Deadline: 1 September 2011
For the past two centuries, people have emigrated from the Mediterranean in search of a better life. Beginning with the great influx of Italians principally from the South of Italy at the middle of the 19th century, and continuing up until the last twenty years with the migration of Greeks and Spaniards to North and South America, Germany and the British Isles, emigration patterns in the Mediterranean were fairly consistent. Numerous events in the last several decades, however, have altered that pattern in ways that the social scientists of the post-war period could never have imagined. Poverty, revolutions, decolonization, civil war, religious persecution, and racial and ethnic strife have together generated a massive exodus not away from but into the Mediterranean countries.
Whether Nice or Naples, Bari or Barcelona, Mediterranean ports and capitals at times characterized by high levels of unemployment have become meccas for populations seeking a better life. At the same, however, their host countries are experiencing their own difficulties: unemployment, poverty, sexual violence, the disintegration of the family, and the breakdown of the educational system—all of which make their citizens hostile to the new arrivals. Although entire families have suffered because of these tensions, in many cases, it is women who bear the brunt of the burden. It is they who must maintain against all odds their home culture, their family religion, and their folk traditions in a world that neither welcomes them nor values the countries they have left behind. Despite this, women have contributed significantly to their adopted lands.
The purpose of this multidisciplinary edited volume is to demonstrate not only the political, social and cultural constraints that have characterized migrant women’s lives, but to explore their artistic, religious, educational and intellectual contributions to the European countries of the Mediterranean.
We are now soliciting proposals for chapters that look at the creative responses of migrant women to the constraints of the host countries they inhabit. We are particularly interested in original research focusing on Spain, Portugal, Greece, and/or France and exploring such topics as the visual and performing arts, activism, sexuality, policy-making, educational reform, and religious practices.
Papers that utilize methodologies from humanities or social science disciplines are preferred. Researchers must demonstrate a commitment to a framework that is sensitive to the intersections of gender, race, and class. Contributions are welcome from scholars at any level of their professional careers.
Proposals should include:
• A 500-750 word abstract
• A brief curriculum vitae (2 pages)
• Full contact information including mail, email, and phone/fax numbers
Proposals are due 1 September 2011 via email to wpojmann@siena.edu. Contributors will be notified by 1 October 2011 if their proposals have been accepted. Full articles of 6000 to 8000 words will be due 15 December 2011. Proposals will be accepted in English, Spanish, French, or Italian. Final papers must be in English.
Editors:
Susana Cavallo – is Dean of Faculty at the John Felice Rome Center and Professor of Spanish and women and gender studies at Loyola University of Chicago. She is the author of La Poetica de Jose Hierro (Taurus 1987) and co-editor of Estudios en Honor de Janet Pérez: el Sujeto Femenino en Escritoras Hispánicas (Scripta Humanistica 1998).
Wendy Pojmann – is Associate Professor of modern European history at Siena College in Albany, New York. She is the author of Immigrant Women and Feminism in Italy (Ashgate 2006) and editor of Migration and Activism in Europe since 1945 (Palgrave Macmillan 2008).
Carla Mollica – is Academic Services Advisor at the John Felice Rome Center. She was coordinator of the April 2009 conference “The Changing Face of the Mediterranean: Migrant Women’s Creativity and Constraints,” held in Rome, Italy. She received her BA in Communication and Media Studies from Fordham University in 2007.
Contact Information:
For inquiries: wpojmann@siena.edu
For submissions: wpojmann@siena.edu
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For the past two centuries, people have emigrated from the Mediterranean in search of a better life. Beginning with the great influx of Italians principally from the South of Italy at the middle of the 19th century, and continuing up until the last twenty years with the migration of Greeks and Spaniards to North and South America, Germany and the British Isles, emigration patterns in the Mediterranean were fairly consistent. Numerous events in the last several decades, however, have altered that pattern in ways that the social scientists of the post-war period could never have imagined. Poverty, revolutions, decolonization, civil war, religious persecution, and racial and ethnic strife have together generated a massive exodus not away from but into the Mediterranean countries.
Whether Nice or Naples, Bari or Barcelona, Mediterranean ports and capitals at times characterized by high levels of unemployment have become meccas for populations seeking a better life. At the same, however, their host countries are experiencing their own difficulties: unemployment, poverty, sexual violence, the disintegration of the family, and the breakdown of the educational system—all of which make their citizens hostile to the new arrivals. Although entire families have suffered because of these tensions, in many cases, it is women who bear the brunt of the burden. It is they who must maintain against all odds their home culture, their family religion, and their folk traditions in a world that neither welcomes them nor values the countries they have left behind. Despite this, women have contributed significantly to their adopted lands.
The purpose of this multidisciplinary edited volume is to demonstrate not only the political, social and cultural constraints that have characterized migrant women’s lives, but to explore their artistic, religious, educational and intellectual contributions to the European countries of the Mediterranean.
We are now soliciting proposals for chapters that look at the creative responses of migrant women to the constraints of the host countries they inhabit. We are particularly interested in original research focusing on Spain, Portugal, Greece, and/or France and exploring such topics as the visual and performing arts, activism, sexuality, policy-making, educational reform, and religious practices.
Papers that utilize methodologies from humanities or social science disciplines are preferred. Researchers must demonstrate a commitment to a framework that is sensitive to the intersections of gender, race, and class. Contributions are welcome from scholars at any level of their professional careers.
Proposals should include:
• A 500-750 word abstract
• A brief curriculum vitae (2 pages)
• Full contact information including mail, email, and phone/fax numbers
Proposals are due 1 September 2011 via email to wpojmann@siena.edu. Contributors will be notified by 1 October 2011 if their proposals have been accepted. Full articles of 6000 to 8000 words will be due 15 December 2011. Proposals will be accepted in English, Spanish, French, or Italian. Final papers must be in English.
Editors:
Susana Cavallo – is Dean of Faculty at the John Felice Rome Center and Professor of Spanish and women and gender studies at Loyola University of Chicago. She is the author of La Poetica de Jose Hierro (Taurus 1987) and co-editor of Estudios en Honor de Janet Pérez: el Sujeto Femenino en Escritoras Hispánicas (Scripta Humanistica 1998).
Wendy Pojmann – is Associate Professor of modern European history at Siena College in Albany, New York. She is the author of Immigrant Women and Feminism in Italy (Ashgate 2006) and editor of Migration and Activism in Europe since 1945 (Palgrave Macmillan 2008).
Carla Mollica – is Academic Services Advisor at the John Felice Rome Center. She was coordinator of the April 2009 conference “The Changing Face of the Mediterranean: Migrant Women’s Creativity and Constraints,” held in Rome, Italy. She received her BA in Communication and Media Studies from Fordham University in 2007.
Contact Information:
For inquiries: wpojmann@siena.edu
For submissions: wpojmann@siena.edu
