1999–2006 Laurea (Graduation, BA+MA) in Sanskrit Language and Literature, Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Rome “La Sapienza”, Italy. Thesis title: “The Expressive Use of Hand-gestures in Indian Classical Theatre”

2006-2010 PhD in Asian Studies, University of Rome “La Sapienza”, Italy. Thesis title: “Theatre and its Other. The Irresistible Alterity of Dance in Abhinavagupta’s Theory of Drama. A Study, Annotated Translation and Edition of Selected Portions from the Fourth Chapter of Abhinavagupta’s Abhinavabhāratī”

2011-2013 Postdoc Researcher, École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE), Section of religious sciences, Paris, France.
Project: “Theatre and ritual in Abhinavagupta’s Abhinavabhāratī”

2013-2014 J. Gonda Postdoc Fellow, International Institute for Asian Studies/ Kern Institute, Leiden, Holland.
Project: “Tracing the transmission of the dance portion of the Abhinavabhāratī.”

2014 Research Associate, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
Project: “The intellectual and religious traditions of South Asia as seen through the Sanskrit manuscript collections of the University Library, Cambridge”.
Project Coordinator: Dr. V. Vergiani.

2014-2016 Postdoc Researcher, URPP Asia and Europe, University of Zurich, Switzerland.

Project: "The Place of the Performing Arts in Indian Religions: Abhinavagupta's 'Soteriology of Art' and Its Contexts".

2017 Fellow researcher in Indology with a FAN (Fonds zur Förderung des akademischen Nachwuchses) grant from ZUNIV (Zürcher Universitätsverein), Institute of Asian and Oriental Studies, University of Zurich, Switzerland.

2018 Researcher (Akademische Mitarbeiterin), Institute of Asian and Oriental Studies, University of Zurich, Switzerland.

2018-2021 SNSF-Project "Performing Arts and Religious Practices in classical and medieval Sanskrit literature", Project Leader: Prof. Angelika Malinar.

2022-2023 Candoc/Postdoc "Performing Arts and Religious Practices in classical and medieval Sanskrit literature".

from 2023 LMU Munich, Lecturer for Sanskrit

The Place of the Performing Arts in Indian Religions: Abhinavagupta’s “Soteriology of Art” and Its Contexts

Sanskrit-Literatur (insbesondere Drama and Ästhetik), Geschichte des indischen Theaters, Geschichte des religiösen Denkens in Indien (besonders Shivaismus)

Books

Ganser, E. (2022) Theatre and its Other: Abhinavagupta on Dance and Dramatic Acting. Gonda Indological Studies Series 23, Leiden: Brill. ISBN: 978-90-04-46705-7/ 978-90-04-44981-7. DOI: 10.1163/9789004467057.

Articles in peer-reviewed journals

Ganser, E. (forthcoming a) “Dance as Yoga: Ritual Offering and Imitatio Dei in the Physical Practices of Classical Indian Theatre”, in D. Bevilacqua & M. Singleton (eds.), Yoga and the Traditional Physical Practices of India: Influence, Entanglement and Confrontation, Journal of Yoga Studies.

Cuneo D., Ganser E. (2022) “Gracefully Twisting the Neck: Literary Commentaries as a (Meta-)Genre of Scholarly Discourse” Introduction to the Volume Literary Commentaries and the Intellectual Life of South Asia (eds. D. Cuneo & E. Ganser), Asiatische Studien/Etudes Asiatiques.

Ganser, E. (2020), “Incomplete Mimesis, or When Indian Dance Started to Narrate Stories”, Asiatische Studien/Etudes Asiatiques 74.2: 349–386.

Ganser, E. (2018). “Theatrical and Ritual Boundaries in South Asia: Afterword”, Cracow Indological Studies 20.1: iii-xix.

Ganser, E. (2017). “Theatrical and Ritual Boundaries in South Asia: An Introductory Essay”, Cracow Indological Studies 19.1: vii-xxiv.

Ganser, E. & D. Cuneo (2012). “The Actor’s Social Status and Agency. Fame or Misery?”, Cracow Indological Studies 14: 87-132.

Ganser E. (2011). “Thinking Dance Literature from Bharata to Bharatanatyam”, Rivista degli Studi Orientali 84: 145-161.

Ganser E. (2007). “The Spectacular Dimension of Emotion in Indian Theatre”, Rivista degli Studi Orientali 80: 63-79.

Book Chapters

Cuneo D. & Ganser, E. (2022a) “The Emotional and Aesthetic Experience of the Actor: Diderot’s Paradoxe sur le comédien in Sanskrit dramaturgy”, in F. Sferra & V. Vergiani (eds.), Verità e bellezza. Essays in honour of Prof. Raffaele Torella, Napoli: Università di Napoli ‘L’Orientale’: 193-272.

Cuneo D. & Ganser, E. (2022b) “Thespian Musings beyond Abhinavagupta: The Emotional and Aesthetic Experience of the Actor II”, in R. Torella (ed.), Italian Scholars on India. Vol. I. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass: 137-187.

Ganser, E. (2021) “From Text to Performance: On Multilingual Practices of South Indian Dance”, in Ciotti, G. & E. McCann (eds.) Linguistic and Textual Aspects of Multilingualism in South India and Sri Lanka. Collection Indologie. Pondicherry: IFP-EFEO: 509–550.

Ganser, E. (2020) “Oltre la scena: la musica indiana tra rito e teatro nel Nāṭyaśāstra e dintorni”, in Albanese, A & M. Arpaia (eds.), Linguaggi, esperienze e tracce sonore sulla scena, Longo Editore: Ravenna: 211-223.

Ganser, E. (2018) “Ananda K. Coomarswamy’s Mirror of Gesture and the Debate about Indian Art in the Early 20th Century”, in A. Malinar & S. Müller (eds.), Asia and Europe – Interconnected: Agents, Concepts, and Things, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz: 91-129.

Ganser, E. (2016) “Elements of Ritual Speculation in the Abhinavabhāratī: Abhinavagupta on the Visible and Invisible Purposes of the Pūrvaraṅga” in E. Franco & I. Ratié (eds.) Around Abhinavagupta. Aspects of Intellectual History of Kashmir from the 9th to the 11th Centuries (Leipziger Studien zu Kultur und Geschichte Süd- und Zentralasiens), Berlin: Lit, 189-230.

Ganser, E. (2013) “Trajectories of Dance on the Surface of Theatrical Meaning: A Contribution to the Theory of Rasa from the Fourth Chapter of the Abhinavabhāratī”, in N. Mirnig, P.-D. Szántó & M. Williams (eds.) Puṣpikā: Tracing Ancient India Through Texts and Traditions. Contributions to Current Research in Indology, Volume I, Oxford: Oxbow Books, 173-202.

Ganser, E. (2012) “Fenomenologia della figura umana nelle arti dell’India”, in L. Giuliano (ed.) Ajanta e oltre: la pittura murale in India e in Asia centrale, Museo d’arte Orientale ‘Giuseppe Tucci’: Rome, 15-30.

Edited volumes

Cuneo, D. Ganser, E. (2022). Literary Commentaries and the Intellectual Life of South Asia, Special issue of Asiatische Studien/Études Asiatiques.

Bansat-Boudon, L., Cuneo D., Ganser E. & C. Rajendran, (2019 eds.) Online proceedings of the 17th World Sanskrit Conference, Section on Poetry, Drama and Aesthetics, in wsc.ubcsanskrit.ca/proceedings.

Ganser, E. & E. Dȩbicka-Borek (2018 eds.): Theatrical and Ritual Boundaries in South Asia, Part II, Cracow Indological Studies 20.1.

Ganser, E. & E. Dȩbicka-Borek (2017 eds.): Theatrical and Ritual Boundaries in South Asia, Part I, Cracow Indological Studies 19.1-2.

Other relevant publications

Ganser, E. (2015). "La prière et l'éloge au début du théâtre indien", Annuaire de l'EPHE, Sciences religieuses. Année 2013-2014, Turnhout: Brepols, 7-8. [Review of a lecture delivered in the seminar of Silvia D’Intino (ANHIMA-EPHE) "Indian religions"]

Ganser, E. (2020). 20 Manuscript Records, published in the TST Digital Library (https://tst-project.github.io/mss/).

Ganser, E. (2015). 67 Manuscript Records, published in the Cambridge Digital Library (http://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/collections/sanskrit).