Dr. Birindelli earned his PhD in Sociology from the University of Florence, and he has been a PhD Visiting Fellow at the University of Texas at Austin and the Institut d’Etudes Politiques (Université de Paris). In 2010, he was awarded the qualification of Researcher in Sociology and Cultural Anthropology from the Italian National Research Council (CNR). By 2013, he became a Docent in Sociology at the University of Helsinki.
His academic excellence has been acknowledged by numerous grants and awards, including a Faculty Development Grant from Gonzaga University in Florence in 2014 and the prestigious Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship (MSCA) in 2016. In 2017, he was nominated as an MSCA fellow of the week and received another grant from the Department of Social Research at the University of Helsinki for his research project "International Student’s Self-Identity Abroad."
Dr. Birindelli's teaching experience spans various academic institutions, such as the University of Florence, Georgetown University, and Kent State University. He is currently an EU Expert in Social Sciences and Humanities for the funding program “HORIZON Europe 2021-2027.” He also contributes to the European Sociological Association as an active member of the research networks “Global, Transnational, and Cosmopolitan Sociology.”
His extensive body of work encompasses articles on individual and collective identity, books on youth and generations, and monographs about narrative identity in late Modernity. Dr. Birindelli employs a multidisciplinary approach in his research, merging Sociology, Social and Cultural Anthropology, Psychology, Communication, and Narrative Studies. His primary research interests range from Individual and Collective Identities to Cultural Globalization and Cosmopolitanism, Education, and Human Development. His current research project is a comparative study titled “The Cultural Experience of International Students.”
For further information, please visit his website and the blog, The Cultural Experience of International Students.
Publications (selection)
Monographs
- (2022) Narrative Identity: A Personal Roadmap. Angeli: Milano.
- (2014) The Passage from Youth to Adulthood: Narrative and Cultural Thresholds. Lenham: UPA (Rowman & Littlefield).
Peer-reviewed Articles and Book Chapters
- (2020) ‘Cultural Experiences in Florence and Italy: The Grand Tour Narrative in the 21st Century’, Società Mutamento Politica, 10(20), 191-205.
- (2019) ‘Collective Identity Inside and Out: Particularism through the Looking Glass’, European Journal of Cultural and Political Sociology, 6:2, 237–260.
- (2021) ‘International Students’ Narrative Imaginaries: Italy, Finland and the Cosmopolitan Elsewhere’. In Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference of the Journal Scuola Democratica “Reinventing Education”, VOL. 2, Learning with New Technologies, Equality and Inclusion: 1115-1126.
- (2020) ‘The Cultural Experience Abroad: Spotlight, Shadow and Illusion’, in Beyond - Studies in International Education, Vol. 3., 39-62. Firenze: Angelo Pontecorboli Editore. ISBN: 9788833840802
- (2018) ‘Double Boundary and Cosmopolitan Experience in Europe’, in Caselli, M. & Gilardoni, G. (Eds.) Globalization, Supranational Dynamics and Local Experiences, 127-148. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.
- (2018) ‘Rites of Passage towards Adulthood and Global Citizenship: Transitions and Liminalities’, in Beyond–Studies in International Education, Vol. 1., 15–45. Firenze: Angelo Pontecorboli Editore.