Postdoctoral Affiliate
Gabriele Paone is a postdoctoral affiliate in the School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography at the University of Oxford. His research aims to uncover the hidden talents of children living in harsh and unpredictable environments around the world, combining experimental cognitive studies with ethnographic fieldwork. He has conducted extended research in Brazilian favelas dominated by narcotraffickers, high-crime neighbourhoods in southern Italy, Roma communities, and rural areas of Mozambique historically under paramilitary control. In Brazil and Italy, this work has also included the study of community-based martial arts initiatives—Brazilian jiu-jitsu in Rio de Janeiro and judo in Scampia, Naples—as sites for examining children’s wellbeing and adaptation under challenging conditions.
Alongside his academic work, he collaborates with local NGOs and community organisations to translate research insights into culturally grounded educational and support initiatives.
Research interests:
Evolutionary Anthropology; Ethnography; Child Development; Adaptation; Harsh and Unpredictable Environments
Affiliations:
The Social Body Lab within the Centre for the Study of Social Cohesion
Communicating and Expanding Research on Adversity (CERA) Network
Education:
DPhil in Antropology (St John’s College, University of Oxford)
MSc in Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology (St Hugh’s College, University of Oxford)
MA in Cultural Anthropology and Ethnology (Università degli Studi di Bologna, Italy)
MA in African Studies (Högskolan Dalarna, Sweden)
Master in Scientific Analysis of Non-Verbal Behaviour (Laboratorio di Analisi Comportamentale NeurocomScience, Italy)
BA in Intercultural Communication (Università degli Studi di Torino, Italy)
Recent publications:
Paone, G. (2025). Forged in fires: Notes on adaptive intelligence among Roma children in the “Terra dei Fuochi”. BioSocieties, 20, 645–659.
Paone, G., Davis, A. J., & Cohen, E. (2025, preprint). Modality matters: differences in abstract and ecological memory skills in children from high-stress and low-stress environments.
Paone, G. (2025). Review of: Jim Cherrington And Jack Black (Eds.) Sport and Physical Activity in Catastrophic Environments. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge 2023. 320 P. ISBN: 9781032125411. Journal of the Anthropological Society of Oxford, 17, 169–171.
Email: gabriele.paone@anthro.ox.ac.uk
