Citations may be to the website as a whole, to a particular page (such as the lesson plan for teaching about intersectionality), or to a particular interview transcript (such as this transcript).
Introduction to the Italy Site
of the Global Feminisms Project
Lauren Duncan
The Italian Feminist Activist oral histories were collected in two waves, in 2018 and 2019. The activists in the first wave represent a wide variety of women’s rights activism, from participation in the 1970s women’s movements to work with Roma women. The activists in the second wave were affiliated with the Cassero, a local LGBTQ+ resource center, and primarily identify themselves as queer activists.
Resources
This timeline has been prepared by Andrea Huang for the Global Feminisms Project during the 2023-2024 academic year.
Overview of the Italy Site and Interviews
In the first wave, Lauren Duncan interviewed six feminist activists currently living in Rome in July 2018. All interviews were conducted at the American Academy in Rome except for the interview with Lia Migale, which was conducted at the Casa Internazionale delle Donne. Activists were selected by asking local feminists who might be interested and eligible to participate. The only eligibility criterion was that the participant was a feminist activist. All interviews, except for the one with Giulia Blasi, were conducted in Italian, video-recorded, transcribed by native Italian speakers, and then translated by Duncan with the help of her native Italian language teacher based in Rome, Alessandro di Mauro.
In the second wave, Lauren Duncan and Bruno Grazioli, a native Italian speaker, conducted interviews with eleven LGBTQ+ feminist activists at the Dickinson College Study Abroad Center in Bologna. Grazioli had contacts with the Cassero, a local LGBTQ+ resource center, and they were able to recruit participants through the center. Again, all interviews were conducted in Italian, video-recorded, transcribed by native Italian speakers, and then translated by Duncan with the help of her native Italian language teacher based in Rome, Alessandro di Mauro.
Read More...The interviewees included from Rome in the first wave were:
- Angela Tullio Cataldo is a researcher, who has been employed by various NGOs and UN agencies, producing reports on topics related to Roma communities, migration, social inclusion and human rights. She has particular expertise on people on the move, Roma minorities and urban poverty.
- Bianca Maria Pomeranzi has been a feminist activist in Rome since the 1970s. She served in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for Development Cooperation and in various feminist groups in Rome.
- Giulia Blasi is a writer and feminist activist. She created the the#quellavoltachecampaign, a hashtag used in Italy to open a conversation on sexual harassment and abuse.
- Lia Migale, writer and economist, was professor of Business Economics at the La Sapienza University in Rome until 20. She has published several works on Italian feminism.
- Maddalena Vianello is a professional in cultural planning and organization, an expert in gender policies and male violence against women, and a feminist activist. She currently works as an expert on gender policies for the Lazio region of Italy.
- Michela Murgia works as a writer, blogger, playwright, literary critic, and television and newspaper columnist with the Gedi Group. She has won several awards for her fiction and is a feminist activist, with a particular interest in Sardinian politics.
The interviewees from Bologna in the second wave were:
- Alice Biagi is the school and training coordinator at Cassero, the LGBTQIA+ organization in Bologna that has been committed to the rights of LGBTQIA+ people for over 40 years. Biagi organizes the many activities aimed at experiential training and education of students, teachers and other professionals about human differences.
- Carla Catena works in marketing and is active in the Lesbian Association Bologna.
- Elisa Coco works for a marketing and communication agency that focuses on gender-related communication. They particularly address themes like violence against women, and lesbian and queer activism.
- Valentina Coletta identifies as trans and intersex and works with the Transsexual Identity Movement (MIT) to fight for transgender rights, including those of migrants.
- Elisa Dal Molin has various different positions in the Famiglie Acrobaleno (Rainbow Families), which particularly supports LGBTQI+ families.
- Anita Lombardi’s activism includes serving as an officer for many years in the Lesbian Association in Bologna and helping create a lesbian anti violence line for the organization, among many other projects.
- Elisa Manici is a journalist and librarian, who is involved with various organizations, incluidng Leftist Youth, ArciLesbica and Cassero.
- Antonia Pesseroni works in the music industry in Bologna, and is a longterm activist in the Bologna Arcigay association. She helped establish Indie Pride, a live event in which the musical world says NO to homophobia, bullying, and sexism. Recently she has collaborated with national and international networks, like Eqauly and Keychange, which deal with gender equality and the gender gap in the music world.
- Samanta Picciaiola is a public primary school teacher and an activist for the rights of LGBTQI+ people.
- Camilla Ranauro is an LGBTI+ activist and has served as vice president of Cassero LGBTI+ Center in Bologna.
- Valeria Roberti facilitates the Centro Risorse LGBTI, which promotse the full equality of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex people. She also works with both adolescents and teachers to foster understanding about differences among people through non-formal educational approaches.
Procedures for Producing Final Interview Videos and Transcripts
The Italian Feminist Activist oral histories were collected in two waves. In the first, Lauren Duncan interviewed six feminist activists currently living in Rome in July 2018. All interviews were conducted at the American Academy in Rome except for the interview with Lia Migale, which was conducted at the Casa Internazionale delle Donne. Activists were selected by asking local feminists who might be interested and eligible to participate. The only eligibility criteria was that the participant was a feminist activist. All interviews, except for Giulia Blasi, were conducted in Italian, video-recorded, transcribed by native Italian speakers, and then translated by Duncan with the help of her native Italian language teacher based in Rome, Alessandro di Mauro. In the second wave, Lauren Duncan and Bruno Grazioli, a native Italian speaker, conducted interviews with eleven LGBTQ+ feminist activists at the Dickinson College Study Abroad Center in Bologna in July 2019. The interview with Ranauro was conducted over Zoom, as she was attending a conference in Slovenia at the time. Grazioli had contacts with the Cassero, a local LGBTQ+ resource center, and they were able to recruit participants through the center. Again, all interviews were conducted in Italian, video-recorded, transcribed by native Italian speakers, and then translated by Duncan with the help of her native Italian language teacher based in Rome, Alessandro di Mauro.
The Italy country site interviews were completed with a generous project grant from the University of Michigan Humanities Collaboratory. This project was completed with the generous support of Smith College. Duncan was awarded an American Academy in Rome Affiliated Fellowship through Smith College which allowed her to make contact with Roman feminists. In addition, Smith provided research and travel funds to support the Bologna interviews.
