CV Summary
Anna Fedele is an anthropologist whose research focuses on the intersections of gender and religion with a particular emphasis on corporeality, sexuality and ritual creativity. She is a Senior Researcher at the Center for Research in Anthropology (CRIA) at the Lisbon University Institute (ISCTE-IUL) and is currently coordinating a research project on the centenary of the apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima focusing on pilgrimage, gender and lived religion funded by FCT (the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology). Anna holds a Ph.D in Social and Cultural Anthropology from the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (Paris) and the Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona. She has been a chercheure associée of the Groupe de Sociologie Politique et Morale, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris until the dissolution of this laboratoire in 2013. Her Master thesis has been published as a Spanish book entiled El camino de María Magdalene (RBA, 2008). This text explores the long exegetical path that the figure of saint Mary Magdalene has performed from the beginnings of Christianity until the publication of The Da Vinci Code (2003). Particular attention is paid to contemporary interpretations of Mary Magdalene and its relationship with the feminist spirituality movement. Anna's dissertation has recently been published as part of the Oxford Series in Ritual Studies under the title: Looking for Mary Magdalene. Alternative Pilgrimage and Ritual Creativity at Catholic Shrines in France (Oxford University Press, November 2012). This book has received the Award for Excellence in the Study of Religion of the American Academy of Religion. In 2010 Anna has been a Visiting Scholar at the anthropology department of Stanford University. She has also been a Visiting scholar at the European University Institute, the University of Lausanne and the University of Trento. She co-edited with Ruy Llera Blanes Encounters of Body and Soul in Contemporary Religious Practices; Anthropological Reflections (Berghahn Books, EASA series, 2011) Gender and Power in Contemporary Spirituality: Ethnographic Approaches, the volume Anna co-edited with Kim Knibbe has been published as part of the Routledge Studies in Religion Series (2013).
Academic Qualifications
University/Institution Type Degree Period
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Spain - Barcelona
PhD Social and Cultural Anthropology 2008
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Spain - Barcelona
M.Sc. Social and Cultural Anthropology 2004
Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore
Italy - Milano
M.Sc. Lingue e Letterature Straniere 1998
Research Interests
religion, gender, pilgrimage, ritual, corporeality
Anthropology Social Sciences