Keynote speakers:

Annalisa Rosselli, Professor of Economic History at the University of Rome 'Tor Vergata';

Serena Sapegno, Professor of Italian Literature at the University of Rome 'La Sapienza' and one of the founding members of Se non ora quando;

Olivia Guaraldo, Professor of Political Philosophy at the University of Verona.

The conference is supported by the CIRN and the Department of Italian, University of Cambridge. Papers will be in English. All welcome. There is no attendance fee.

Conference Programme:

2.00 Welcome and Introduction. 2.30 Annalisa Rosselli, 'The Impact of the Economic Crisis on Gender Equality in Italy'. 3.30 Serena Sapegno, 'Italian Women in the New Century: a Controversial Modernity'. 4.30 Coffee break 4.45 Olivia Guaraldo, 'Between Foucault and Bagaglino? Italy's Neoliberal Patriarchalism and its Aftermath'. 5.45 Roundtable and Q&A.

In the wake of the global financial crisis, which dramatically conditioned European and thus Italian economic policies, the Italian state witnessed the birth of four governments in seven years (Berlusconi 2008-11; Monti 2011-13; Letta 2013-14; Renzi 2014-date). In these years, the participation of women in the public debate on politics and on the question of gender in Italy reached a degree of visibility comparable only to that of second-wave feminism in the 1970s. Examples of this trend include the wide participation in the protest of February 13, 2011, in response to sexist stereytypes promoted in the years of berlusconismo, that gave birth to the feminist network Se non ora quando; the campaign against feminicide supported by several important national newspapers and other media; and the great publicity given to recent books, documentaries, stage plays, etc. on the social and symbolic violence experienced by women in contemporary Italy. In this heightened general attention towards the problem of the role and the representation of women in institutions, in the media, and in the culture industry, several new models of authoritative and empowered women have been produced, which are also an expression of the changing values promoted by groups operating at these levels. These models are often contradictory among themselves, and represent a challenge to feminist theorists and activists, because of the theoretical and political difficulty of evaluating and assessing their impact on women and on the transformation of the social imaginary. This project aims to create a space for an interdisciplinary debate on the hermeneutic and political questions faced by (Italian) feminism in this important transitional moment.

For additional information, please contact the conference organisers Alessia Ronchetti ( [log in to unmask] ) and Eleonora Carinci ( [log in to unmask] )