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Study Centre EIDOLA

EIDOLA Research Centre for Materiality, Cognition, and History of Religions

Logo EIDOLA vettoriale

The Study Centre was founded in 2023 on the initiative of some professors of the Department of History and Cultures with the aim of studying and analyzing material data in the magical-religious contexts, understanding objects as discursive representations with an intrinsic agent and performative value.
The Centre organizes and proposes both spaces for reflection and theoretical investigation, and applied anthropology projects in collaboration with institutions, professionals, companies and services on the territory.

TABULA DEFIXIONUM_Tavoletta defissoria del V secolo in greco con la raffigurazione di una divinità, forse la dea greca Ecate, conservata presso il Museo civico archeologico (Bologna)/ Fifth-century Greek defixion tablet depicting a deity, possibly the Greek goddess Hecate, preserved at the Civic Archaeological Museum of Bologna.

EIDOLA's HUB. Autumn Meetings in Bologna

Eidola’s Hub -  Autumn Meetings in Bologna is the Center’s annual study day.
It takes place in the autumn at the Department of History and Cultures of the University of Bologna.
Focused on the encounter with a guest author or centered around a specific theme, the study days provide a space for dialogue and in-depth discussion among scholars, researchers, and students interested in the materiality of religious phenomena, cognitive approaches, and the history of religions.

Eidola’s Hub meetings are also promoted by the Center’s members at their respective institutions.

 

2026 Edition

October 5-6, Department of History and Cultures - DISCI

Aula Prodi, P.zza San Giovanni in Monte 2, Bologna

 

‘Magical’ Objects. How to Do Things with Materiality

Keynote Lecturers: Raquel Martín Hernández (Complutense University of Madrid), Sonja Hukantaival (University of Turku), Joseph E. Sanzo (Ca’ Foscari University of Venice), Fabio Dei (University of Pisa)

Discussants: Giuseppina P. Viscardi (University of Bologna), Marinella Ceravolo (La Sapienza University of Rome), Enrico Cirelli (University of Bologna), Emiliano Urciuoli (University of Bologna), Marta Scialdone (University of Pisa)

 

Online participation planned
Find and download the poster below