Appel à contribution : « Animals. Myths, Knowledge, Symbolism », Rome, date limite le 20 avril 2021

The conference is a homage that the “Raffaele Pettazzoni” Museum of Religions pays to the person and works of the anthropologist Enrico Comba, who unfortunately passed away prematurely, victim of the pandemic, in the course of 2020. The study meeting will not only be a place to remember Enrico and reflect in general on his research and his accomplishments, but also a place to deepen and carry on the interdisciplinary investigations he started and promoted, also in collaboration with the Museum of Religions, about the myths, the knowledge and the symbolisms connected with animals.

The initiative will therefore be articulated in two parts, one in which papers dedicated specifically to the person and works of Enrico Comba may be presented, even for a simple personal memory of the scholar, while the other part will be reserved to the central theme of the conference. As to this second section, the discussion among researchers will be predisposed along two guidelines and as an occasion of interdisciplinary reflection between human sciences and disciplines that study the ethology and physiology of animals.

The guidelines are the following :
1) Method matters : how does one study the myths, beliefs and the symbolic potential of animals according to the exegetic perspectives of one’s discipline ? What are the problems ? How have studies tackled these themes so far ?
2) Single case studies on myths, knowledge and symbologies about the following types of animals : bear, cat, dog, lion, snake, tiger, wolf.

Scientific committee
Fabio Armand (Université Catholique de Lyon) ; Igor Baglioni (Museum of Religions “Raffaele Pettazzoni”) ; Stefano Beggiora (Università Ca’ Foscari – Venezia) ; Attilio Carapezza (Università degli Studi di Palermo) ; Cristiana Franco (Università per Stranieri di Siena) ; Pietro Li Causi (Università degli Studi di Palermo) ; Marco Masseti (Università degli Studi di Firenze) ; Alessandro Minelli (Università degli Studi di Padova) ; Vesa Matteo Piludu (University of Helsinki) ; Lia Zola (Università degli Studi di Torino)

Administration
Caterina Agus (Università degli Studi di Torino) ; Margherita Amateis (Università degli Studi di Torino) ; Igor Baglioni (Museo delle Religioni “Raffaele Pettazzoni”).

The scholars who would like to contribute may send a one-page abstract (max 2.000 characters) to Igor Baglioni, the director of the museum by April 20, 2021.

Attached to the abstract should be : the title of the paper ; a short biography of the authors ; email address and phone number, and it must specify which part of the conference the author would like to take part in. Papers may be written and presented in English, French, Italian and Spanish. The acceptance of papers will be communicated by email only to the selected contributors by 2021, April 30.

There is no attendance fee. The participants who don’t live in Rome or surroundings will be accommodated in hotels and bed-and-breakfasts which have an agreement with the Museum of Religions Raffaele Pettazzoni to offer discounted prices.

Papers may be published on Religio. Collana di Studi del Museo delle Religioni “Raffaele Pettazzoni” (Edizioni Quasar). All the papers will be peer-reviewed.

The conference will be held in person and outdoors, respecting the security norms valid at the time. Date and place of the meeting may vary based on the evolution of the pandemic and the subsequent government and local regulations. In the evenings there will be free-of-charge visits to the museums and monuments of various towns in the Castelli Romani area. The excursion programme will be presented at the same time as the conference programme.

For information.

Versione in italiano :
https://drive.google.com/file/d/10pC7XbuNCftYJKKek15Jrk8V8T6Ve96s/view?usp=sharing
English version :
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qKuQZXPmH14LQLp285c0Uh2s5naDYjC8/view?usp=sharing