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Department of the Study of Religions

Dr Cosimo Zene

BA, MA, PhD (London)

Overview

Cosimo Zene
Department of the Study of Religions

Reader in the Study of Religions

Centre of South Asian Studies

Member, Centre of South Asian Studies

Centre of Jaina Studies

Member, Centre of Jaina Studies

Centre for Migration and Diaspora Studies

Member

SOAS Food Studies Centre

Member, SOAS Food Studies Centre

London Middle East Institute (LMEI)

Member

Name:
Dr Cosimo Zene
Email address:
Telephone:
020 7898 4783
Address:
SOAS, University of London
Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London WC1H 0XG
Building:
Russell Square: College Buildings
Office No:
340
Office Hours:
Tuesdays 2.30-4pm / Thursdays 3.30-5pm

Biography

Social Anthropology, Philosophy, Theology

Teaching

Courses Taught
PhD Students supervised
  • Aristotle Dy, Marginal Buddhists: Religion, Social Work, and Cultural Identity of the Chinese in the Philippines
  • Asmaa Soliman,
  • Husam Almallak, Post-Secular Islamic Religiosity: A Nietzschean Reading of Ibn ‘Arabi’s Hermeneutics of Transvaluation
  • Jennifer Loh, Exploring the Construction of 'Political' Identity Among the Kinnars of Madhya Pradesh, India. 
  • Mahrou Zia Ghazvini,
  • Rastin Mehri, The Zoroastrians in British Columbia.
  • Shi Longdu, Buddhism and the State in Medieval China: A Case Study of Three Persecutions of Buddhism in Chinese History, 446-845
  • Terumi Toyama, The Replication of Sacred Spaces in Edo
  • Thomas Alberts, Indigenous Modernity: Shamanism, Discourse and the Study of Religions
  • Timothy Green, Issues of Identity for First-Generation Christians in Pakistan

Research

After early studies in Philosophy and Theology (specialising in Systematic Theology), Dr. Zene has combined his theoretical approach to the Study of Religions with empirical anthropological research conducted in Bangladesh among a group of Dalits (The Rishi of Bangladesh, 2002). Paying particular attention to the development of Western thought as expressed in the hermeneutical and phenomenological traditions, Dr. Zene aims at finding paths which offer the possibility of encounter of different epistemologies, including those contained in non-Western religious thought and in non-Western Christianities (two special issues of Social Identities, 11.3/2005 and 12.1/2006, edited by Dr. Zene and Dr. Mandair).

Expanding from the interest in philosophies and theologies of dialogue, and into cross-cultural and religious dialogue, Dr. Zene continues researching on the contribution that Gramsci's thought can provide to the Study of Religions in a post-colonial and post-modern setting. Other research interests of Dr. Zene - e.g. themes in myth, mysticism and heresy ('Myth, identity and belonging', 2007), or gift and sacrifice - play a relevant role in the politics of religion and the practice of everyday life.

In his most recent project on gift-giving in his native Sardinia ('Gift and Community in Central Sardinia', 2007), Dr. Zene finds recurrent motives already present in previous research commitments. Here, the orality of a pastoral tradition - often 'Orientalised', romanticised and mythologised - dictating a 'code of vendetta' needs to discover a dialogical potential of gift-giving as a means for the community to survive. Gift, in this sense, becomes a moment of deep communication among people, with nature, with the dead and with the invisible.

Expertise

For help in contacting SOAS academics and advice on services to business and the community, please contact SOAS Enterprise on +44(0)20 7898 4837 or email enterprise@soas.ac.uk.
For all press and media enquiries please call +44 (0)20 7898 4956/4135 or email comms@soas.ac.uk

Available for
  • Press
  • Briefings
  • Special Study Programmes
  • Short Term Consultancy
Regional Expertise
  • South Asia
Country Expertise
  • Bangladesh
  • India
Languages
  • Bengali
  • Greek
  • Italian
  • Latin Lingala
  • Spanish

Publications

Jump to: Authored Books | Book Chapters | Articles | Other

Authored Books

Zene, Cosimo (2009) Dialoghi Nulesi - Storia, Memoria, identita' di Nule (Sardegna) nell'antropologia di Andreas F. W. Bentzon. Nuoro, Italy: Edizioni ISRE (Istituto Superiore Regionale Etnografico).

Zene, Cosimo (2002) The Rishi of Bangladesh. A History of Christian Dialogues. London: Routledge Curzon.

Book Chapters

Zene, Cosimo (2010) 'L'autocoscienza dei Dalits-Intoccabili come Subalterni. Riflessioni su Gramsci nel Sud dell'Asia.' In: Baldussi, Annamaria and Manduchi, Patrizia, (eds.), Gramsci in Asia e in Africa. Cagliari, Italy: Aipsa Edizioni, pp. 228-255.

Zene, Cosimo (2007) 'Le tessitrici di Nule: impresa economica, produzione artistica e tessuto sociale. [Handloom Weavers of Nule - ‘Social Fabric’ between Art Production and Economic Enterprise].' In: Caoci, A. and Lai, F., (eds.), Gli "oggetti culturali". L'artigianato tra estetica, antropologia e sviluppo locale. FrancoAngeli, pp. 70-92.

Zene, Cosimo (2006) 'Nule: il dono della tessitura.' In: Tessuti: tradizione e innovazione della tessitura in Sardegna. Nuoro, Italy: Ilisso, pp. 245-260. (Collana di etnografia e cultura materiale)

Zene, Cosimo (2004) 'Travesia en el desierto. Las experiencias de la humanidad en el dialogo con Dios. [Journey into the Desert: The Experience of Humanity in Dialogue with God].' In: Salas Quiltanal, H. and Pérez-Taylor, R., (eds.), Desiertos y fronteras. El norte de México y otros contextos culturales. V Colloquio Paul Kirchhoff. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Instituto de Investigaciones Antropológicas, Plaza y Valdés Editores, pp. 45-67.

Zene, Cosimo (2003) 'Religion, Dialogue and Fear of the Other.' In: Raveri, Massimo, (ed.), Le Religion e la Pace. Venezia, Italy: Marsilio, pp. 303-321.

Zene, Cosimo (2002) 'Banaras: The Eternal Recurrence of a Myth.' In: Fernandez, J, (ed.), En el Camino: Cultura y Patrimonio. Univeridade da Coruna (Spain), pp. 83-104.

Zene, Cosimo (2001) 'The Ethics of Cross-Cultural Dialogue.' In: Inaga, S. and Richard, K. L., (eds.), Crossing Cultural Borders: toward an ethics of international communication. Beyond reciprocal anthropology. Kyoto: International Research Center for Japanese Studies, pp. 89-124. (International Symposium; 14)

Zene, Cosimo (2000) 'We too are Humans (Amrao je manus!): The Rishis'' struggle for human identity.' In: SOAS Working Papers in the Study of Religions. SOAS, pp. 69-98.

Articles

Zene, Cosimo (2012) 'Gramsci ve madunlarim dini: güney asya’daki dalitler (dokunulmazlar) hakkinda bir örnek çalişma.' felsefelogos, 44 (1). pp. 39-74.

Zene, Cosimo (2011) 'Self-Consciousness of the Dalits as 'Subalterns': Reflections on Gramsci in South Asia.' Rethinking Marxism. A Journal of Economics, Culture & Society., 23 (1). pp. 83-99.

Zene, Cosimo (2008) 'Intervento.' Lares, Rivista quadrimestrale di Demoetnoantropologia, LXXIV (2). pp. 276-286.

Zene, Cosimo (2007) 'S’imbiatu: Gift and Community in Central Sardinia.' Culture and Religion, 8 (3). pp. 291-312.

Zene, Cosimo (2007) 'S'Imbiatu. Gift and Community in Central Sardinia.' Culture and Religion, 8 (3). pp. 291-312.

Zene, Cosimo (2007) 'Don et vendetta en Sardaigne.' La Revue du MAUSS semestrielle (30). pp. 367-392.

Zene, Cosimo (2007) 'Myth, identity and belonging: the Rishi of Bengal/Bangladesh.' Religion, 37 (4). pp. 257-281.

Zene, Cosimo and Mandair, Arvind-pal (2006) 'Refusals: Opening the Difference in Dialogue.' Social Identities, 12 (1). pp. 1-3.

Zene, Cosimo (2005) 'Dono e vendetta nella Sardegna centrale. [Gift and Vendetta in Central Sardinia].' Lares, 71 (3). pp. 683-720.

Zene, Cosimo and Mandair, Arvind-pal (2005) 'Dialogue and the Inscription of the “West”.' Social Identities, 11 (3). pp. 171-175.

Zene, Cosimo (1999) 'Sardegna e Lingua Sarda negli scritti di Guiseppe Senes (1851-1920).' Quarderni Bolotanesi, 25 . pp. 207-228.

Zene, Cosimo (1993) 'The Authority of the Face: Missionary Representations in South-West Bangladesh.' History and Anthropology, 6 (2-3). pp. 199-234.

Other

Zene, Cosimo (2008) '“Non solo Launeddas” e “Il Fondo Bentzon dell’ISRE”.' Istituto Superiore Etnografico della Sardegna . Isre Sardegna.

This list was generated on Fri Apr 5 00:55:10 2013 BST.