ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-9356-6000
Silvia Cristofori is an associate professor of History of Christianity at the Department of Humanities at Link Campus University, where she teaches "Media and Religion" and "Religions, Identities, Politics". At the same university, she conducts various workshops and is the coordinator for the Excellence Program in European Studies, for which she teaches "Freedom of Conscience and Faith in European History".
She is a member of the faculty of the national doctoral program DREST (Italian Doctoral School in Religious Studies) and is an affiliated researcher of the National Research Infrastructure in Religious Studies (FSCIRE – Bologna), an institution that leads the European Research Infrastructure RESILIENCE.
She has been a visiting scholar at Northwestern University in Chicago (Program of African Studies) and at the University of Birmingham (College of Arts and Law – Department of Philosophy, Theology, and Religion).
She has been involved in various research groups and is currently a member of the board of directors of "Alizé. Center for European and Transnational Historical Studies". She is the scientific coordinator of the European project “Jean Monnet Module” FreeBeRi (Freedom of Belief and Right to Information), senior advisor for the Virtual Exchanges in Religious Euro-African Dialogue (FSCIRE), member of the research team of the Jean Monnet Chair "Europe across the movie: History, Identity, and Politics”, and a member of the scientific committee of the Jean Monnet European project "Teacher Training EUlink".
She earned a doctorate in anthropology with the highest honors from Sapienza University of Rome and was a post-doctoral researcher at the Foundation for Religious Studies (Bologna, 2012-2014), where her research was funded by the Program of the Emilia Romagna Region for the development of innovative ideas and projects.
Her work is characterized by an interdisciplinary approach and includes archival and field research conducted in Rwanda, Italy, the UK, the USA, and France. Her main research topics are: political-religious movements in the modern and contemporary history of Sub-Saharan Africa, religions and colonial situation, the relationship between religions and the mafia, and between conspiracy theories and hate speech. She has made numerous contributions to scientific journals and volumes and has participated in national and international conferences primarily as an invited speaker or as a convenor/organizer of seminars and panels.
Since 2018, she has been a member of the University Assessment Unit (academic authority for quality assurance in higher education) and, since 2023, she has been the coordinator of the Research and Communication Committee of the Gender Equality Plan at Link Campus University.
Curriculum Vitae OFFICE HOURS
The professor is available to receive the students at the end of the lessons. However, the students may also request an appointment by email.