 Michael A. Di Giovine is an anthropologist and former tour operator currently completing his Ph.D. in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Chicago. Working in both Southeast Asia (Cambodia and Vietnam) and Europe (Italy), his research focuses on tourism and pilgrimage, heritage and place-making, development and revitalization movements, historic preservation and museums, and religion and popular piety. He is also a Lecturer in the University of Chicago’s Graham School, where he teaches courses on the landmark texts that have influenced Southeast Asia, including the Rāmāyana, Mahābhārata and Bhagavad Gītā, as well as Western religious and social scientific classics. Possessing nearly a decade of experience with the travel sector, Michael is also a consultant and a Research Fellow for Slover-Linett Strategies, an audience research and planning firm specializing in museums and arts organizations. A dual Italian and United States citizen who has translated numerous scholarly works, Michael is currently conducting ethnographic research in Southern Italy, where he is examining urban and cultural revitalization associated with religious tourism at the birthplace of the newly sainted Padre Pio of Pietrelcina.
Michael earned a B.S. cum laude in Foreign Service from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, and an A.M. in the Social Sciences from the University of Chicago. He is currently a Doctoral Candidate in socio-cultural anthropology in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Chicago. Michael currently serves on the academic board of the Tourism-Contact-Culture Research Network, of which he is a founding member. Michael is a member of Phi Alpha Theta International History Honor Society, Theta Alpha Kappa International Theology and Religious Studies Honor Society, Delta Phi Epsilon Professional Foreign Service Fraternity, The International Commission for Ethnological Food Research, The Society for Humanistic Anthropology, The Society for the Anthropology of Religion, the Society for the Anthropology of Europe, and the American Anthropological Association. |