Appel à communications – New configurations of the Mediterranean: the Role of Women

Call for papers. New Configurations of the Mediterranean: the Role of Women (Laboratorio studi mediterranei, Università della Svizzera italiana, Lugano, 28-29 May 2015)

The Laboratorio studi mediterranei (Università della Svizzera italiana) announces the International Conference titled “New Configurations of the Mediterranean: the Role of Women”, in honour of Vittorio Dan Segre and Luigiterzo Bosca, to be held in Lugano on 28-29 May 2015.

The Mediterranean undergoes continuous transformation. Women, who often represent a powerful driving force of change, contribute in a crucial way to this transformation. Nevertheless, the majority of Mediterranean countries are far from reaching gender equality. Mediterranean countries are still characterized by strong inequalities between women and men at economic, political, education and health levels. Four years after the Arab Spring, the results achieved are not proportioned to the hopes raised during the politic mobilizations in which women participated massively.
Despite the strong desire for emancipation and great efforts, the results vary from country to country, but in general they are not so encouraging.

The new and unstable configurations of the present-day Mediterranean impose the necessity of new maps and new narratives. The recourse to old categories to describing such a variable and unpredictable reality is inadequate both at the theoretical and practical levels.

The principle goals of this conference, designed as a space of dialogue and encounter, are: to promote the emergence from the narratives of new models; individuate points of convergence and future perspectives; give voice to the Women of the Southern and Northern shores of the Mediterranean, facilitate the dialogue between academics, entrepreneurs, journalists, artists, and young and older generations. Given the breadth and complexity of the subject, our aim is to promote interdisciplinary perspectives and methodological approaches.
For these reasons, the conference expects to bring together scholars, experts as well as researchers at every level of their career.

Proposals on these topics are particularly welcome:

– The transformations of the Mediterranean and the new configurations of the Mediterranean after the Arab Spring;
– Women’s conditions after the Arab Spring;
– The Mediterranean economies: the participation of women;
– The cultural productions of Mediterranean women (media, literature, cinema, art);
– Food and Women.
Proposals for 20-minute papers are invited on any aspect concerning the role of Women in the Mediterranean, with without restriction on disciplinary approach.

Languages: The proposals should be delivered in English or French.

We welcome the submission of 250-word abstracts for twenty-minute papers that broadly address the above themes. The proposals should be sent by mail before April 1st 2015, to the following address: federica.frediani@usi.ch.

Key-note speakers:

Dr. Dalia Moghaed, Dalia Mogahed, Mogahed Consulting firm, Washington
Prof. Federica Bicchi, Italian, London Shool of economics, London
Amira Hass, Journalist, Haaretz
Anissa Helou, Chef and Cookbook Author

Contacts

Dr. Federica Frediani, federica.frediani@usi.ch