Role
Associate Professor of History and Institutions of Islamic Countries at the University of Milan
Bio
Biography
She holds a Master's degree in Islamic Studies and a PhD in History from the University of Cambridge. From 1994 to 2001, she worked in Jordan, Italy, and several Asian countries in the field of development cooperation. In 2002, she became a researcher at the University of Milan and began teaching several courses on the history and institutions of the Middle East. Since then, she has taught at other universities and has served as a numerous academic referee and scholarly outreach provider; in 2013, she was a visiting scholar at the University of Cambridge. She recently founded a new online journal with several colleagues and has served on the editorial and editorial boards of several academic journals for years (Rivista italiana di storia internazionale; Afriche & Orienti; Quaderni Asiatici; Storia delle Donne).
Elisa Giunghi pursues four main research lines. The first focuses on the evolution and interpretation of Sharia law in the courts, in Muslim countries and in Europe; the second concerns the border disputes between Afghanistan and Pakistan; the third is the theme of religious authority and its relationship with political power; and the fourth is the transfer of military technology to Afghanistan between the late 19th century and the 1990s. She has written essays and monographs on each of these topics and presented at conferences and seminars.