Daniela Bevilacqua (681D-41F1-6F27)

Curriculum Vitae

Daniela Bevilacqua

Daniela Bevilacqua is a South-Asianist specialised in Hindu ascetic traditions, investigated through an ethnographic and historical perspective. She received her PhD in Civilizations of Africa and Asia from Sapienza University of Rome and in Anthropology from the University of Paris Nanterre. Her PhD research was published by Routledge under the title "Modern Hindu Traditionalism in Contemporary India: The Sri Math and the Jagadguru Ramanandacarya in the Evolution of the Ramanandi Sampradaya". She worked as a post-doc research fellow at SOAS, for the ERC- funded Hatha Yoga Project (2015-2020). During the years of the Hatha Yoga Project she engaged in long fieldwork researches collecting data about the physical yogic practices of current ascetic practitioners. This resulted in several articles on asceticism and a monograph which is going to be published in 2024 by Equinox, "From Tapas to Modern Yoga". She is currently a research associate at CRIA-Iscte - (Centro em Rede de Investigação em Antropologia).

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Identification

Personal identification

Full name: Daniela Bevilacqua

Citation names

Bevilacqua, Daniela

Author identifiers

Ciência ID: 681D-41F1-6F27
ORCID iD: 0000-0002-0526-8140

Email addresses

db28@soas.ac.uk (Professional)
daniela.bevilacqua@iscte-iul.pt (Professional)

Knowledge fields

Social Sciences - Other Social Sciences - Social Sciences, Interdisciplinary
Social Sciences - Sociology - Anthropology
Humanities - Philosophy, Ethics and Religion - Religious Studies

Languages

Language	Speaking	Reading	Writing	Listening	Peer-review
Italian (Mother tongue)
English	Advanced (C1)	Proficiency (C2)	Advanced (C1)	Advanced (C1)	Advanced (C1)
Hindi	Upper intermediate (B2)	Upper intermediate (B2)	Elementary (A2)	Upper intermediate (B2)	Elementary (A2)
French	Elementary (A2)	Upper intermediate (B2)	Beginner (A1)	Intermediate (B1)	Elementary (A2)
Spanish; Castilian	Beginner (A1)	Elementary (A2)	Beginner (A1)	Beginner (A1)	Beginner (A1)

Education

	Degree	Classification
2010/12 - 2015/04/29 Concluded	Dottorato in CIVILTÀ DELL’ASIA E DELL’AFRICA (Dottorato di Ricerca) Università degli Studi di Roma La Sapienza, Italy "A Past for the Present: The Role of the Sri Math and the Jagadguru in the Evolution of the Ramanandi Sampradaya" (THESIS/DISSERTATION)
2010/12 - 2015/03/29 Concluded	Maison René-Ginouvès, Archéologie et Ethnologie (Docteur) Université Paris-Nanterre, France "A Past for the Present: The Role of the Sri Math and the Jagadguru in the Evolution of the Ramanandi Sampradaya" (THESIS/DISSERTATION)	Très honorable
2007 - 2009/12 Concluded	Dipartimento Studi Orientali (Laurea Specialistica) Università degli Studi di Roma La Sapienza, Italy "Il movimento Ramjanmabhumi" (THESIS/DISSERTATION)	110/110 cum laude
2002/10 - 2005/12 Concluded	Dipartimento Studi Orientali (Laurea) Università degli Studi di Roma La Sapienza, Italy "Nityasumangali, the ritual and propitious role of Devadasis" (THESIS/DISSERTATION)	110/110 cum laude

Affiliation

Science

	Category Host institution	Employer
2023/04/01 - 2029/03/29	Researcher (Research)	Centro em Rede de Investigação em Antropologia, Portugal
	Instituto de Telecomunicações ISCTE-IUL, Portugal

Positions / Appointments

	Category Host institution	Employer
2021/02/10 - 2021/05	Term-contract Lecturer	Università degli Studi di Torino Dipartimento di Culture Politica e Societa, Italy

Others

	Category Host institution	Employer
2020/09 - 2022	Research Associate	SOAS University of London, United Kingdom

Projects

Grant

	Designation	Funders
2015/10 - 2020/09	The Hatha Yoga Project: Mapping Indian and Transnational Traditions of Physical Yoga through Philology and Ethnography info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/H2020/647963/EU Post-doc SOAS University of London, United Kingdom	European Commission Concluded

Contract

	Designation	Funders
2023/04/01 - 2029/03/31	Performing the Sacred: Ethnographies of Transgender Activism in the Kinnar Akhara 2022.03515.CEECIND/CP1758/CT0004 10.54499/2022.03515.CEECIND/CP1758/CT0004 Centro em Rede de Investigação em Antropologia, Portugal	Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia Ongoing

Outputs

Publications

Book	Bevilacqua, Daniela. From Tapas to Modern Yoga: Sadhus' Understanding of Embodied Practices. United Kingdom: Equinox Publisher. 2024. Published Bevilacqua, Daniela. Modern Hindu Traditionalism. Routledge. 2018. Published
Book chapter	Bevilacqua, Daniela. "The Ascetic and the Ecstatic: Examples of Identity Construction in the Ramanandi Sampradaya". In The Monastic Dimension of Identity Politics Global Case Studies from the Premodern Period, edited by Marco Papasidero; Dean Accardi; Emilia Jamroziak. York, United Kingdom: ARC Humanities, 2024. Published Bevilacqua, Daniela. "Towards a Nath Re-appropriation of Hatha-Yoga". In The Power of the Nath Yogis: Yogic Charisma, Political Influence and Social Authority. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Amsterdam University Press, 2022. Accepted Bevilacqua, Daniela. "Observing Yoga: The Use of Ethnographic Methodologies to Develop Yoga Studies". In Routledge Handbook of Yoga and Meditation Studies, edited by Karen O’Brien Cop; Suzanne Newcombe, 393-408. United Kingdom: Routledge, 2020. Published Bevilacqua, Daniela. "Globalization and Asceticism: Foreign Ascetics on the Threshold of Hindu Religious Orders". In Routledge International Handbook of Religion in Global Society, edited by J. S. Cornelio; F. Gautier, 199-211. Routledge, 2020. Published Bevilacqua, Daniela. "Evolution of Tradition in the Ramanandi Order. Among Hagiographies, Jagadguru and Math". In Invention of Tradition and Syncretism in Contemporary Religions: Sacred Creativity, edited by Stefania Palmisano; Nicola Pannofino, 69-89. Palgrave Macmillan, 2017. Published Bevilacqua, Daniela. "Do Not Ask About Caste If You Love God You Belong to God: The Ramanandi Sampradaya and Its Relation with Caste – A Historical and Anthropological Overview". In Cross-Cutting South Asian Studies, An Interdisciplinary Approach, edited by Serena Bindi; Elena Mucciarelli; Tiziana Pontillo, 80-115. New Delhi, India: DK Printworld, 2016. Published Bevilacqua, Daniela. "Tra Tradizione e Modernità: Una Prospettiva Storica Sull'Ascetismo Femminile Hindu". In D come Donne D come Dio, edited by Stefania Palmisano; A. Giorgi, 155-168. Milano, Italy: Mimesis Edizioni, 2016. Published
Book review	Bevilacqua, Daniela. "Richard Burghart 2015". Review of Richard Burghart. The History of Janakpurdham. A Study of Asceticism and the Hindu Polity (2020): 108-111. Published Bevilacqua, Daniela. "Patton Burchett 2019". Review of A Genealogy of Devotion, Bhakti, Tantra, Yoga, and Sufism in North India 188, (2019): 289-291. Published Bevilacqua, Daniela. "K. Narayan, 2016.". Review of Everyday Creativity. Singing Goddesses in the Himalayan Foothills (2018): https://newbooks.asia/review/everyday-creativity. Published Bevilacqua, Daniela. "Nils Bubandt and Martijn van Beek 2015". Review of Varieties of Secularism in Asia, Anthropological explorations of religion, politics and the spiritual 23, 2 (2015): 227-228. Published Bevilacqua, Daniela. "Film review: Sex, Death and the Gods. Directed by Beedan Kidron". 1, (2013): Published
Edited book	Bevilacqua, Daniela. The Power of the Nath Yogis: Yogic Charisma, Political Influence and Social Authority. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Amsterdam University Press. 2021. Accepted • Editor
Encyclopedia entry	Bevilacqua, Daniela. "Ascetic and Yogis. A plurality of affiliations, of social strategies, of life choice. Yoga and Dharma, confrontations and negotiations’". In The World of Yoga. History, Mutations, Modernity of A Wisdom, edited by Ysé Masqulier. Les Editions Albin Michel, 2021. Accepted Bevilacqua, Daniela. "Sadhus in contemporary India: Practices and Testimonies’". In The World of Yoga. History, Mutations, Modernity of A Wisdom, edited by Ysé Masqulier. Les Editions Albin Michel, 2021. Accepted Bevilacqua, Daniela. "Female ascetic and physical yoga practices’". In The World of Yoga. History, Mutations, Modernity of A Wisdom, edited by Ysé Masqulier. Les Editions Albin Michel, 2021. Published Bevilacqua, Daniela. "A general overview on the use of cannabis among ascetics". In The World of Yoga. History, Mutations, Modernity of A Wisdom, edited by Ysé Masqulier. Les Editions Albin Michel, 2021. Accepted Bevilacqua, Daniela. "Ramanandis". In Oxford Bibliography. Oxford Bibliographies, 2017. http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780195399318/obo-9780195399318-0197.xml. Published
Journal article	Bevilacqua, Daniela. "The religious transfeminism of the Kinnar Akhara". Feminist Encounters (2024): Under revision Daniela Bevilacqua. "Introduction". Journal of Yoga Studies (2023): https://doi.org/10.34000/JoYS.2023.V4.000. 10.34000/JoYS.2023.V4.000 Bevilacqua, Daniela. "From the Margins to Demigod: The Establishment of the Kinnar Akhara in India". Asian Ethnology 81 1/2 (2022): 53-82. Published Bevilacqua, Daniela. "The Life of Ramanandi Centres in Varanasi". Religions of South Asia 13 2 (2021): 130-159. Published Bevilacqua, Daniela. "Changing the narration, adjusting the order: The independence of the Ramanandi sampradaya and the bestowing of the title of Jagadguru Ramanandacarya". Rivista degli Studi Orientali XCI 2 (2018): 13-26. Published Bevilacqua, Daniela. "Old Tool for New Times: The Discovery of an Ancient Holy Site in Contemporary India". Journal of the British Association for the Study of Religions 20 (2018): 45-66. Published Bevilacqua, Daniela. "Let the Sadhus Talk. Ascetic understanding of Hatha Yoga and yogasanas". Religions of South Asia 11 2 (2017): 182-206. Published Bevilacqua, Daniela. "Are women entitled to become ascetics? An historical and ethnographic glimpse on female asceticism in Hindu religions¿". Kervan International Journal of Afro-Asiatic Studies 21 (2017): 51-79. Published
Journal issue	Bevilacqua, Daniela; Mark Singleton. "Yoga and the Traditional Physical Practices of South Asia: Influence, Entanglement and Confrontation". Journal of Yoga Studies 4 2023 (2023): https://journalofyogastudies.org/index.php/JoYS/issue/view/2023.V4. Published • Editor Bevilacqua, Daniela. "Introduction". Journal of Yoga Studies 4 (2023): Published

Artistic / Performance

Curatorial / Museum exhibition

2020. "Embodied Liberation, The Textual, Ethnographic and Historical Research of the Hatha Yoga Project. Brunei Gallery, London, UK".

Activities

Oral presentation

	Presentation title	Event name Host (Event location)
2024/06/14	The childless ascetic, strategy to break samsarik chains	(Non-)Reproductive Matters: Global Perspectives on Religion, Gender and Procreation Tübingen University (Tübingen, Germany)
2024/06/11	The yoga(s) of the Nath Yogis. Ethnographic perspectives and re-appropriation of traditions	Lecture Goettingen University (Goettingen, Germany)
2024/05/24	To meditate, to stretch, to amuse: Thinking of asanas in terms of performance and performativity	Yoga Darsana, Yoga Sadhana 'Introspection, Inspiration, Institutionalisation’ Hamburg University (Hamburg, Germany)
2024/04/19	Tapobhumi, when the spiritual power saturates the landscape	49th Annual Spalding Symposium on Indian Religions Cardiff University (Cardiff , United Kingdom)
2024/03/21	The Female Ascetics in Indian Miniatures: Insights from Ethnography	A Multidisciplinary International Conference on Indian Ascetical Traditions: Texts, Rituals and Visual Culture Maharshi Dayanand University (Rohtak, India)
2023/11/27	From hippies to Hindu spiritual leaders: The rising career of foreigners in Hindu traditional orders	WebiNAR 11 Núcleo de Antropologia da Religião_NAR_CRIA (Lisbon, Portugal)
2023/05/26	Seminar: "The Ramjanmabhumi movement and its consequences"	University of Turin (Turin, Italy)
2023/03/02	Seminar: "Third gender in India", Kinnar and Hijra	University of Turin (Turin, Italy)
2021/07/26	When Gender Breaks Tradition: The Kinnar Akhara. Dynamics of Female Agency in Religious Settings in South Asia	ECSAS 2021 University of Vienna (Austria)
2020/08	Hijras or Kinnars? Breaking Stereotypes to Conquer Social Status	Female Religious Leaders and Dynamics of Female Agency in Religious Settings in South Asia Cultural and Religious History of South Asia Department South Asia Institute, Heidelberg University (Heidelberg, Germany)
2019/10/18	Towards a Nath re-appropriation of hatha-yoga	Western Conference of the Association for Asian Studies (WCAAS) El Colegio de México (Mexico City, Mexico)
2019/09/06	Lecture: Lo Yoga visto e praticato dai Sadhu	Master in Yoga Studies Università Ca’ Foscari (Milano, Italy)
2019/07/01	Lecture: Yoga practices of Hindu traditional ascetic sampradayas	Yoga Studies Summer School SOAS (London, United Kingdom)
2019/06/01	Lecture: Observing Yoga: The use of ethnography to develop yoga studies	Yoga Studies Summer School SOAS (London, United Kingdom)
2019/05/20	Lecture: Tra Ashrams e Mela, o del condurre lavoro etnografico tra i sadhu in India	Università degli Studi di Torino (Torino, Italy)
2019/04/30	Lecture: Yoga physical practices and female asceticism in India, a historical and ethnographic overview	Course: Yoga and Gender Study SOAS University of London (London, United Kingdom)
2019/04/08	Lecture: Fieldwork among Hindu ascetics: dealing with the rules and practices of a male dominating tradition	Department of Asian Studies, Haifa University (Haifa, Israel)
2019/04	Can women get moksha through asceticism? Ethnographic hints from the sadhus world	BASAS Conference (Durham, Ireland)
2019/03/25	Lecture: Among Asrams and Melas, In Search of Sadhus and Yogic practices in India	Faculty of Arts, Charles University (Praga, Czech Republic)
2019/03/05	Lecture: Introduction to Hindu traditional ascetic sampradayas through yoga practices: an ethnographic approach	Indian Religions Seminar Faculty of Divinity, Cambridge University (Cambridge, United Kingdom)
2019/03/02	La donna come pati-vrata (devota al marito) e il difficile cammino verso una pratica ascetica individuale	III Seminario su Donne e Religioni nel Mondo Contemporaneo (Lanuvio, Italy)
2018/12/09	Lecture: Simbologie Ascetiche. Quando l’abito fa il Sadhu	Simbologia del Vestire Course Faculty of Letters and Philosophy Sapienza University of Rome (Roma, Italy)
2018/11	The Ethnographic side of the Hatha Yoga Project: Learning from the practice and knowledge of Indian Traditional Ascetic practitioners	American Academy of Religious (Denver, United States)
2018/09/09	Lecture: Let the sadhus talk. Lo yoga e l'hatha yoga spiegato e praticato dagli asceti tradizionali hindu	Master in Yoga Studies Ca'Foscari University (Milano, Italy)
2018/09	The Self and the Body of the Hindu Ascetic Yogi	Association of Social Anthropologist (Oxford, United Kingdom)
2018/09	Crossing Multifarious Realms by Forcing the Body: The Strenuous Austerities of Indian Ascetics	British Association for the Study of Religion (Belfast, United Kingdom)
2018/07	The Ascetic Self: Yogi Brahmananda Giri and the Construction of a Contemporary hagiography	European Conference on South Asian Studies (Paris, France)
2017/10/10	Yoga Among Indian Sadhus: Living Ascetic Practitioners of Yoga, Some Theoretical and Practical Insights	Beyond Asana: Asceticism, Alchemy & The Tangled Roots of Yoga. Lecture Series Rudolf Steiner House (London, United Kingdom)
2017/09	Old tool for new times: the rediscovery of ancient holy site in modern India	British Association for the Study of Religion (Chester, United Kingdom)
2016/11	Lecture: Andare nel Pratico della Pratica Ascetica	Master in Yoga Studies Ca’ Foscari University (Venezia, Italy)
2016/10/08	Among the guru and his followers: Power relations and position of a female researcher	Ethnography and Qualitative Research Conference University of Bergamo (Bergamo, Italy)
2016/09	The trade of religious titles in contemporary India	Swedish South Asian Studies Network (SASNET) (Lund, Sweden)
2016/06	Evolution of tradition in the Ramanandi sampradaya Among hagiographies, Jagadguru and Math	Ethnography and Qualitative Research Conference University of Bergamo (Bergamo, Italy)
2016/05/18	Lecture: The ethnographic aspect of the Hatha Yoga Project. Positioning ethnographers, organizing fieldworks	Jagiellonian University Institute for the Study of Religions (Krakow, Poland)
2016/05	Let the Sadhus Talk. Ascetic practitioners of yoga in northern India	International academic conference Yoga darsana, yoga sadhana: traditions, transmissions, transformations Krakow University (Krakow, Poland)
2016	Foreigner ascetics on the threshold of Hindu religious orders	South Asian Anthropologists’ Group (SAAG), (London, United Kingdom)
2015/06	Guru's communication in contemporary India. Between preaching and Whatsapp groups	Asia in Motion: Ideas, Institutions, Identities Academic Sinica (Taipei, Taiwan)
2013/09	Are women entitled to become ascetics? An historical and ethnographic glimpse of Indian female asceticism	Coffee Break Conference University of Torino (Torino, Italy)
2012/06/13	Do not ask about caste. If you love God, you belong to God. An historical and anthropological description of the Ramanandi sampradaya and its relationship with caste	The Study of Asia Between Antiquity and Modernity Coffee Break Conference (Cagliari, Italy)

Event organisation

	Event name Type of event (Role)	Institution / Organization
2024/06/22 - 2024/06/23	Symposium to celebrate the 20 years of the Yoga Field of studies (2024/06/22 - 2024/06/23) Symposium (Co-organisor)	Centro em Rede de Investigação em Antropologia, Portugal ISCTE-Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, Portugal
2019/11/08 - 2019/11/10	Organizer together with Mark Singleton of the international workshop , “Yoga and the Traditional Physical Practices of India: Influence, Entanglement and Confrontation” (2019/11/08 - 2019/11/11) Workshop (Co-organisor)	SOAS University of London, United Kingdom
2019/11/08 - 2019/11/10	Organizer together with Mark Singleton of the international workshop , “Yoga and the Traditional Physical Practices of India: Influence, Entanglement and Confrontation” (2019/11/08) Workshop (Member of the Organising Committee)

Event participation

	Activity description Type of event	Event name Institution / Organization
2024/07/28 - 2024/08/01	Panel organization: AGENCY AT THE MARGINS: SOUTH ASIAN GENDER DIVERSE COMMUNITIES NEGOTIATING RELIGION AND POLITICS Conference	International Convention of Asian Studies (ICAS 13) Universitas Airlangga - Kampus B, Indonesia
2023/07/26 - 2023/07/29	Panel organization for the 27th ECSAS conference in Torino, panel 43 "Trans/Third Gender Communities and Religion in South Asia" Conference	ECSAS 2023 Turin
2023/06/29 - 2023/06/30	Decolonising or Hinduising hij¿as? Evoking the past for constructing the Kinnar Akha¿a identity Workshop	Heritage and Religion in South Asia and its Diasporas: Frictions, Entanglements and Reconfigurations Centro em Rede de Investigação em Antropologia, Portugal

Association member

	Society Organization name	Role
2020 - Current	Member of the Centre of Yoga Studies. SOAS University	Member

Committee member

	Activity description Role	Institution / Organization
2021 - Current	Member of the Academic Committee of the ECSAS 2023, Torino Member

Conference scientific committee

	Conference name	Conference host
2022/10 - 2023	ECSAS 2023 Turin	University of Turin

Course / Discipline taught

	Academic session	Degree Subject (Type)	Institution / Organization
2021/04/07 - 2021/05/19	Course: HISTORY OF COLONIAL AND POST-COLONIAL SOUTH ASIA, Second Semester	Corso di laurea triennale in Comunicazione interculturale (Laurea Specialistica)	Università degli Studi di Torino Dipartimento di Culture Politica e Societa, Italy
2021/02/22 - 2021/03/31	Course: STORIA E CULTURE DELL'INDIA, Second Semester	HISTORY AND CULTURES OF SOUTH ASIA Oggetto: (Bachelor)	Università degli Studi di Torino Dipartimento di Culture Politica e Societa, Italy
2017/10 - 2017/12	The Origins and Development of Yoga in Ancient India	Traditions of Yoga and Meditation (Master)	SOAS University of London, United Kingdom

Interview (newspaper / magazine)

	Activity description	Newspaper / Forum
2018/06/28	Interview for Zenon about my work among ascetics in India and their understanding of yoga practices.	Zenon

Interview (tv / radio show)

	Program	Topic
2023/04/29 - Current	Chora Media (Ricercati)	Gli Hindu e le comunità LGBT+

Journal scientific committee

	Journal title (ISSN)	Publisher
2020/04/20 - Current	Journal of Yoga Studies