Anne-Lise Tropato
Adjunct Assistant Professor
Affiliation: NYU Abu Dhabi
Education: BAs University of Toulouse II; MA University of Toulouse II; PhD University of Rome II
Research Areas: Art history; cultural history; cross-cultural heritage studies; human-animal studies; gender studies; cultural ecology; museum and collection practices
Anne-Lise Tropato is an art historian whose research focuses on cross-cultural exchanges, exploring how artistic practices and ideas move across borders and shape diverse cultural contexts. Her research combines visual analysis with cultural theory and human-animal studies, offering new insights into the interactions between art, cultural identity, and inter-species relationships.
Over the past decade, her work has redefined the traditional understanding of falconry, a UNESCO World Heritage, highlighting its role as a profound cultural force shaping global norms, values, and practices. Her scholarship has gained recognition from media outlets like the BBC, The National, and Gulf News for positioning the cultural history of falconry as an academic framework for understanding modern societies.
She co-edited a two-volume book on falconry’s global visual history, featuring a foreword by H.H. Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan and contributions from 50 global experts. In 2022, she became lead curator of the Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Museum of International Falconry in Brussels, emphasizing cultural ties between the Arab and Western worlds.
She has experience in advising Abu Dhabi Governmental Conservation and Heritage Funds and NGOs, with projects supported by the Ministry of Culture of Italy, UNESCO, and the Council of Europe.