Women's Studies, School of Social Justice

In this article I explore how feminist postcolonial theories
can help us to illuminate both the challenges and
possibilities of instigating and maintaining a project
founded on the notion of international feminist solidarity.
Starting from their critique of the notion of global
sisterhood, I investigate how different authors, including
Yuval Davis, Brah, Ahmed, and Mohanty, envisage the
possibility of creating a common form of feminist
commitment based on solidarity and dialogue as well as on
the acknowledgement of differences among women. The
article examines how the theory of intersectionality was
used to this aim. Within the framework of difference I
devote specific attention to how the issue of cultural
difference is dealt with by feminist postcolonial authors.
Finally I argue that in any project based on the concept of
international feminist solidarity, there is a need to address
the issue of whiteness, as the unacknowledged ethnicity and
a racial and ethnic dimension of privilege.

Feminist postcolonial authors criticised  the  tendency  of  mainstream western  feminism  to  represent  'third world'  women  as  necessarily  less emancipated than western women and to describe their  cultural practices in an
othering way, without holding their own culture up to the same scrutiny. From this idea stems a paternalistic and patronising attitude that locates western women in a
“position to liberate their less fortunate sisters,  especially  those  in  the  'Third World'”. (hooks, 2000: 45). In light of
these reflections, this article investigates to  what  extent  selected  women's intercultural  associations  in  Italy  have
been able to counter dominant discourses that see migrant women as necessarily needy  and  deprived  or  as  a
sign  of  cultural  difference.  The  research confronts  the  associations'  mission statements  with  the  practices  and
relationships  that  emerged  from  the interviews.  It  focuses  first  on  power sharing within the associations and the relevance of patronizing attitudes on the part of Italian-
born women. Secondly the article  explores  how  associations  addressed  the  notion  of  cultural difference  by  focusing  on  the  specific issues of Islamic veiling practices  and female  genital  mutilations.  Finally  it
investigates the possible value of cross-cultural  comparisons  on  practices detrimental to women in the promotion of intercultural feminist practice.

Drawing on fieldwork carried out in 2012-2013, this article explores the dynamics of identity and otherness within selected women’s intercultural associations in Italy in the light of the following issue: how to acknowledge differences among women - based primarily on ‘race’, ethnicity, legal status/citizenship, class and age - whilst maintaining a common political project. This article focuses on the contexts which facilitate the formation of such a project by promoting the contesting of rigid categorisation of women on grounds of nationality or culture. It first focuses on what is referred to as “a starting point a bit displaced”, secondly on the desire to move beyond divisions on nationality grounds and thirdly on the concept of hybridity as a bridge between women. At the same time, the article confronts those issues that might conceal power differentials among women and argues in favour of a notion of feminist reflexive solidarity.

«La neutralità non esiste», sostiene Laura Corradi, docente in Studi di genere e metodo intersezionale presso l’Università della Calabria: per questo nel lavoro sociale è necessario tenere conto delle differenze fondate sul genere, ma anche sulla classe, “razza”/etnia, orientamento sessuale, religione, età, cultura. Fondamentale è quindi che i percorsi formativi in ambito sociale adottino un’ottica di genere e un approccio intersezionale. Il tenere in considerazione come la differenza di genere si interseca con le altre differenze fornisce infatti la possibilità di meglio comprendere e operare sulle situazioni sociali complesse che caratterizzano le società contemporanee.

La prof.ssa Marie Rose Moro è considerata l’attuale leader
dell’etnopsicanalisi e della psichiatria transculturale in Francia.
Il suo lavoro mostra l’importanza di una pratica psicoanalitica che
includa diverse rappresentazioni del mondo e del sapere per meglio
curare e supportare. A partire dal suo lavoro con bambini, adolescenti
e famiglie, in particolare quelle migranti, ha sottolineato come «tutti
i figli di domani saranno meticci» rovesciando così la prospettiva che
vede i figli dei migranti come una diversità problematica e prendendoli
a simbolo di una ipermodernità e prefigurazione di un futuro che
riguarderà le nostre società nel loro complesso. «Il métissage appartiene
a tutti», sostiene Moro evidenziando come la clinica transculturale offra
strumenti e predisponga a una particolare sensibilità per accogliere
tutte le diverse forme familiari che caratterizzano la modernità.

Drawing from an exploratory study carried out in Italy, this article analyses the phenomenon of Goddess spirituality, based on the re-interpretation or recreation of spiritu-ality centered on the worship of female divinities. The article first analyses the main drivers for the insurgence of the Goddess movement in relation to feminist theology and to archaeological and anthropologic studies. Second, it contextualises Goddess spiritual-ity in relation to second wave feminism. Third, it presents the results of the study by asking to what extent these experiences can lead to women's empowerment or whether they risk essentialising women around the concepts of care and maternity. The translation of these spiritual experiences into the political and social sphere is also explored.

Migration, Masculinities and Reproductive Labour by Ester Gallo and Francesca Scrinzi sheds light on a phenomenon which is very little investigated in the literature on gender and migration, namely the involvement of migrant men in the field of domestic and care work.
The book is based on extensive ethnographic research carried out by the two authors over a period of 16 years (from 1996-2012) in four Italian cities (Milan, Genoa, Rome, and Perugia) involving a total of 250 interviews with male and female informants as well as
participant observation in significant contexts.

This article reflects on the process of the Multi-Country Study on the Drivers of Violence Affecting Children in Italy. We first provide an overview of how we worked with the data sets available and reflect on the gaps in the data collection which emerged from the research process. Next, we highlight the understanding of violence from a socioecological perspective by examining the role of structural and institutional level drivers. Finally, we reflect on how the Drivers Study influenced the institutional process of decision-making about policies on violence affecting children as well as the consequences of entering in international networks.

Il testo presenta un’analisi dell’esperienza delle associazioni interculturali di donne in Italia alla luce della critica al concetto di “sorellanza globale” operata dal femminismo postcoloniale. Attraverso un’analisi delle dinamiche di identità e alterità presenti nelle associazioni, delle pratiche considerate simbolo di diversità culturale e del lavoro domestico e di cura, il volume affronta il tema della costruzione di percorsi comuni tra donne posizionate in maniera diseguale, nella direzione di un femminismo interculturale fondato su un concetto di solidarietà femminista riflessiva.