Caterina Agus

Caterina Angela Agus is a cultural anthropologist whose work focuses on the intersections between ritual performance, gender, social inequalities, and rural transformation. She holds a Master’s degree in Cultural Anthropology and Ethnology from the University of Turin, where she studied under the guidance of historian and anthropologist Enrico Comba, focusing her thesis on the ritual bear hunt in Alpine carnivals. She later completed a second Master’s degree in Museum Anthropology and Art at the University of Milan-Bicocca, and a third Master’s degree in Social Project Management at the University of International Studies of Rome (UNINT).

Her academic and professional work is grounded in a transdisciplinary approach that bridges folklore, visual cultures, environmental anthropology, and gender studies. She explores the performative and symbolic roles of masks in European popular carnivals, the dynamics of multispecies relationships in the Anthropocene, and the cultural construction of gender roles. A significant part of her work is dedicated to gender-based inequalities, violence against women, and the social and cultural dimensions of care and protection systems.

Alongside her research activities, Caterina works in a mother-and-child residential community for women survivors of gender-based violence, where she engages with issues related to protection, empowerment, social inclusion, and the rebuilding of autonomy. This professional experience strongly informs her anthropological perspective, reinforcing her commitment to feminist, intersectional, and trauma-informed approaches.

Caterina is strongly committed to public anthropology and knowledge dissemination. She has delivered lectures and contributed to research initiatives at universities and institutions across Europe, including Turin, Milan, Timisoara, Helsinki, Rovaniemi, Corti, Reading, Troyes, and Zurich. Her work has been published in Italian, English, and French, particularly in the fields of religious studies, folklore, and cultural anthropology.

Between 2021 and 2025, she served as Vice President of Piedmont’s Equal Opportunities Commission, where she promoted an interdisciplinary initiative on the cultural construction of gender roles. She was also a member of the Monitoring Committee of the Piedmont Operational Programme of the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+), contributing to participatory governance and gender equality policies. She has recently been appointed by the Italian Ministry of Labour and Social Policies as Deputy Equality Councillor (Consigliera di Parità supplente) of the Piedmont Region, further strengthening her institutional engagement with gender equality and inclusion.

Within the HiCoMa project, Caterina brings a strong field-based and community-oriented perspective, shaped by years of qualitative research, institutional experience, and grassroots engagement. Her approach to rural and mountain development is rooted in collaborative ethnography, storytelling, and the co-construction of locally grounded development models. She emphasizes the importance of archival research and territorial memory in shaping transformative processes and understands marginal areas not as spaces of deficiency, but as sites of cultural and social potential.

She also addresses contemporary ecological challenges, including climate change and the return of large predators, highlighting how these dynamics are reshaping human–nature relations and calling for governance models that integrate traditional knowledge with contemporary ecological thought.

Caterina is a member of several professional networks and associations, including CREA – Centro Ricerche Etno Antropologiche, CREIS (European Center for Sustainable Development), FIDAPA (International Federation of Business and Professional Women), and Lions Clubs International (LCI). Her contribution to HiCoMa reflects her ongoing commitment to building inclusive, gender-aware, and culturally rooted futures for rural, mountain, and marginalised communities.