He earned his PhD. in Socio-cultural and Political Sciences at University of Amsterdam in 1994, and his M.A. in Cultural Anthropology, Radboud University Nijmegen (1987). He did fieldwork in Italy into localism/campanilismo (Tuscany), popular religion (Molise), and ritual and change (Basilicata). The results of fieldwork and archival research were published in numerous articles and a book South Italian Festivals. A Local Study of Ritual and Change. In the mid 1990s he did field research into Antillean Summer Carnival in the Netherlands, and from 1997-2003 into socio-economic transformation, class formation and citizenship in Wroclaw (Poland). His main interests are historical anthropology, religious change, and political and socio-cultural transformations in Europe and their specific outcomes in local and regional contexts.