dialogue between historians, sociologists, anthropologists, philosophers, and psychologists on three main themes: mysticism, esotericism, and spirituality.

 

This special issue of Religiographies aims to explore and analyse contemporary cases of the use of Muḥyiddīn Ibn ʿArabi’s (d. 1240) thought and to shed light on the motivations, dynamics and methods behind his interpretations. In order to improve the understanding and variety of the claims and to distinguish between the common links and the peculiarities of those cases, we would like to answer several questions, including: Which concepts of Ibn ʿArabi are most commonly used to address contemporary issues? How have they changed over the centuries? What aspects of Ibn ʿArabi’s paradoxical thought are emphasised or, on the contrary, downplayed by new exegetes? How is Ibn ʿArabi’s thought integrated or not into the broader spectrum of the Islamic intellectual tradition?

Call for Papers | Conference “Spiritualities and Healing in Global and Transhistorical Perspectives”

Call for papers for the conference Spiritualities and Healing in Global and Transhistorical Perspectives
Fondazione Giorgio Cini, 10-12 June 2025

Deadline: 28 February 2025

 

This conference aims to explore the intersection of folk, vernacular, complementary, alternative, indigenous, and bio-medicines in critical dialogue with analytical categories in the study of religion, including folk religions, magic, and spiritualities. A transhistorical perspective will be adopted, encompassing both contemporary and pre-modern practices, beliefs, and historicities. A central theme also concerns the relationship between alternative spiritualities and the pandemic, examining how movements rooted in religious and spiritual practices have supported or challenged scientific approaches to pandemic management, with significant political impacts, fueling nationalisms, populisms, and fundamentalisms, and reshaping the debate on health, spirituality, and governance.
The conference is organized jointly by the Centre for Comparative Studies of Civilisations and Spiritualities (Cini Foundation), the Center for the Study of World Religions (Harvard Divinity School) the Center for the Study of Lived Religion (Ca’ Foscari University), and the HEAL Network for the Ethnography of Healing.

Scholarship “Utopia, Art, and Spirituality”

Scholarship – Utopia, Art, and Spirituality

Deadline: 28 February 2025

 

We are pleased to announce that the postgraduate research fellowship Utopia, Art, and Spirituality, promoted by the Centre for Comparative Studies of Civilisations and Spiritualities of Fondazione Giorgio Cini in Venice (Italy) and the Archivio Luigi Pericle in Ascona (Switzerland), has been renewed for the second year.

The applicant awarded the Utopia, Art, and Spirituality grant will have the opportunity to spend two months at Fondazione Giorgio Cini in Venice and two months at the Hotel Ascona, home of the Archivio Luigi Pericle.

Religiographies vol.3 n.1

Open-access and peer-reviewed journal, curated by the Centre for Comparative Studies of Civilisations and Spiritualities at the Fondazione Giorgio Cini.

With an interdisciplinary approach, Religiographies fosters dialogue between historians, sociologists, anthropologists, philosophers, and psychologists on three main themes: mysticism, esotericism, and spirituality.

    Centre for Comparative Studies of Civilisations and Spiritualities

    The Centre is the natural evolution of the Venice and the East Institute, established in 1958 as an autonomous section of the Centre for Culture and Civilisation. The idea of founding the Institute arose in alignment with UNESCO’s East and West programme, which views Venice as a historical crossroads between North and South, and East and West. The Institute is equipped with a library that currently holds over 40.000 volumes, continuing to expand.

    The initial focus of the Venice and the East Institute, led by historian, orientalist, and diplomat Giuliano Bertuccioli, centred on India, China, and Japan, with particular attention to Buddhist religion. During this period, distinguished lectures (with associated publications) and significant exhibitions were organised, including those dedicated to Indian miniatures (1959), Japanese prints from the Ukiyo school (1961), and Islamic miniatures from the 14th to 19th centuries (1962), the latter of which toured Tehran, Tokyo, and Osaka.

    In 1964, the Institute underwent a period of reorganisation. The Foundation aimed to concentrate on the Near East (Byzantine, Slavic, and Islamic worlds), beginning with its historical relationship with the Serenissima. A rich editorial output accompanied the Institute’s activities, collected in the Orientalia Venetiana series published by Leo S. Olschki in Florence from 1984 to 2005. During the 1970s and 1980s, the focus shifted to Eastern Europe. Amidst the Cold War, the Foundation played an original and significant role in cultural diplomacy, leading to the creation of a new Institute, Venice and Europe, which was active from 2001 to 2006.

    In 2017, the decision was made to establish the current Centre for Comparative Studies of Civilisations and Spiritualities, shifting the focus from an Orientalist approach to the socio-anthropology of religion and culture, exploring new ideas, expanding contacts, and adopting new practices. Today, the Study Centre’s library houses several specialised collections focused on Eastern culture, with an emphasis on the great spiritual traditions of both East and West. Notable collections include those of Alain Daniélou, Tiziano Terzani, and Giovanni Vacca. Furthermore, thanks to the Daniélou Bequest, the Centre holds an extensive collection of manuscript copies of sacred musicological treatises from Indian traditions and books useful for the study of traditional philosophy. The library also specialises in journals dedicated to the comparative study of cultures, which the Fondazione Giorgio Cini is committed to updating annually. A further invaluable resource is the Beijing Imperial Library microfilm archive.

    Since 2017, the Centre has been directed by Francesco Piraino.

    Photographic positive, undated, Tiziano Terzani Archive. © Fondazione Giorgio Cini

    A comparative approach to different cultures, religions, and spiritualities: multidisciplinary study and research serve as a means of promoting dialogue between civilisations, fostering the exchange and comparison of political, theoretical, and aesthetic experiences.

    Events
    TIZIANO TERZANI ARCHIVE

    The archive of the renowned Italian journalist and writer Tiziano Terzani offers a previously unpublished portrait of the famous reporter, drawn from his personal documents.

    Find out more

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    RELIGIOGRAPHIES

    Religiographies is an open-access, peer-reviewed journal dedicated to the field of religious studies. With an interdisciplinary approach, it fosters dialogue between historians, sociologists, anthropologists, philosophers, and psychologists on three main themes: mysticism, esotericism, and spirituality. The journal does not limit itself to alternative spiritualities but explores them within their cultural and historical contexts, questioning traditional categories of religion. It also includes a section titled heterographies, which focuses on artistic and visual works.

    Religiographies
    LIBRARY

    The Library of the Comparative Studies of Civilisations and Spiritualities houses several collections specialising in Eastern culture, with a particular emphasis on the great spiritual traditions of both the East and the West. Notable among these are the collections of Alain Daniélou, Tiziano Terzani, and Giovanni Vacca. Additionally, thanks to the Daniélou Bequest, the Centre preserves an extensive collection of manuscript copies of sacred musicological treatises from Indian traditions, as well as books essential for the study of traditional philosophy. The library is also highly specialised in journals focused on the comparative study of cultures, which the Fondazione Giorgio Cini ensures are updated annually. Another invaluable resource within the collections is the Beijing Imperial Library microfilm archive.

    Find out more

    Next page

    Publications

    The Study Centre's research

    Research Themes

    Mysticism, esotericism, spirituality, and popular religion; the boundaries between science and religion; the relationship with the Other; between New and Old Age; the phenomenology of the religious body and the Tiziano Terzani archive.
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    • Mysticism, esotericism, spirituality, and popular religion are elusive concepts that, as Michel de Certeau asserts, challenge the epistemology of contemporary social sciences. We encourage interdisciplinary research on these themes, integrating philosophical reflections, social sciences, and theology. Scholars are invited to utilise the Centre’s library, which houses an extensive collection on Orientalism, colonial literature, exotericism, and comparative religions.
    • The boundaries between science and religion are often indistinct. Several 20th-century historians, Orientalists, and psychoanalysts, such as Mircea Eliade, Henry Corbin, and Carl Gustav Jung, have been referred to as ‘religionists’; in their work, they interwove conceptions and experiences of the sacred with historical and scientific descriptions. A movement within new religious movements and New Age culture, known as ‘Quantum Mysticism,’ has appropriated the narratives of the natural sciences. In contrast, the ‘ontological turn’ described by contemporary anthropology suggests the possibility of other realities and dimensions. We invite scholars to investigate the intersections between science, culture, and religion.
    • The relationship with the Other. Almost every religion faces otherness, and problematises the border between ‘us’ and ‘them’. These borders could be cultural, ethnic, linguistic, or linked to sexual orientation and gender identity. We invite scholars to engage in discussions regarding religious boundaries. How is the Other perceived? Who is considered the infidel? How do these borders shift in response to political and social contexts?
    • Between New and Old Age. The social sciences have sought to describe changes in religious practices in contemporary societies through the use of new categories, such as ‘religious modernity’, ‘bricolage’, ‘post-secular’, and ‘New Age’. However, there is a risk of falling into presentism, attributing all the characteristics of religious phenomena to the so-called modern turn. We therefore propose an investigation into the relationship between traditional and contemporary trends within religious phenomena.
    • Phenomenology of the Religious Body: Perceptions, Emotions, Sensations, and the Construction of the Body. We invite scholars to explore and analyse the interplay between the body, perception, understanding, and culture in religious contexts.
    • Projects dedicated to the study and enhancement of the Tiziano Terzani Archive, donated by his family to the Fondazione Giorgio Cini, which includes personal documents and photographs.

    Comparative Studies of Civilisations and Spiritualities

    PERSON IN CHARGE
    Francesco Piraino
    CONTACTS
    civilta.comparate@cini.it

    Comparative Studies of Civilisations and Spiritualities

    The Aesthetics of Esoteric Practices: Materialities, Performances, Senses

    This conference focuses on the aesthetics of esoteric practices through materialities, performances, and the senses. It aims to explore the extent to which esoteric practices are socially and culturally constructed and effective because they are practiced, performed, sensorily perceived and embodied by participants as practitioners as well as spectators. The conference evolves around aesthetics as the relations between esoteric practices, the practicing individual and their social and cultural environment.

    The event is organized jointly by Fondazione Giorgio Cini (Centre for Comparative Studies of Civilisations and Spiritualities), DFG-funded Center for Advanced Studies “Alternative Rationalities and Esoteric Practices from a Global Perspective” (CAS-E) at the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Center for the History of Hermetic Philosophy and Related Currents at the University of Amsterdam, and the Research Network for the Study of Esoteric Practices (RENSEP).

    The event will be enriched by a Piano Concert organized by the Institute of Music.

     

    Download the program of the conference here.

     

    Admission is free upon registration on Eventbrite:

    – Conference registration (12-13-14 November)
    – Concert registration (13 November at 6 pm)

     

    For questions about availability, please contact: civilta.comparate@cini.it

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