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Hello everyone I'm Angela and welcome back to my channel. Seems quite a few
of you have asked to talk about my academic journey and what made me become a Religious
Studies scholar and how I became a Religious Studies scholar. Well at the moment I’m a PhD
candidate. I'm about to finish my PhD so I thought, well I will make a video about it
so that you can know me a bit better. So stay tuned if you want to find out.
So let's start very early, let's say with high school. So the high school I went to
was in Italy is called classical high school or Liceo Classico in Italian and it is the
high school where you studied the classics. So for five years I've studied ancient Greek
and Latin and we were studying and translating, each and every day, texts from both languages.
And also some other key subjects in this kind of high school are philosophy and humanities,
basically. So, of course, you also get to study Natural Sciences but the main
focus is on Classical Studies. So Latin, ancient Greek, and related histories and
literature as well as philosophy, Italian literature, and so on and so forth.
My main passion has always been philosophy and so after high school, I decided to get
into an undergrad program on philosophy, basically. And the university I chose,
which was the University of Naples L'Orientale, not only does it have a program in philosophy
but also another one which incorporates both Eastern and Western philosophies,
which I found very interesting and different so that's the one I chose
because I wanted to learn about the philosophies from all over the world,
not just the stereotypical Western philosophy. And so I got particularly interested in Indian
and Tibetan philosophies while studying basically all the philosophies from around the world and in
different times in history. And so, after getting passionate about Indian and Tibetan philosophies,
I decided to learn Sanskrit and Tibetan. So for four years I studied at University in between
my undergrad and my master's degrees. I also learned these two languages Sanskrit and Tibetan.
By learning these two languages you get to translate a lot of Buddhist texts because
of course, you know there were some of my peers choosing Japanese and Chinese,
or Tibetan and Chinese, or Sanskrit and Hindi. So, in that case, of course, you can
have different sources and different material to translate from but in my case, of course,
Tibetan and Sanskrit just called for Buddhist texts. So, yeah, by translating a few Buddhist
texts I got really interested in Buddhism and so in between my undergrad and my masters I basically
wanted to become a Buddhist Studies scholar. So I even went to the University of Hamburg and
undertook a summer school on Buddhist Studies which I found really interesting. But then,
by the time I finished my master's degree, I basically decided I had sort of a change of heart
or just further development of my research interests and I got more interested in the
contemporary world of religions and specifically Paganism, and Esotericism, and Shamanism,
of course. So the issue was that, at the time, my university didn't have these kinds of subjects.
And it's not really that I got interested in these topics all of a sudden it's more that, of course,
I had been interested in these subjects for years and years but I never thought that I could have
studied them from an academic point of view. So the issue for me was to find something that I
was passionate about, that I could pursue as an academic researcher in the future.
So what really enlightened my view was basically YouTube,
as I mentioned in a previous video here on YouTube, the video where I interview her.
I saw this paper on YouTube where Dr. Jenny Butler is explaining her doctoral research.
And her doctoral research was and her research still is on Irish paganism and Irish witchcraft.
And it was very enlightening to me because at the time I really didn't think that you could
study these things from an academic perspective and I didn't know of any universities in Italy
that did study these kinds of things and still, nowadays, it's quite difficult to
find Italian universities which address these kinds of topics in the contemporary world.
So that is why, basically, after my master's degree, which, in Italy,
is two years, it's not one year as it is in Britain. After my master's degree I
decided I wanted to pursue a PhD and I wasn't able to do it in Italy because, as I said,
these fields of study is still undeveloped at the moment. So I tried in the UK and I sent a
research proposal at the University of Chester and Leeds Trinity University and I was accepted
by both universities but Leeds Trinity University also offered me a teaching position so that was a
dream coming true for me because I really wanted to pursue the academic career both
as a researcher and as a teacher. And starting my teaching career, while doing my PhD was just - I
mean amazing - so I was extremely, extremely happy and elated when I got the news that I got the job.
Although technically my PhD will be awarded by the University of Leeds, I am funded and
supervised fully by Leeds Trinity University and my teaching is Leeds Trinity University.
So what have I taught at Leeds Trinity University then? I was leading two
modules at Leeds Trinity University. One on magic in different religions, basically. I
was addressing how magic is conceptualized and integrated and practised in different
religions around the world. How this aspect, this ritualistic aspect and also theoretical element
is incorporated in different religions, well specifically polytheistic religions,
I should say and the other module was on Asian philosophies. So it was about Buddhism, Hindu
traditions, and Tibetan Bon, Tibetan Buddhism, Shinto, Confucianism, and so on and so forth.
Since this is the final year of my PhD I asked my teaching to be suspended for
this year because I'm wrapping up my thesis. So I just want to focus on that only and the
university was kind enough to allow me to focus on, solely on, my research while I'm finishing up.
During this time as a PhD student, I've thought a lot of opening the YouTube channel, and every time
I thought about it I just said to myself, no it's too much of a commitment. I wouldn't be able to
upload regularly and to do the research for each and every video. So I really did want to open it
earlier but I don't think I would have been able to because during my first years I was teaching a
lot and I was also undertaking the PGCHE which in Britain is the Postgraduate Certificate in
Higher Education. So it's a certification that allows you to teach in universities,
which is considered higher education in Britain. Not sure if it is anywhere else but yeah,
when I started my final year I thought well since I'm not teaching now and I will be staying at home
much longer since I have to write out my thesis, I might as well do this - open this YouTube channel.
The reason why I did open the channel, in the end, is that,
as I said I'm really really passionate about the topics that I tackle on this YouTube channel,
and I also want to offer an academic perspective. I want to offer sources
references every time I talk about something because I think that, especially nowadays,
with the internet and fake news that are all over the place, I think it's more important than ever
to seek the references when somebody tells you something because otherwise, how can you check
whether the information is true or not and how can you challenge that information. So in my case,
for example, I like to provide references so that you can go and read them first-hand and you can
even disagree with maybe an interpretation or a specific choice of sources. Maybe,
if you had to talk about the topic yourself, you would have chosen different sources,
that's totally understandable. And that is why it is so key and so important to have references so
that anyone who wants to dive deeper into that specific topic knows how to and even
knows how to challenge what you are saying because they can go directly to the source
of that information and even check what was the methodology that was used for that specific study,
how old is that study, has it been challenged by other researchers, and so on and so forth.
I know this may be too academic hip and maybe, people in the Pagan community or people practising
Esotericism might not be that interested in this academic perspective, but even in that case,
I hope that I'm providing useful information and I don't know, I guess a new perspective on
these things. Which is not judgemental and is not just patronising or dismissive as if these things
were just superstitions or neglectable topics in our society because I think that they are very
much important. Because our culture is made by all our beliefs and our thoughts and by the way
we see the word and of course even whether you integrate magic or not in your belief system,
that changes completely how you interpret the world and your surroundings. Even,
for example, the relationship you might have with the environment, with nature,
with other human beings, everything regarding the belief systems that people create and embrace
is essential in understanding us, as human beings. And that's why I got so interested
and fascinated and now my research, rather than in philosophy, is in Anthropology of
Religion - which I haven't mentioned before. Yeah, my PhD is in anthropology of religion.
So, yeah, I guess this is it for today. Let me know in the comment section down below whether
you would like to know more about my PhD research, which is Indigenous and Transcultural Shamanism in
Italy and Folk Magic in Italy. So if you'd like to know more about my PhD research and my PhD journey
do let me know in the comments and I gladly make a video on that, if you are so inclined.
So, hope you like this more personal video on my academic journey and if you did, as always,
SMASH the like button because it really helps the channel, subscribe to the channel and activate the
notification bell so that you won't miss anything out and stay tuned for all the academic fun.
Bye for now.
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