Migrations: Intersectionality, Queerness, Diaspora

Activity: Academic and Industrial eventsNetworking event

Description

The fifth and final workshop, held at the University of Naples, 'L'Orientale', took place in January 2018 and invited discussion on 'Migrations: Intersectionality, Queerness, and Diaspora: the transcultural and liminal intersections of migrant identities and the politics of migration'. It was attended by scholars from Italy, the UK, the US and Germany, and by activists and representatives from NGOs. Key questions for discussion were: 1) What are the intersections between postcoloniality and queerness? 2) How might queer and antiracist politics inform the concept of “diaspora” in the Italian/Italophone context? 3) How might we promote transnational dialogues that foster deeper academic, artistic, or social investigations and understandings of both the Anglophone and Italian queer contexts? 4) How are concepts like “gender” and “queerness” racialised in the Italian context? How can/does queerness inform antiracist struggles around citizenship and immigration? 5) How can/do the queer, transfeminist, refugee, and G2 movements act in coalition with one another? Is solidarity a viable construct between these groups within and beyond Italy, especially in the context of the Mediterranean’s so-called “migrant crisis”? The event consisted of scholarly work-in-progress papers, discussions of political perspectives by queer activists, contributions by representatives of voluntary associations who work to support migrants, and two film screenings. Several participants had already attended previous workshops, ensuring that productive links were made between the different events. This led to a rich concluding discussion in which plans for future collaborative projects began to take a clearer shape. Further themed sessions on queer cultures in Italy will take place at the American Association of Italian Studies conference in June 2018, and the project team for the Queer Italia network is currently developing a follow-up project that will focus on queer precarity in a variety of different contexts.
Period18 Jan 201819 Jan 2018
Event titleMigrations: Intersectionality, Queerness, Diaspora
Event typeWorkshop
LocationNaples, ItalyShow on map
Degree of RecognitionInternational

Keywords

  • queer
  • migration
  • diapora
  • Postcolonialism
  • activism
  • media