Simone Natale

Universität zu Köln

A spectacle of spirits: the American performances of Eusapia Palladino

2013-2014: Fall

Simone Natale completed his Ph.D. at the University of Torino in 2011. His work focuses on issues of media, religion, visual studies, and material culture. He has taught and researched in several university and research centers in Germany, Italy, and Canada, and has been the recipient of fellowships awarded by the Humboldt Foundation, the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service), and the National Museum of Cinema of Turin. His writings have been published in several peer-reviewed journals, including Media History, History of Photography, Early Popular Visual Culture, Celebrity Studies, the Canadian Journal of Communication, and the European Journal of American Culture. He is currently working on a book manuscript titled The Spectacular Supernatural: Spiritualism and the Rise of Modern Show Business, which draws on his Ph.D. dissertation. Applying frameworks and theories from the field of material religion to film and media studies, this book will explore how beliefs in the supernatural interacted with entertainment practices and with the rise of modern show business, from the origins of the spiritualist movement in the middle nineteenth century to the early development of cinema.