Stefano Allievi
Full professor of Sociology at the University of Padua
author and performer
Main Topics:
- Human mobility, immigration in Italy and Europe, old and new emigration
- Demography: scenarios and prospects, structural socio-economic weaknesses in Italy
- Transformations of the cultural and religious landscape, secularisation, pluralism, conversions
- Pluralisation of society, diversity and coexistence, conflict management, cultural mixité
- Construction and transformation of identities, social pluralism, identity boundaries, symbolic conflicts
- Islam in Europe and Italy: evolution, second generations, jihadism and prevention of radicalisation, political use of Islam and Islamophobia, construction of the imaginary, mixed couples and families, conflicts around Islamic symbols (hijab, mosques, etc.), interreligious dialogue
- Transformation of family models, representations of the body, health and death
- Gender identity, queer and transgender issues, LGBTQIA+
- Forms and dynamics of communication, interdisciplinarity, scientific communication and poetic language
He also deals with political change and the analysis of specific territorial characteristics, with particular reference to the North-East of Italy, where he lives and teaches.
He has conducted research on these topics at national and international level, always with a keen eye on the consequences of the processes analyzed in society, the job market, business, social issues and popular culture, with a particular focus on change due to socio-cultural innovation and its consequences.
He also carries out intensive outreach work as a lecturer, author and performer. In addition to his training activities in the institutional, corporate, social, third sector, educational and religious fields, he is a frequent guest at many festivals and cultural events, as well as on radio and television broadcast.
He has also created hybrid and innovative forms of lectures and conference performances, using video material and, in some cases, musicians on stage.
He is constantly committed to the third mission of the university, through the dissemination of research results and, as a public intellectual, discussion in the public arena (as a columnist for various local newspapers and national magazines, and by participating in debates and talk shows), as well as his commitment to training and the preparation of public policies. For many years, he was a columnist for the regional newspapers of the Espresso-Repubblica group (in particular Il Piccolo in Trieste, Il Messaggero Veneto in Udine, Il Mattino in Padua – for which he wrote the blog Appunti dalla crisi italiana (Notes from the Italian crisis) -, La Nuova in Venice, La Tribunain Treviso, Corriere delle Alpi, Il Tirreno in Livorno), and is currently a columnist for Corriere della Sera – Corriere del Veneto and Corriere Imprese Nordest. He has also collaborated with L’Espresso, La Stampa, La Repubblica, Il Riformista, Avvenire, Il Manifesto and L’Altravoce (and magazines such as Il Mulino, Vita e Pensiero, Servitium and Confronti, for which he wrote a regular column for three years).
He is often called upon to intervene in situations of social conflict on cultural and religious issues, which may involve local authorities, private social organizations, businesses, trade unions, schools and religious communities.
Professional Profile:
He has been a professional journalist, social worker and researcher, and is currently full professor of Sociology at the University of Padua.
He was Secretary of the Sociology of Religion section of the Italian Association of Sociology (AIS).
President of the Master’s degree course in Sociology, he subsequently co-designed and directed the interclass Master’s degree course in Culture, Education and Global Society, promoting and designing the current Master’s degree course in Cultural Pluralism, Social Change and Migration, of which he was the first president.
He teaches “General Sociology” in the bachelor’s degree programme in Sociological Sciences and “Social Pluralism and Cultural Conflicts” in the master’s degree programme, as well as in various master’s programmes and advanced courses.
He was director of the Master’s programme on Islam in Europe at the University of Padua and the International Master’s programme in Religion, Politics and Citizenship (in English and Arabic), in collaboration with the Instituto de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores de Granada, and is currently director of the International Master’s programme in Religions, Politics and Global Society, in collaboration with the Université Internationale de Rabat.
He is on the board of the International Doctoral School in Religion, Culture and Public Life in Padua, after having been on the board of the Doctorate in Social Sciences.
He is on the steering committee of several journals, international scientific societies and cultural festivals.
He was a member of the Council for Relations with Italian Islam at the Ministry of the Interior and of the Study Commission on Jihadism and the Prevention of Radicalization at the Presidency of the Council of Ministers.
He is a research project evaluator for the European Research Council, the European Science Foundation, and other international institutions.
He is fluent in English, French, and Spanish and has also given lectures in these languages.
He has over two hundred publications, in various languages, not only European, published in journals or collective volumes, about eight hundred op-ed and newspaper articles, and about forty volumes (written, edited or co-edited), ranging from sociological research to current affairs and poetry.
In addition to his regular public speaking activities, he has written several conference-shows, which he has taken to theatres, festivals, public events, association meetings, corporate conventions, and educational institutions (they can also be – and in some cases have already been – performed in English and French).
- Of Water and Land. Migrations and Other Movements. From Neanderthals to expats, causes and consequences of human mobility. Audiovisual apparatus by Fabrica. Between nomadism and contemporary human mobility, between demographic imbalances and climate change, between goods and people, between culture and biology: a fascinating journey into the world of migration and population movement.
- Starting over. Italy after coronavirus: breaking out of the spiral of underdevelopment. Starting with a reflection on the post-Covid era and its consequences, an honest assessment of Italy’s structural weaknesses, analyzed through five main chapters: demography, immigration, emigration, education and work.
- Jazz Society. The plural society explained through jazz. Human mobility, cultural plurality and social transformation (encounter, confrontation, conflict and dialogue between identities, people, social groups, ideas, ideologies and religions) explained through jazz music, from the great standards of the past to the most contemporary repertoire. With musicians Sergio Marchesini (accordion), David Beltran Soto Chero (guitar), Laura Vigilante (vocals) and Alberto Zuanon (double bass).
- Jazz for Democracy. Words and music to “make” society. Democracy, freedom, encounter, conflict and dialogue between cultures: the keywords of society explained through a reflection on jazz, with original music. With musicians Michel Godard (tuba, serpentone), Francesco D’Auria (drums, percussions), Tino Tracanna (saxophone)
- Displaced. On migration and migrants. A journey in words, music and images about yesterday’s and today’s migrations, through traditional Italian folk songs, original music and contemporary songs. With Erica Boschiero (vocals, guitar), Sergio Marchesini (accordion)
Selected Works:
Main books:
- Diversità e convivenza. Le conseguenze culturali delle migrazioni (Diversity and coexistence. The cultural consequences of migration), Laterza, 2025
- Governare le migrazioni (Governing migration), Laterza, 2023
- Il sesto continente. Le migrazioni tra natura e società, biodiversità e pluralismo culturale (The sixth continent. Migration between nature and society, biodiversity and cultural pluralism), Aboca Edizioni, 2023 (with G. Bernardi and P. Vineis)
- Dizionario del Nordest. Contributi per l’analisi di un immaginario (Dictionary of the Northeast. Contributions to the analysis of an imaginary), Ronzani, 2023
- Torneremo a percorrere le strade del mondo. Breve saggio sull’umanità in movimento (We will travel the roads of the world again. A short essay on humanity on the move), UTET, 2021
- La spirale del sottosviluppo. Perché (così) l’Italia non ce la può fare (The spiral of underdevelopment. Why Italy (as it is) cannot make it), Laterza, 2020
- Immigrazione. Cambiare tutto (Immigration. Changing everything), Rome, Laterza, 2018
- I musulmani nelle società europee. Appartenenze, interazioni, conflitti (Muslims in European societies. Belonging, interactions, conflicts), (eds. S. Allievi, R. Guolo, M.K. Rhazzali), Guerini e associati, 2017
- Conversioni: verso un nuovo modo di credere?. Europa, pluralismo, islam, (Conversions: towards a new way of believing? Europe, pluralism, Islam), Guida Editore, 2017
- Il burkini come metafora. Conflitti simbolici sull’islam in Europa (The burkini as a metaphor. Symbolic conflicts over Islam in Europe), Castelvecchi, 2017
- Producing Islamic Knowledge. Transmission and dissemination in Western Europe (eds. M. Van Bruinessen and S. Allievi), Routledge, 2011 (also translated into Turkish)
- La Guerra delle moschee. L’Europa e la sfida del pluralismo religioso (The War of the Mosques. Europe and the Challenge of Religious Pluralism), Marsilio, 2010
- Mosques of Europe. Why a solution has become a problem (ed. S. Allievi), Alliance Publishing Trust / Network of European foundations, 2010
- I musulmani e la società italiana. Percezioni reciproche, conflitti culturali, trasformazioni sociali (Muslims and Italian society. Mutual perceptions, cultural conflicts, social transformations) (ed. S. Allievi), Franco Angeli, 2009
- Conflicts over Mosques in Europe. Policy issues and trends, Alliance Publishing Trust / Network of European Foundations, 2009
- Islam italiano. Viaggio nella seconda religione del Paese (Italian Islam. Journey into the country’s second religion), Einaudi, 2003 (also translated into Arabic)
- Muslims in the Enlarged Europe (eds. B. Maréchal, S. Allievi, F. Dassetto, J. Nielsen), Brill, 2003
- Muslim Networks and Transnational Communities in and across Europe (eds. S. Allievi and J. Nielsen), Brill, 2003
- Musulmani d’Occidente. Tendenze dell’islam europeo (Muslims in the West. Trends in European Islam), Carocci, 2002 (new edition 2005)
- Il Libro e la Spada. La sfida dei fondamentalismi (The Book and the Sword. The Challenge of Fundamentalisms), Claudiana, 2000 (S. Allievi, D. Bidussa and P. Naso)
- I nuovi musulmani. I convertiti all’islam (The New Muslims. Converts to Islam), Edizioni Lavoro, 1999 (Pozzale Luigi Russo Prize 2000, Feudo di Maida Prize 2000)
- Les convertis à l’islam. Les nouveaux musulmans d’Europe, L’Harmattan, 1998
- L’Occidente di fronte all’Islam (The West Facing Islam), (ed. S. Allievi), Franco Angeli, Milan, 1996, pp.224
- Il ritorno dell’islam. I musulmani in Italia (The Return of Islam. Muslims in Italy), Edizioni Lavoro, 1993, (with F. Dassetto)
- Le parole della Lega. Il movimento politico che vuole un’altra Italia (The Words of the League. The political movement that wants a different Italy), Garzanti, 1992
Associated Partner
Associated Partner
