Alessandro Testa: Researching the revival of religiosity ****************************************************************************************** * Alessandro Testa on the revival of religiosity and life in Prague ****************************************************************************************** Italian scientist Alessandro Testa has already written four book-length monographs. The wo different topics, such as on the relationship between ancient myths and modern mythology, and the history of religions. In addition, the scientist is an active editor and also the in renowned journals such as Folklore, Method and Theory in the Study of Religion, and Soc Testa’s erudition, diligence and ideas have now been awarded with a prestigious ERC CZ Sta which is the Czech version of support from the European Research Council (ERC) for outstan Although Testa got high marks from the committee in Brussels, there wasn’t enough funding demanding competition to secure his project. Testa’s research project, called “The Re-Ench Central-Eastern Europe,” received CZK 12 million (around EUR 435 thousand) from the Czech Education for two years, with the obligation to compete again for other international fund the EU’s ERC grant. Charles University won three ERC CZ projects in total; in addition to Testa, the theoretic Zdeněk Dvořák of the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics won one, as did ecologist Marek St Faculty of Science. ERC grants are awarded by the European Research Council from the EU budget. The grants are completely new revolutionary ideas that can significantly influence the given field, push There are five types of ERC grants that can be applied for currently. Starting (for beginn scientists), Synergy (groups of 2-4 researchers) and Proof of Concept (support for the ear ERC CZ grants are awarded by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Repu by the EU due to a lack of funding. “People confuse ERC and ERC CZ quite a lot. The interview before the commission in Brussel ‘executioners’ squad’ of more than 20 experts, who have also read about 10 external opinio carefully considered every word I said, was very stressful and mentally draining,” Testa s although now with a smile – now that he has a rich career and a number of successes behind Teamwork in archives and the field What will his two-year project deal with? “My project examines religious phenomena that ar the countries of so-called Central and Eastern Europe. Put simply: I’ll be interested in r Visegrad countries and eastern Germany. I don’t necessarily deal only with forms of offici such as Christianity, for example, but with various alternative cults and new religious mo to capture a broader picture in comparison with more countries, and how the situation has fall of the communist regimes,” Testa says. His ambition is to capture the reasons and effects that are part of religiosity, but which yet been sufficiently taken into account. As a trained historian, religious scholar and an Testa has extensive experience with revealing the subtler layers of religiosity through hi ethnographic methods. The methods include field research, participant observation, guided research in archives, as well as the collection of other written materials, such as gray l is a wide range of sources. The scientific team plans to purchase software for data analys necessary books and documents. “The key task will be to study and understand the reasons for the return of spirituality o cultural conditions and motivations that made it possible for Central and Eastern Europe t this phenomenon, and to understand the historical and societal factors that underlie this transformation,” Testa says, explaining that he has the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, eastern Germany in his sights. A five-member team will take care of this: in addition to T be an additional three doctoral students from an international selection process and one p likely from a Czech university. “The postdoc will be my right hand,” Testa adds. Although globetrotter has worked at the Faculty of Social Sciences for more than a year, he fell in long ago. A longtime passion for Prague Testa visited the Czech metropolis for the first time in 2002. During his studies and acad he then visited worked in Spain and France (at the Sorbonne), but also went to Estonia, Ic where he worked at various universities. In the meantime, he spent two years as a postdoc of Pardubice (2013 to 2015). Why Pardubice? Testa explains: “That was a bit of a coincidence. A couple of days after my doctorate, I received an offer Bohemia, to Pardubice, and I said to myself, ‘Carpe diem. Try it.’ It’s a nice enough regi to Prague, which I fell in love with,” Testa recalls. He was also enchanted by eastern Eur Tallinn Vienna in the following years. What enriched him the most? “It’s extremely important for researchers, especially at the b careers, to expand their horizons as much as possible. Living and working in different cou me enormously. I learned seven languages – we could have done this interview in Czech as w is more accurate for expressing myself. Absorbing knowledge in different places countries saw have been exposed to various scientific environments, approaches and so on,” Testa say time, he likes to listen to the group Dead Can Dancedifferent kinds of music, and loves li and art. He isn’t the kind of bookworm scientist who lives only in the lablibrary or the a and also plays tennis. He praises Prague and his work at Charles University. “There’s a good ratio between qualit enjoyment, and working infrastructures. I’m very content and satisfied here. Students rate well; I have enough time to write and publish, and I’ve got interesting opportunities for international cooperation. I want to be worthy of this new opportunity here. I also have a in Prague. And of course, the secret reason is the excellent beer. During the months of lo extremely disappointed because I couldn’t go with my friends to the pub!” he laughs, switc Czech. Epidemics as an opportunity for creativity The Covid-19 pandemic hasn’t threatened his project, luckily, or at least so far. Limited devastating for science, but nevertheless, the ERC CZ plan will start within the next few research is planned for the end of the first year. “There’s a pretty safe time cushion. Bu students should come for interviews next semester, so I believe that what President Zeman borders being closed all year – isn’t going to happen,” Testa says. “Fortunately, my family is ok. The region I come from, Molise, is the least affected in th country. “I’m using the current quarantine as a sabbatical and I’m concentrating on writin says. In a couple of months, another book will come out with the Routledge publishing hous Social (Dis)Order: A Cultural History of Popular Carnival in Europe,” which will be the fi historical-anthropological study in English on carnivals in Europe. Another book should be borne from his research on Central Europe. “Let’s hope that a lot o will be created from the ERC CZ project, but in research you always take a risk because yo the research will end. But there will definitely be a book, articles and a conference. In like to get the acquired knowledge to a wider audience – at lectures, events in museums an ambition is to advance knowledge not only among scientists and experts, but also among the Testa▒concludes.▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ Alessandro▒Testa▒(36)▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ An Italian historian and anthropologist working at the Institute of Sociological Studies a studies at universities in Italy (Florence, Rome, Messina). He later worked in Paris (at t anthropology of religion and cultural heritage, and has lectured at a number of universiti