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Mimma Congedo




Mimma Congedo
Mimma Congedo develops her researches mainly in the field of aesthetics and Indian and comparative philosophy. Her main research areas include the theories of rasa, image and imagination, the encounter, interaction and comparison between India and the West, the evolution of Indian philosophy - particularly aesthetics - and its interpretation in the West, the representation of India in literature, with special reference to Italian literature.
She obtained her degree in Philosophy in 2002, at the University of Milan, discussing a thesis entitled A.K. Coomaraswamy: Arte e Filosofia Perenne (supervisor Prof. Giuliano Boccali). In 2007 she fulfilled all the requirements for her Ph.D. in Indological and Tibetan Studies at the Universities of Turin-Milan, submitting and successfully discussing a dissertation on The Indian Sources of the Aesthetics of Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy.
In 2007/2008 she was awarded a post-doctoral fellowship at ICI-Berlin, where she developed a project entitled "The Concept of Imagination between India and Europe: Comparing the Yoginī-hṛdaya and Giordano Bruno's Works", included in the Core project Tension/Spannung launched by ICI. In the context of the Core project, Mimma Congedo organized an International Workshop entitled "Reflecting on Images"; the participants discussed the theme of the tension between visible and invisible in images. In 2011/2012 she collaborated with Fondazione Centro Studi Campostrini for a research project entitled "Raimon Panikkar's Work between Comparativism and Existential Path". Since 2011/2012, for several years she has been leading the Workshop “Indian Aesthetics through Textual Sources” at the University of Milan.



  • with Paola M. Rossi, “Prospettive comparatistiche tra storia della filosofia ed estetica indiana”, in Anantaratnaprabhava. Studi in onore di Giuliano Boccali, ed. by Alice Crisanti, Cinzia Pieruccini, Chiara Policardi, Paola M. Rossi, Milano, Ledizioni – LEDIpublishing, 2017, pp. 121-143.
  • "Fathpur Sikri: il non-luogo del potere", in Sguardi sulle città in trasformazione, edited by Laura Ricca, La Mandragora, Bologna 2012, pp. 87-104.
  • with Paola M. Rossi, "Rethinking the Question of Images (Aniconism vs Iconism) in Indian History of Art", in Signless Signification in Ancient India and Beyond, edited by Mariapiera Candotti and Tiziana Pontillo, Anthem Press, London 2012, pp. 195-221.
  • with Cinzia Pieruccini, Viaggio nell'India del Nord, Milano, Einaudi, 2010.
  • "Indian Traces: Aracoeli, Pasolini's L'odore dell'India, Moravia's Un'idea dell'India", in The Power of Disturbance. Elsa Morante's Aracoeli, edited by Manuele Gagnolati and Sara Fortuna, Legenda, Oxford 2009, pp. 161-176.
  • "Immagine e immaginazione nello Yoginī-hṛdaya e nell'opera di Giordano Bruno. I termini di un confronto, i risultati preliminari", in Simplegadi/pensieri d'Oriente, vol. 13, n. 29, novembre 2008, Vie per un'estetica interculturale, Mimesis, Milano, pp. 87-122.
  • "The Interpretation of Natural Elements as Metaphysical Symbols in the Aesthetics of Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy", in Pandanus '06, Prague 2006, pp. 11-22.
  • "The Transformation of Nature in the Aesthetics of Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy", in Cracow Indological Studies, vol. 7, Jagiellonian University, Institute of Oriental Philology, Krakow 2005, pp. 195-205.
  • "Il concetto di natura nell'estetica di Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy", in Oltrecorrente, "Presenze della natura", 11, dicembre 2005, Mimesis, Milano, pp. 153-171.
  • "A Oriente del pensiero: Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy voce e interprete della cultura indiana", in Monografia di Quaderni Asiatici, Atti del convegno "Per conoscere gli altri: India oltre il mito" del 16 ottobre 2004, ottobre 2005, pp. 91-108.
  • "L'arte come yoga: un possibile percorso all'interno dell'opera di Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy", in Quaderni Asiatici, 70, giugno 2005, pp. 5-30.