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Sabrina Ciolfi




Sabrina Ciolfi
Sabrina Ciolfi studied Sociology and Political Sciences at this University and holds a Ph.D. in Indian and Tibetan Studies from the University of Turin.
Her research interests are in the areas of Gender Studies and South Asian Cinema. She has a multidisciplinary background and she has developed inter-sectoral experience both as an independent researcher and in academia.
Sabrina is currently working on a new project: Best Practices for a Gender-Sensitive Filmmaking. Cultural Expertise Applied to Indian Cinema. It features an innovative multidisciplinarity that combines Gender, Media and Communication, Cinema and Cultural Anthropology, for the promotion of best practices for gender equality in South Asia.
In 2019 Sabrina was Visiting Scholar at the CSLS - Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, Law Faculty, University of Oxford. Moreover, she has worked at the University of Oxford as a Research Assistant (June 2019 - January 2020) for the European ERC funded project EURO-EXPERT-Cultural Expertise in Europe: What is it useful for?. Sabrina was a consultant for the Social Lab on ERC, as part of the Newhorrizon project coordinated by IHS - Institute for Advanced Studies, Vienna (September 2019 - March 2021). Her work consisted in the creation and in the management of a website dedicated to foster Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI), in collaboration with EURO-EXPERT.
Since a.y. 2023/2024 Sabrina is adjunct professor in Cinema and Visual Culture in South-Asia at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Department of Asian and North African Studies. She has been collaborating with the University of Milan for more than two decades: 1996-1999 with the Chair of Sociology of the Family at the Faculty of Political Science (teaching a seminar course on the Status of Indian Women); 2003-2006 with the Chair of Indian Culture at the Faculty of Linguistic and Cultural Mediation (her textbook among the course materials); 2012-2016 with the Chair of Anglophone Literatures at the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures (teaching a seminar course on Indian Cinema). Since 2007 Sabrina has been collaborating with the Chair of Indology and History of Indian and Central Asian Art at this Department.
Furthermore, since 2005 Sabrina has been working as a freelancer and scholarly consultant in non-academic contexts, offering Cultural Expertise on Indian Culture for application in tourism and entertainment contexts. She has developed considerable experience in national and international Film Festivals as: a scientific curator and director (Bollywood Film Meeting Roma, Rome, 29 November - 9 December 2012 programme), jury member (Pakistan International Film Festival - PIFF, Karachi, 29 March - 1 April 2018) and guest discussant and in introducing several film screenings.

Education


  • 2007-2010 Ph.D. scholarship in Indian and Tibetan Studies at the University of Turin. She submitted and successfully discussed her dissertation Bollywood and the Representation of Youthful Romance. Ideology and Aesthetics in Films During the Period 1994-2004.
  • In 1995 Degree in Political Science at the University of Milan, with a sociological dissertation on The Status of Indian Women in India. Dowry and Bride-Burning.
  • In 1993 Diploma in Hindi Language and Indian Culture at the Is.M.E.O. She continued her study of Hindi language at the Central Hindi Directorate of New Delhi, obtaining the Hindi Certificate in 1996 and the Hindi Diploma (Proficiency) in 1998.

Selected Works


  • Tutto è sacro in India, di Giuliano Boccali con Sabrina Ciolfi, Edizioni di Maieutica, Milano 2022.
  • "Shooting Bollywood in Italy: Bachna Ae Haseeno, a Case Study. The Impact of Foreign Locations on Indian Tourist Destinations", in Journeys and Travellers in Indian Literature and Art, ed. by D. Stasik and A. Trynkowska, Vol. 2, Elipsa, Warszawa 2018, pp. 108-133.
  • "Only consideration is a good girl. Uno sguardo sulla società contemporanea indiana attraverso un'analisi degli annunci matrimoniali", in Anantaratnaprabhava. Scritti in onore di Giuliano Boccali, ed. by A. Crisanti, C. Pieruccini, C. Policardi and P.M. Rossi, Consonanze 11, Vol. 2, Dipartimento di Studi letterari, filologici e linguistici, Università  degli Studi di Milano - Ledizioni, Milano 2017, pp. 273-284.
  • "Food and Fasting: Representing the Traditional Role of Women in Hindi Cinema", in A World of Nourishment. Reflections on Food in Indian Culture, ed. by Cinzia Pieruccini and Paola M. Rossi, Consonanze 3, Dipartimento di Studi letterari, filologici e linguistici, Università  degli Studi di Milano - Ledizioni, Milano 2016, pp. 293-304.
  • "L'India mi ha dato le storie... il Canada la libertà  di raccontarle. Intervista a Deepa Mehta", in Quaderni Asiatici, 113, marzo 2016, pp. 127-144.
  • "Toru Dutt, 2014, Antiche ballate e leggende dell'Industan. Edizioni ETS, Pisa", Review by Sabrina Ciolfi, in Pandanus '15. Nature in Literature, Art, Myth and Ritual, Vol. 9, N. 1, 2015, pp. 126-128.
  • "Demure Heroines Expressing Sexual Desire. Hints of Traditional Motifs in Popular Hindi Cinema", in Acta Orientalia Vilnensia, ed. by Deimantas Valanciunas, Vol. 12, N. 2 (2011), Vilnius University Press, Vilnius 2014, pp. 91-100.
  • "L'India alla 70esima Mostra del Cinema di Venezia", in Quaderni Asiatici, 103, settembre 2013, pp. 123-127.
  • "The Sudden Happy Ending: The Dénouement of the Plot in Hindi Popular Film", in Stylistic Devices in Indian Literature and Art, ed. by Giuliano Boccali and Elena Mucciarelli, Quaderni di Acme, Cisalpino Istituto Editoriale Universitario, Milano 2013, pp. 111-122.
  • "Oroscopo nell'India del Terzo millennio. Dalla tradizione vedica alle star di Bollywood", in Anticipare il futuro, Quaderni di Maieutica, N. 78, marzo 2013, pp. 15-25.
  • "Bollywood Narrates Akbar. Between History and Legend", in Akbar. The Great Emperor of India, ed. by Gian Carlo Calza, Skira, Milano 2012, pp. 81-87.
  • "La poetica di Tagore nel cinema indiano", in Farà fiorire canti nuovi. Rabindranath Tagore e la vita come ricerca, Quaderni di Maieutica, N. 71, marzo 2012, pp. 28-40.
  • "Popular Hindi Cinema: Narrative Structures and Points of Continuity with the Tradition", in ACME - Annali della Facoltà  di Lettere e Filosofia dell'Università  degli Studi di Milano, Vol. LXV, Fasc. I, gennaio-aprile 2012, LED, Milano, pp. 387-397.
  • "Tagore e il cinema", in Omaggio a Tagore: Un genio dai mille volti, ed. by Marilia Albanese e Laura Santoro Ragaini, Monografia di Quaderni Asiatici, ottobre 2011, pp. 111-120.
  • "Movies, Romance and Forest: An Indian Cultural Stereotype", in The City and the Forest in Indian Literature and Art, ed. by Danuta Stasik and Anna Trynkowska, ELIPSA, Warszawa 2010, pp. 163-182.
  • "Taal e la rappresentazione dell'amore nel cinema di Bollywood: fra estetica classica e Coca-Cola", in Scritture e interpretazioni, DOST Critical Studies 8, ed. by Alessandro Monti and Flavio Gallucci, Edizioni dell'Orso, Alessandria 2010, pp. 159-172.
  • "Conventional landscapes: Identity and romance in contemporary Hindi popular cinema", in Pandanus '09. Nature in Literature and Ritual, Vol. 3, N. 1, 2009, pp. 71-80.
  • "La gestualità  dell'amore dal kāvya al cinema popolare hindi contemporaneo. Una breve analisi del film Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam", in Argumenta Antiquitatis, ed. by Giuseppe Zanetto and Massimiliano Ornaghi, Quaderni di Acme 109, Cisalpino Istituto Editoriale Universitario, Milano 2009, pp. 145-165.
  • "Bollywood between Tradition and Modernity", in The Journal of Design, March 2008, p. 4.
  • "Donne protagoniste sulla scena politica", in Per conoscere gli altri: "India oltre il mito" - Atti del convegno del 16 ottobre 2004, Monografia di Quaderni Asiatici, ottobre 2005, pp. 77-89.
  • Donna e matrimonio in India, dispensa del seminario omonimo tenuto nell'ambito della collaborazione con la cattedra di "Sociologia della famiglia", Facoltà  di Scienze Politiche, Università  degli Studi di Milano, 1997-1999.
  • "Wanted bride for ardent boy. Le inserzioni matrimoniali in India", in Quaderni Asiatici, 38, maggio-agosto 1996, pp. 19-23.
  • "Bride-burning, la pratica della dote in India e le violenze che ne conseguono", in Asia News, 10, dicembre 1995, pp. 38-40.
  • "Dal kanyā-dāna al bride-burning. La pratica della dote in India", in Culture - Annali dell'Istituto di Lingue della Facoltà  di Scienze politiche dell'Università  degli Studi di Milano, 9, 1995, pp. 191-204.