>Ser Amantio di Nicolao at 04:33, 16 June 2021

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{{short description|Italian anthropologist and dravidologist}}
{{Infobox academic
| name = Gabriella Eichinger Ferro-Luzzi
| birth_date = 1931<ref name="L'UFR"/>
| birth_place = Germany<ref name="L'UFR"/>
| citizenship = Italy<ref>{{cite book |first1=Jeffrey A. |last1=McNeely |first2=Paul Spencer |last2=Sochaczewski |author2-link=Paul Spencer Sochaczewski |edition=illustrated, reprint, revised |title=Soul of the Tiger: Searching for Nature's Answers in Southeast Asia |year=1995 |page=73 |publisher=[[University of Hawaii Press]] |place=Honolulu, USA |isbn=978-0824816698 |lccn=94045557 |oclc=299810414 |quote=Italian anthropologist Gabriella Eichinger Ferro-Luzzi points out that the snake in India has ambivalent male/female associations.}}</ref>
| occupation = {{br separated entries|Anthropologist|Dravidologist}}
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| education = [[Doctor of Philosophy]]
| alma_mater = [[University of Rome Tor Vergata|University of Rome]] (Ph.D.)
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| discipline = {{br separated entries|Anthropology|Dravidology}}
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| workplaces = Professor emerita of [[Asian Studies]], [[Istituto Universitario Orientale]]
| main_interests = [[Tamil studies]]
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}}

'''Gabriella Eichinger Ferro-Luzzi''' is an Italian [[anthropologist]] and [[dravidologist]] who has done [[Field research|field studies]] in India, mainly in the [[Tamil Nadu]] state.

Born in 1931 in Germany, she studied modern languages at the [[University of Mainz]] and did a Ph.D. at the [[University of Rome Tor Vergata|University of Rome]] in 1968. Between 1985 to 1991, she worked briefly at the [[University of Venice]], [[University of Bologna]], and University of Rome. She taught Tamil language and literature at the [[University of Naples "L'Orientale"]] and also worked as a professor of [[Asian Studies]] at the university.

==Education==
Ferro-Luzzi did a Diploma in Modern Languages at the University of Mainz in Germany in 1954.<ref name="GEF-L1">{{cite journal |first=Gabriella Eichinger |last=Ferro-Luzzi |journal=Anthropos |volume=76 |issue=5./6 |year=1981 |pages=707–742 |publisher=Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH |title=Abhiṣeka, the Indian Rite That Defies Definition |jstor=40460388 |jstor-access=free}}</ref> In 1968, she completed her Ph.D. in geography at the University of Rome in Italy with a doctoral thesis in anthropology.<ref name="L'UFR"/>

==Academic career and research==
Ferro-Luzzi is a dravidologist.<ref name="LSR"/> Since 1971, she has traveled several times to India, mostly to Tamil Nadu, to execute field studies.<ref name="LSR">{{cite book |author=Lā. Ca Rāmāmirutam |author-link=La Sa Ra |translator=Padma Narayanan |title=The Stone Laughs: Atonement : Two Novellas |chapter=Bio Notes |year=2005 |publisher=Katha |place=New Delhi |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uWKHUWHTabAC&q=Gabriella+Eichinger+Ferro-Luzzi |isbn=978-8187649724 |lccn=2006554585 |oclc=608125436 |quote=Dr Gabriella Eichinger Ferro-Luzzi is a renowned Dravidologist. She was born in Germany and studied European languages at the University of Mainz. Her doctorate in the field of Anthropology is from the University of Rome. She has had repeated periods of fieldwork in India since 1971, especially in Tamil Nadu.}}</ref>

Her research studies have been focused on the study of the culture of Hindus as viewed through the lens of Tamil literature; the [[Hindu mythology|mythologies]] and [[Hindu rituals|rituals]] of Hindus; and the "culture-specific and culture-free attitudes towards food, purity and pollution".<ref name="GEF-L1"/> According to Heinz Scheifinger, she is of the view that Hinduism shows "unity within diversity".<ref>{{Cite thesis |type=PhD |first=Heinz |last=Scheifinger |date=September 2006 |page=15 |publisher=Department of Sociology, [[University of Warwick]] |place=Warwickshire, England |title=Hinduism and the Internet: a Sociological Study |url=http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/59423/ |accessdate=August 3, 2020 |quote=Eichinger Ferro-Luzzi, on the other hand, argues that Hinduism displays unity within diversity.}}</ref>

She worked as a teacher in Italy at the University of Venice, University of Bologna, and University of Rome between 1985 and 1991.<ref name="L'UFR"/> She had taught the Tamil language at the Institute of Linguistics of University of Rome.<ref name="GEF-L1"/> She worked at the University of Naples "L'Orientale" in Italy as an associate professor of Tamil language and literature from 1992–93 to 2000–01.<ref name="L'UFR">{{cite web |title=List of participants |website=Department of Linguistics, [[University of Paris (2019)|University of Paris]] |url=http://www.linguist.univ-paris-diderot.fr/~chevilla/FestSchrift/selfd_8.pdf |accessdate=August 3, 2020}}</ref> She also served as a professor at the department of Asian Studies of the university.<ref>{{cite book |title=Annali |trans-title=Annals |volume=56 |series=Pubblicazioni dell'Istituto universitario orientale di Napoli |year=1996 |page=225 |author1=Dipartimento di studi asiatici, Istituto universitario orientale |author2=Dipartimento di studi e ricerche su Africa e Paesi Arabi, Istituto universitario orientale |author3=Seminario di studi africani, Istituto universitario orientale |publisher=Edizione universitarie |place=Naples, Italy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S9piAAAAMAAJ&q=Istituto+Universitario+Orientale+%28Dipartimento+di+Studi+Asiatici%29+Professor+Gabriella+Eichinger |quote=This and the following legends have been transcribed and translated for me by my colleague in the Istituto Universitario Orientale (Dipartimento di Studi Asiatici) Professor Gabriella Eichinger Ferro-Luzzi, whom I thank.}}</ref> She is retired.<ref name="L'UFR"/>

===''Naivedyam''===
According to Peter Berger, in Ferro-Luzzi's view, the ''[[Naivedyam]]'' to gods should be "understood as acts of communication and function like linguistic elements, that is, through opposition, combination, and redundancy".<ref>{{cite book |title=Feeding, Sharing, and Devouring Ritual and Society in Highland Odisha, India |series=Religion and Society, Volume 59 |section=Food and Society |date=17 February 2015 |publisher=[[Walter de Gruyter]] |place=Boston, USA |first=Peter |last=Berger |translator-first=Jennifer R. |translator-last=Ottman |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sfReCAAAQBAJ&q=%22Food%20offerings%20(naivedya)%20to%20the%20gods%22 |isbn=978-1614519751 |lccn=2014031455 |oclc=908079627}}</ref>

==Written work==
Ferro-Luzzi's ''The Maze of Fantasy in Tamil Folktales (2002)'' was reviewed by Ülo Valk,<ref name="UV">{{cite journal |first=Ülo |last=Valk |editor1-first=Peter |editor1-last=Knecht |editor2-first=Benjamin |editor2-last=Dorman |editor3-first=Hashimoto |editor3-last=Hiroyuki |editor4-first=Scott |editor4-last=Schnell |journal=[[Asian Folklore Studies]] |volume=62 |issue=2, ''Topics in Japanese Folklore Studies'' |year=2003 |pages=352–354 |publisher=Anthropological Institute, [[Nanzan University]] |place=Japan |title=Reviewed Work: The Maze of Fantasy in Tamil Folktales by Eichinger Ferro-Luzzi Gabriella |jstor=30030304 |jstor-access=free}}</ref> Sascha Ebeling,<ref name="SE">{{cite journal |first=Sascha |last=Ebeling |journal=[[Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft]] |volume=155 |issue=2 |year=2005 |pages=673–674 |publisher=Harrassowitz Verlag |title=Reviewed Work: The Maze of Fantasy in Tamil Folktales by Gabriella Eichinger Ferro-Luzzi |jstor=43382150 |jstor-access=free |issn=0341-0137}}</ref> and Herman Tieken.<ref name="HT"/> Her work was a monographic research on the "Tamil folklore in the Pan-Indian context" and was built on around 50 published collections of Tamil folktales. Valk stated that she provided "several valuable observations" on "dyadic patterns in Tamil folktales, their didactic function and inter-generic connections with songs and proverbs, and conceptualization of the corpus of tales as a polythetic network". Valk suggested that though she was "careful about providing the exact references to the original publications", she did not focus much on "source criticism". She examined a few theories of folktale research and Valk was of the view that her criticism of the contemporary theories was "relatively thin" in comparison to the analytical studies by scholars like [[Bengt Holbek]] and [[Max Lüthi]]. According to Valk, in future, her research would "probably" be used as a tool for classifying the tales from India which was initiated by Heda Jason, Jonas Balys, [[Stith Thompson]], and Warren E. Roberts.<ref name="UV"/>

Ebeling stated that Ferro-Luzzi's research provided a description of "whether and how a particular theme is treated in a Tamil folktale" and also investigated "the interplay of Indian and Western motifs within folktales or motifs which recur in otherwise unconnected tales". According to Ebeling, she criticized the common "tale type approach" and laid stress on the "need to focus on motifs rather than tale types" in an analytical study of folktales. According to Ebeling, her suggested approach for the folktales studies is of assistance in "comparative and [[cross-cultural studies]]" of the folktales.<ref name="SE"/> Tieken of Leiden's Kern Institute stated that she drew the book's whole material "from existing collections of folktales mainly in Tamil" and she did not "deal with these collections as a phenomenon in itself". He saw her work as translation of excerpts from ''[[Hitopadesha]]'' in Tamil language, and according to Tieken, the efficacy of her work "for folktale studies is limited".<ref name="HT">{{cite journal |first=Herman |last=Tieken |editor1-first=Oskar |editor1-last=von Hinüber |editor2-first=H. T. |editor2-last=Bakker |editor3-first=Stephanie W. |editor3-last=Jamison |editor4-first=Michael |editor4-last=Witzel |editor5-first=A. |editor5-last=Yuyama |editor1-link=Oskar von Hinüber |editor2-link=Hans T. Bakker |editor3-link=Stephanie W. Jamison |editor4-link=Michael Witzel |display-editors=4 |journal=Indo-Iranian Journal |volume=47 |issue=1 |year=2004 |pages=68–69 |publisher=[[Brill Publishers|Brill]] |title=Reviewed Work: The Maze of Fantasy in Tamil Folk Tales by Gabriella Eichinger Ferro-Luzzi |doi=10.1023/B:INDO.0000024463.97905.35 |jstor=24663586 |jstor-access=free |s2cid=162265044 |issn=0019-7246}}</ref>

Ferro-Luzzi's coauthored ''The Taste of Laughter: Aspects of Tamil Humour (1992)'' was reviewed by [[Jawaharlal Nehru University]]'s Sadhana Naithani<ref name="SN"/> and [[Tamil University]]'s Aru Ramanathan and N. Palani.<ref name="RP">{{cite web |first1=Aru |last1=Ramanathan |first2=N. |last2=Palani |title=Review of: Gabriella Eichinger Ferro-Luzzi, Glimpses of the Indian village in anthropology and literature |website=[[National Diet Library]] |place=Japan |url=https://dl.ndl.go.jp/view/download/digidepo_10209676_po_488.pdf?contentNo=1&alternativeNo= |accessdate=August 15, 2020}}</ref> Ramanathan and Palani stated that she explored "multifarious facets" of a village in Tamil Nadu from the aspects of anthropology and literature. She threw light on the village's "cross-cultural and culturally specific" aspects in relation to [[Ki. Rajanarayanan]]'s works. According to Ramanathan and Palani, she provided insights on "the attitudes of the people toward land, tradition, animals and fellow beings, as well as the ignorance, skepticism, and pragmatism among the people" and was of the view that the people of India "seem to compartmentalize contradictory ideas".<ref name="RP"/> Naithani stated that her work was "largely descriptive, with few insights into the aspects of Tamil humor".<ref name="SN">{{cite journal |journal=[[Asian Folklore Studies]] |volume=57 |issue=1 |first=Sadhana |last=Naithani |title=Review of: Gabriella Eichinger Ferro-Luzzi, The Taste of Laughter: Aspects of Tamil Humour |url=https://asianethnology.org/downloads/ae/pdf/a1235.pdf |accessdate=August 15, 2020}}</ref>

According to [[Laura E. Little]], Ferro-Luzzi stressed that though incongruity appears very often in humor, it's not a requisite for humor. Little stated that her work presented the "most prominent challenge to incongruity's essential role in the humor process" and "humor scholars" take it "very seriously", however, they note that her research was "insufficiently theorized and insufficiently supported by examples". For example, [[Elliott Oring]] stated that her anatomization of jokes was "incomplete" and the examples provided by her were "questionable".<ref>{{cite web |website=[[University of Southern California]] |title=Just a Joke: Defamatory Humor and Incongruity's Promise |page=106 |first=Laura E. |last=Little |url=https://clhc.usc.edu/why/students/orgs/ilj/assets/docs/21-1%20Little.pdf |place=Los Angeles, California}}</ref>

==Works==
===Books===
Some of the books authored by Ferro-Luzzi are as follows:

*{{cite book |first=G. E. |last=Ferro-Luzzi |title=The Maze of Fantasy in Tamil Folktales |year=2002 |publisher=[[Otto Harrassowitz Verlag]] |place=Wiesbaden, Germany |isbn=978-3447045681 |lccn=2002505105 |oclc=491172336}}
*{{cite book |first=G. E. |last=Ferro-Luzzi |title=The Smell of the Earth: Rajanarayanan's Literary Description of Tamil Village Life |year=1996 |publisher=[[Istituto Universitario Orientale]] |place=Naples, Italy |lccn=97202004 |oclc=470147668}}
*{{cite book |first=G. E. |last=Ferro-Luzzi |title=The "Incomprehensible" Writer: Tamil Culture in Ramamirtham's Work and Worldview |year=1995 |publisher=Otto Harrassowitz Verlag |place=Wiesbaden, Germany |isbn=978-3447036771 |lccn=96178862 |oclc=468158527}}
*{{cite book |first=G. E. |last=Ferro-Luzzi |title=The Self-milking Cow and the Bleeding Liṅgam: Criss-cross of Motifs in Indian Temple Legends |year=1987 |publisher=Otto Harrassowitz Verlag |place=Wiesbaden, Germany |isbn=978-3447027342 |lccn=88130932 |oclc=952960768 |doi=10.1017/S0041977X0003487X}}

===Selected papers===
*{{cite journal |first1=G. E. |last1=Ferro-Luzzi |first2=Frederick J. |last2=Simoons |first3=S. M. |last3=Batra |first4=A. K. |last4=Chakravarti |first5=Paul |last5=Diener |first6=Marvin |last6=Harris |first7=Alan |last7=Heston |first8=Robert |last8=Hoffpauir |first9=Deryck O. |last9=Lodrick |first10=S. L. |last10=Malik |first11=Wolfgang E. |last11=Mey |first12=S. N. |last12=Mishra |first13=Stewart |last13=Odend'hal |first14=Richard P. |last14=Palmieri |first15=David |last15=Pimentel |first16=Eugene E. |last16=Robkin |first17=Calvin W. |last17=Schwabe |first18=Joseph E. |last18=Schwartzberg |first19=M. |last19=Suryanarayana |first20=P. L. |last20=Wagner |display-authors=4 |journal=[[Current Anthropology]] |volume=20 |issue=3 |date=September 1979 |pages=467–493 |publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]] |title=Questions in the Sacred–Cow Controversy [and Comments and Reply] |doi=10.1086/202319 |jstor=2742106 |jstor-access=free |s2cid=155439775 }}
*{{cite journal |first=G. E. |last=Ferro-Luzzi |journal=Current Anthropology |volume=18 |issue=3 |date=September 1977 |pages=507–514 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |title=Ritual as Language: The Case of South Indian Food Offerings |doi=10.1086/201930 |jstor=2741405 |jstor-access=free |s2cid=144174632 }}
*{{cite journal |first=G. E. |last=Ferro-Luzzi |journal=Ecology of Food and Nutrition |volume=2 |issue=4 |orig-year=Composed 1972 |date=1973 |pages=259–266 |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]] |title=Food Avoidances of Pregnant Women in Tamilnad |doi=10.1080/03670244.1973.9990346 |s2cid=71004517}}
*{{cite conference |url=https://www.tib.eu/en/search/id/BLCP%3ACN036482473/The-polythetic-prototype-approach-to-Hinduism/ |title=The Polythetic–Prototype Approach to Hinduism |first=G. E. |last=Ferro-Luzzi |date=1997 |orig-year=Composed 1986 |conference=European Conference of Modern South Asian Studies |editor1-first=Günther-Dietz |editor1-last=Sontheimer |editor2-first=Hermann |editor2-last=Kulke |editor2-link=Hermann Kulke |edition=2nd, revised |book-title=Hinduism Reconsidered, Volume 3 |series=South Asian Studies, No. 24 |type=Papers presented at 9th European Conference of Modern South Asian Studies, [[Heidelberg]], 1986 |publisher=Manohar |publication-place=New Delhi, India |location=Wilhelmsfeld, Germany |pages=294–304 |isbn=978-8173041983 |lccn=97914295 |oclc=1179507103 |via=[[Leibniz Association|Leibniz Information Centre]]}}
*{{cite journal |first=G. E. |last=Ferro-Luzzi |journal=Anthropos |volume=72 |issue=3/4 |pages=529–556 |year=1977 |publisher=[[:de:Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH|Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH]] |title=The Logic of South Indian Food Offerings |jstor=40459138 |jstor-access=free}}
*{{cite journal |first=G. E. |last=Ferro-Luzzi |journal=Ecology of Food and Nutrition |volume=3 |issue=1 |orig-year=Composed 1972 |date=1974 |pages=7–11 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |title=Food Avoidances During the Puerperium and Lactation in Tamilnad |doi=10.1080/03670244.1974.9990355}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ferro-Luzzi, Gabriella Eichinger}}
[[Category:1931 births]]
[[Category:Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz alumni]]
[[Category:University of Rome Tor Vergata alumni]]
[[Category:Ca' Foscari University of Venice faculty]]
[[Category:University of Bologna faculty]]
[[Category:University of Rome Tor Vergata faculty]]
[[Category:Università degli Studi di Napoli "L'Orientale" faculty]]
[[Category:Italian women anthropologists]]
[[Category:21st-century anthropologists]]
[[Category:Italian women academics]]
[[Category:Anthropology writers]]
[[Category:Humor researchers]]
[[Category:Tamil scholars of non-Tamil background]]
[[Category:21st-century Italian educators]]
[[Category:Asian studies]]
[[Category:21st-century Italian women]]
[[Category:Living people]]

Gabriella Eichinger Ferro-Luzzi - Revision history

>Ser Amantio di Nicolao at 04:33, 16 June 2021