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italian-studies: Scholarly discussions in any field of Italian studies Italian Department at the University of Kent, 1 June 2010 Critical Approaches to Representations of Gender Violence in Contemporary Italy: An Interdisciplinary Conference Keynote Speaker: Dacia Maraini The Italian feminist movements of the late 1970s and early 1980s raised extremely controversial issues, focusing their attention on women’s reproductive rights as well as violence against women. These efforts profoundly challenged the foundations of a culture traditionally based on the institution of the family, which had already been put at stake with the approval of the divorce bill. If one considers Italy’s deep-rooted Catholic background, such achievements appear particularly meaningful. Yet, although reforms were implemented in order to attain reproductive freedom for Italian women, not much improvement was achieved in the endeavour to fight gender violence. Three decades later, lawful instruments to impede and punish gender violence are noticeably more effective, insofar as legal procedures dealing with gender violence have not merely been improved, but are being put into practice much more rapidly. Nevertheless, as Maria Rosaria La Morgia claims in her preface to Dacia Maraini’s Hurried Steps (2009), the law is not enough, because ‘what we need is an initiative that will involve the whole community. In other parts of the world, women’s associations and institutions, working together, are trying this. In England, Holland, and the United States there have been some interesting experiments. In Italy there is much that we could do, right now.’ And she goes on to assert that ‘we also need the political will to strengthen anti-violence centres as regions like the Abruzzo are doing, with laws to support their efforts.’ With regard to this point, the International Conference on Violence against women (Rome, 9-10 September 2009), an Italian G8 Presidency Initiative, concluded that ‘along with legal protection against all forms of abuse, a radical change in social norms must be encouraged. Including through the key contribution made by Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and civil society, initiatives to disseminate and instill the concept of human rights at the community level should be supported. This is the most effective means of promoting a grass-roots culture of respect and inclusiveness and a rejection of violent behaviour and practices against women, regardless of cultural, religious or traditional beliefs.’ In this battle against genderviolence, ‘the role of men […] is essential’, as well as the obvious importance of mass media: ‘We appeal to the media to perform in full their central role in rejecting degrading social stereotypes.’ It is the aim of this conference to offer an interdisciplinary analysis of representations of gender violence, considering contemporary literature, cinema, theatre, juridical discourse, and mass media. Dacia Maraini, the most widely translated living Italian female writer, will participate in the conference as its keynote speaker. Speakers are invited to address the following topics (this list is not exhaustive): · The role played by media in preventing and/or promoting violence against women; · The impact of fictional and non-fictional literature on the subject, and its effectiveness in raising public awareness; · The importance of visual representations of gender violence for an understanding of gender relations in contemporary Italian society; · The Italian legal system, with specific focus on recent legislation on the subject. · Italian representations and understanding of gender violence (in literature, mass media, cinema) in comparison with other European countries. If interested, please send a 300 word abstract as a DOC file attachment to [log in to unmask] The deadline for submission is 15 May 2010. Alvise Sforza Tarabochia Unviersity of Kent http://blogs.kent.ac.uk/skepsi/ ********************************************************************** To join the list, send the message: join italian-studies YOUR NAME to: [log in to unmask] To send a message to the list, address it to: [log in to unmask] To leave the list, send the message: leave italian-studies to: [log in to unmask] In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to: [log in to unmask] For further information, visit our web site: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/italian-studies.html