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.
Organised by the Centre for the Study of Comparative Civilisations and Spirituality in collaboration with the Italian Association of Sociology (AIS) – Sociology of Religion Section, the conference aims to discuss the state of the art in the sociology of spirituality both on a national and international level. In particular, reflections will address whether and how the ‘spirituality’ category can be translated into theoretical, methodological and empirical terms in various socio-cultural contexts and religious traditions. Furthermore, possible continuities and discontinuities will be examined between spirituality and other categories that, while different, have elements of affinity such as, for example, religion, esotericism, mysticism, New Age, paganism and new religious movements. We will also explore issues such as: spirituality within and out of traditional religion, the comparison between ‘Western’ and ‘Eastern’ spirituality, the relationship between spirituality and social spheres (economics, politics, culture, the media and leisure, etc.), the theoretical boundaries between spirituality and religion, spirituality and gender, and finally methods for studying the relationship between spirituality and secularisation.
The conference will be in Italian.
Free entrance upon registration.
For more information download the programme here.
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Friday, April 21st
5:30-7:00 pm
Giorgio Cini Foundation
The Centre for Comparative Studies of Civilisations and Spiritualities of Fondazione Giorgio Cini and Magnum Photos co-organise a public lecture with Cristina de Middel, Spanish documentary photographer and artist. In this public lecture, Cristina de Middel will discuss her artistic path and examine her books This is What Hatred Did and Midnight at the Crossroads (realised with Bruno Morais), where she explores African spirituality in South America, Africa and the Caribbeans. The philosopher Paolo Pecere (Roma Tre University) will animate the discussion on the relationship between art and research.
Download the The PDF for more information about the public Lecture.
The event is free of charge, but registration is mandatory.
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Call for papers for the conference
Occultural transfers between north and south
(Fondazione Giorgio Cini, 1-3 November 2023)
This conference is organised by Centre for Comparative Studies of Civilisations and Spiritualities in collaboration with Dr. Giuliano D’Amico, Associate Professor at the University of Oslo and director of the research network Esotericism and Aesthetics in the Nordic Countries, and Dr. Marco Pasi, Associate Professor at the University of Amsterdam and director of the Centre for the History of Hermetic Philosophy and Related Currents.
The osmosis between esoteric/occult and artistic discourse, which scholars have termed “occulture”, has mainly been studied from a national perspective and drawing upon case studies from the last 60 years. Such lack of comparative knowledge and studies is somewhat surprising if one takes into account the impact of esoteric and occult materials from a wider “South” (including not only Southern Europe, but also Northern Africa and the Mediterranean Basin) that has made its way in Northern Europe since at least the end of the 19th century, focusing, but not limited to, Sufism, Egyptosophy and Freemasonry, or, conversely, about the continuous forms of inspiration that Nordic alternative spirituality has had on artistic production in Southern Europe (e.g. with the proliferation of Nordic paganism in occultural discourse). The proposed conference aims at filling this scholarly gap, open up avenues of research and discussing new ways of approaching and conceptualizing occultural phenomena with a North-South perspective as a starting point. We understand “North” and “South” as including, respectively, the Nordic, Baltic, German and English-speaking countries in Europe, and Southern European, Mediterranean, and African countries/areas.
Deadline: 15th April 2023
For more information:
Centro Studi di Civiltà e Spiritualità Comparate
5:30-7:00 pm
Giorgio Cini Foundation
The Centre for Comparative Studies of Civilisations and Spiritualities of Fondazione Giorgio Cini and the Magnum co-organise a public lecture with Sabiha Çimen, self-taught Turkish photographer focusing on women, Islamic culture, portraiture and still life.
In her work Hafiz: the Guardians of the Qur’an, Sabiha Çimen documented Muslim girlhood in Turkey.
She portrays them in the context of Qur’anic schools where, as a 12-years old girl, she was a student herself together with her twin sister.
The Qur’anic schools are single-gender residential schools, which range in size from 50 to 600 students; the intensive training, for children and teenagers between 8 and 17 years old, lasts between 3 and 4 years. In this work, Sabiha explores teenagers’ everyday life, intimacy, piety, but also rebellion and quirkiness.
The visual anthropologist Valentina Bonifacio (Ca’ Foscari University of Venice) and the anthropologist of Islam Fabio Vicini (University of Verona) will join Sabiha Çimen in discussing contemporary Islam in Turkey and the use of images.
Download more information about the public Lecture.
The event is free of charge, but registration is mandatory on Eventbrite.
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.
ISSN 2974-6469
Religious Dimensions of Conspiracy Theories
Comparing and Connecting Old and New Trends
Edited By Francesco Piraino, Marco Pasi, Egil Asprem
November 30, 2022 Forthcoming by Routledge
Religious Dimensions of Conspiracy Theories (routledge.com)
Religious Dimensions of Conspiracy Theories contributes to the study of conspiracy culture by analysing the religious and esoteric dimensions of conspiracy theories.
The book examines both historical and contemporary examples to explore transnational and transhistorical continuities between religious doctrines, eschatologies, and conspiracy theories.
It draws on a broad range of disciplinary insights from historians, sociologists, anthropologists, and religious studies scholars.
The book has a global focus and features case studies from North America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Africa.
This book will be of great interest to researchers of conspiracy theories, esotericism, extremism, and religion.
Reviving Muḥyiddīn: The contemporary uses of Ibn ʿArabī’s thought and the reinventions of Islam
The intellectual and spiritual legacy of Muḥyiddīn Ibn ʿArabī (d. 1240) has been the object of multiple socio-political and religious interpretations. The fact that his thought is at the same time intensely innovative and deeply rooted in the tradition may explain in part why it had such a lasting influence, both among followers and detractors (Knysh 1999).
In the West, Ibn ʿArabī appears today as a central reference in contemporary debates concerning Islamic spirituality, and his thought is one of the main sources of inspiration of the proponents of various creative adaptations of traditional Sufism in contemporary societies, ranging from the most conservative forms to openly New Age and syncretic movements (Morris 1986; Sedgwick 2017).
This special issue aims to explore and analyze contemporary cases of the use of Ibn ʿArabī’s thought, and to shed light on the motivations, dynamics and methods underlying its interpretations.
We invite scholars from all backgrounds in the humanities and social sciences, as well as social and political actors and artists, to propose contributions focusing on Ibn ʿArabī in connection with one or more of the following topics:
– Sufism, Sufi institutions, and the spiritual path
– Theology, metaphysics, and epistemology
– Anthropology, cosmology, and world vision
– Normativity, Islamic law, and rituals
– Ethics, ecology, and politics
– Social issues, gender, and diversity
– Art, media, and creativity
Download the call – Reviving Muḥyiddīn
Deadline: 5th of January 2023
This conference has been organised by the Centre for Comparative Studies of Civilisations and Spiritualities, the Institute of Music, and the Intercultural Institute of Comparative Music Studies (all Fondazione Giorgio Cini) and the Center for the History of Hermetic Philosophy and Related Currents (HHP) at the University of Amsterdam. Inspired by Rudolf Otto and Carl Gustav Jung, the Eranos Colloquia were organised in Ascona by the Dutch activist, painter and researcher Olga Fröbe-Kapteyn from 1933 onwards.
The meetings brought together some of the most stimulating minds of the day to discuss topics such as spirituality, mysticism, myth and symbolism, with the aim of opposing what was perceived as an inexorable secularisation. The focus of the conference will be on the legacy of Eranos in the social sciences, humanities and the performing and figurative arts (music, dance, theatre and painting). The event will be enriched by a concert of the mdi ensemble that will play music by Renato de Grandis, Ernesto Rubin de Cervin and Giacinto Scelsi at the Auditorium “Lo Squero”.
Download the programme of the conference The Eranos Experience
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Magnum Photos and the Centre for Comparative Studies of Civilisations and Spiritualities at Fondazione Giorgio Cini are inviting applications for the third workshop organized on the island of San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice, offering participants the opportunity to work on their projects in an immersive and intimate group setting.
Join Magnum photographer Sabiha Çimen for a three-day workshop where you will participate in discussions about documentary photography and how to develop personal long-term projects. During the course, Sabiha accompanied by the guest course tutor, Jason Eskenazi – photographer and founder of Red Hook Books, will talk at large about their work and give you critical feedback about your practice.
Organized into intensive sessions of lectures, editing and sequencing exercises, and group portfolio reviews, this workshop will help you to develop strategies and set individual project objectives. Whether you want to keep shooting, publish your project in a book or exhibit it, through a round table discussion on the contemporary editorial environment, this workshop will contextualize and shape the vision of each involved photographer.
This workshop is open for 15 participants and suitable for photographers with a large body of work who are looking for guidance in the final stage of their projects or photographers starting a new project and are at a research stage. Each participant will have an opportunity to gain a better understanding of the editing process of long-term projects and on choosing the right format for displaying them.
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