Jain studies in Italy: a living epistemology

Erika Caranti is a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Humanities at the University of Turin. She earned her PhD from the University of Tübingen with a dissertation on the texts of Hindustani music (awarded the Doctoral Prize from the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Tübingen). She is part of the Acharya Tulsi Jain Studies Programme at the University of Turin, where she is involved in the research project Distinctive Values and Non-Violent Practices of Jainism and ‘Jainness’ in Southern Europe. At the same university, she teaches Values and Practices of Jainism: an Introduction. Her research interests include sound cultures and performative traditions of the Indian subcontinent, bhakti, and Jain studies. She is the author of “The Path Of Jainism In Italy From Roots To New Horizons: Italian Perspectives And Contributions To Jain Studies”, in Dhruti Ghiya Rathi (ed.) Significant Contributions of Jainism”. Vol. 1 (Motilal Banarsidass Publishing House, 2026)

Erika can be contacted at: erika.caranti@unito.it

Sara Roncaglia, Ph.D., is a research fellow at the Department of Humanities at the University of Turin, where she is part of the interdisciplinary SEVA group within the ‘Acharya Tulsi’ programme of study on Jainism. At the same university, she teaches an Introduction to the Anthropology of South Asia, with a focus on Jainism (listed as Anthropology of India). Her research interests include the history of anthropology in India, food cultures, labour studies, orality and the anthropology of Jainism. She is the author of Feeding the City: Work and Food Culture of the Mumbai Dabbawala (Cambridge:  Open Book Publishers: 2013); Canti urbani. Trasformazione del lavoro e degli spazi a Mumbai (Milano: Raffaello Cortina: 2019); “Social Anthropology in India: Studying the Self in the Other” in: Histories of Anthropology, Gabriella D’Agostino and Vincenzo Matera (eds.; London: Palgrave Macmillan: 2025).

Sara can be contacted at: sara.roncaglia@unito.it