Biography

Caterina Guenzi holds a doctorate in Social Anthropology from the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) & University of Siena. Since 2008, she is Associate Professor at the EHESS and member of the Centre for South Asian Studies (CEIAS, Paris).  She has conducted most of her ethnographic research in north India focusing on astrological counselling among middle and upper class urban families. She is currently completing a monography based on her translation of the Karmavipākasaṃhitā, an early modern Sanskrit treatise that provides explanation and treatment for infertility through 108 past life narratives. During her fieldwork in Chandigarh (2021-2022), she will be investigating the plural landscape of assisted reproductive technologies.

Recent Publications:

2021 Words of Destiny. Practicing Astrology in North India, Albany: State University of New York Press (SUNY Series in Hindu Studies). https://www.sunypress.edu/p-7010-words-of-destiny.aspx

2021 (forthcoming), “When useful knowledge is not “Useful Knowledge”: Astrology at universities in Banaras (c. 1800-2000)”, South Asian History and Culture, Special Issue on “Indigenous knowledge and colonial sciences” ed. by Minakshi Menon.

2020 “Le paysage des vies antérieures. Expliquer et traiter les maladies dans l’Inde brahmanique”, Carnets du paysage, « Santé », p. 146-155.

2020 “Le monde de maintenant” (avec G. Delaplace), Editorial, L’Homme 234-235, p. 7-10. https://journals-openedition-org.inshs.bib.cnrs.fr/lhomme/37037

2019 “Par-delà les nuages”, Editorial, L’Homme 231-232, p. 5-8. https://journals-openedition-org.inshs.bib.cnrs.fr/lhomme/35507