Gnoseologies

Gnoseologies: Transcendence and Transformation Today

This series focuses on ways of knowing that are often labeled as “non-rational.” Traditionally referred to as gnosis in Western philosophical and religious traditions, and often understood in contraposition to science (episteme), these ways of knowing are becoming more and more influential in contemporary societies, popular culture, and academic research. What is the place of spirit possession, divination, and experiences perceived as “out-of-the ordinary” in our lives? How can we study and approach these types of phenomena? Going beyond dichotomies such as body and mind, ordinary and extraordinary, reason and experience, and matter and spirit, this series hosts scholars of different disciplines and practitioners interested in exploring and expanding the boundaries of what counts as “knowledge” today.

Series Host

Giovanna Parmigiani is the host of "Gnoseologies". She is an anthropologist of religion, a scholar of Contemporary Paganisms, the co-chair of the Contemporary Pagan Studies Unit at the American Academy of Religion (AAR), and the founding co-convenor of the Anthropology of History Network at the European Association of Social Anthropologists (EASA). Her work is firmly grounded in ethnographic and auto-ethnographic practices, and her main focus of interest are the relationships 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, and her second, The Spider Dance: Tradition, Time, and Healing in Southern Italy (Equinox Publishing) with contemporary Pagan women and healing. She also writes about conspirituality and conspiracy theories. As a Research Associate in the Transcendence and Transformation Initiative at the CSWR, she is working on a new ethnographic project titled, "Magic and Populism in Southern Europe." At HDS, she teaches courses on Earth-based Spiritualities, the Anthropology of Magic, Religion and Healing, and Religion, Materiality, and the Senses.