15: Giovanna Parmigiani on paganism, magical cards and sisterhood

In this episode, Giovanna talks about a moment in her fieldwork that she returns to often. A quiet moment shared with women that would become her sisters. A moment where something shifted for her.     Giovanna Parmigiani is an anthropologist of religion and magic, a scholar of Contemporary Paganisms, the co-chair of the Contemporary Pagan Studies Unit at the American Academy of Religion, and a founding co-convenor of the Network for the Anthropology of History at the European Association of Social Anthropologists. Her work is firmly grounded in ethnographic and auto-ethnographic practices, and her main focus of interest is the relationship between religion, politics, and gender.   Her first monograph, Feminism, Violence and Representation in Modern Italy: We Are Witnesses, Not Victims (Indiana University Press, 2019) dealt with violence against women. Her second, The Spider Dance: Tradition, Time, and Healing in Southern Italy (Equinox Publishing, 2024), deals with contemporary pagan women and healing. She writes about conspirituality and conspiracy theories and has a forthcoming book on this topic, Lived Conspirituality: Researching Conspiracy Theories and Alternative Spiritualities (Routledge).   Parmigiani is the host of the Gnoseologies series at the CSWR. At HDS, she teaches courses on contemporary paganisms; earth-based religions; New Age spiritualities; the anthropology of magic, religion, and healing; and religion, materiality, and the senses.   If you want to receive additional photos from the field, personal drawings and behind-the-screens information accompanying the episodes of The Emic, subscribe to Roanne's free monthly email: www.anthropologyofthefuture.com/the-emic

Om Podcasten

Join anthropologist Roanne van Voorst and her guests during fieldwork in Inuit villages in Greenland, poor riverbank-settlements in Indonesia, or the buzzling city of Amsterdam. While she shares the wisest lessons that she learned in the field - often from unexpected teachers -, you will hear the sounds that surround her: chirping snow, a street musician playing the guitar, singing birds, or a noisy traffic road. In anthropology, the ‘emic’ perspective means the insider’s perspective. During fieldwork, anthropologists try to understand the perspective of the people who live within a specific group, or subculture in society. Want to learn more about Roannes' fieldwork, see her notes, photos or drawings from the field? Then subscibe to her monthly letters at www.anthropologyofthefuture.com/the-emic The podcast includes guest episodes from fellow anthropologists, or other listeners: if you want to share your 'emic' moment (see this file: https://anthropologyofthefuture.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Emic-radioplay-instructions.pdf for an explanation), you may send Roanne a 5 minute audio recording of your story - the most beautiful ones are produced by Roanne and her team into a radioplay, where we will add sounds to your voice!