Call for Papers

Migrant Women between past and present. The Italian case

The journal «Genesis» calls for papers for a special issue on the theme “women migrants (emigrant/immigrant) in the past and present. The Italian case”.
 

During the last decades the theme of migration has registered in Italy rich and relevant contributions, while also providing a fertile ground for the convergence of different disciplinary approaches. The massive population shifts brought about in recent years by globalization has enriched this field of research  with new problems and issues to be investigated, including those related to the phenomenon of women’s migration.

In spite of an impressive literature on gender and migration on Italian women, women's experiences of displacement and the changes in gender relations that this has  brought about have not yet been sufficiently explored, and have not produced a redefinition of concepts and analytical categories needed in order to interpret the most recent migrations: internal, new migration and immigration. A number of questions remain unanswered. What typologies of "female protagonism" can be identified in migration processes? To what extent - if at all - and how has the experience of emigration affected the relations among women, as well as gender relations in both the private (e.g. marriage, motherhood, etc.) and the public sphere (e.g. associations, politics, etc.)? How has the perception of the home and host country changed? What emotions, feelings, experiences, systems of representation, mechanisms of inclusion/exclusion has it produced? How differently is it experienced by the G2? To what extent has it affected women’s empowerment processes and their critical awareness of their roles and functions in the family and the community? How do the "new migrants", i.e. women who in recent decades have left Italy in search of better opportunities abroad, process the experience?

Given the relevance of this theme in light of the broader phenomenon of mass emigration, we do not want to put limits on the diachrony. For the same reason we welcome contributions that also look at variables other that those usually considered in migration studies, such as factors of expulsion, dynamics of integration in the host country, and so on. Special relevance is given to the experience of displacement, the dynamics of memory/remembrance, and the redefinition of identities and relationships. We also believe that the analysis of experiences within a longer timescale will allow to better grasp continuity and novelty.

Given the breadth of the topic, we encourage submissions that refer to the case of Italy and to the dynamics of "emigration" and “immigration’ related to any of the following areas:

 

- Theoretical perspectives, historiography and methodology of gender and migration;
- Analysis of new sources;
- Reconstruction of individual and collective routes (emigration, immigration, internal migration)
- Migration, exile, diaspora;
- Return migration of  Italian and foreign women;
- Migrations, revolutions, political changes;
- Associations and social networks;
- Gender and power;
- Maternity and emigration;
- Memories and narratives;
- The G2 historiography and memory;
- The new mobility;
- Redefinitions of identity.
 

Proposals should include: title of the article, abstract (300 words maximum) and a short bio-bibliographical profile of the author. Submissions must be received by the 5th of March 2013 and sent to the email address of the curators of the issue:
Maria Rosaria Stabili: stabili@uniroma3.it
Maddalena Tirabassi: madtirabassi@virgilio.it

 

The articles selected for publication (up to 60,000 characters, including spaces and notes) must be submitted in final form by the 5th of May 2013, and will be subject to double blind peer review.
Will be considered for publication articles in Italian, French, English and Spanish.

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