June news
In the new testimonies for the Mediterranean project, collected during Lunàdigas recent Albanian adventure and in Tunisia, and in the testimony collected in Ecuador for the Live Archive, some central nodes of women’s experience in different social, cultural and political contexts emerge: the relationship with motherhood, the affirmation of identity, the taboos still deeply rooted, and the fatigue – but also the necessity and “overwhelming” – of change.
From Tunisia, Mouna speaks out, recounting the deep conflict between gender identity and family expectations, and in Albania there are those women like Semina who claim the right to speak openly about their body, desires and equality. The voices of the Women’s Circle of Shkodra remind us that the recognition of formal rights does not necessarily coincide with the concrete possibility of freely choosing one’s own destiny.
These stories, collected thanks to the support of the Mediterranean Women’s Fund, tell us about women who question themselves, resist, support each other. And who, in doing so, transform reality, triggering small and great revolutions.
In our Live Archive, the voice of the Ecuadorean artist Caye Cayejera invites us to imagine resistance as a collective and affectionate gesture: embracing each other, speaking out, creating alliances. An echo that also resonates in Claudia Mazzilli’s reflection on Heide Goettner-Abendroth’s book, which gives us an alternative view of human history: patriarchal societies are not the only possibility.
Here are the testimonies we invite you to listen to, read, share:
Mouna: “Before being a mother, it is problematic for me to be a woman”
The desire to be a boy, the loss of a father, the conflict between male and female. A lucid reflection on the condition of women in Tunisia, between oppression and self-determination.
Semina: “In Albania many topics are taboo”
She dreams of becoming a mother, but also of working, being independent, sharing care. And she faces the generational silence on sexuality, abortion and gender in a society that changes too slowly.
Shkodra Women’s Circle: “In Albania, women are still not free to choose”
Five women at the Shkodra Women’s Centre compare their experiences with the Albanian reality: between marriage, inheritance and politics, cultural change is still unfinished.
Caye Cayejera: ‘We women together have the power to transform the world’
Caye Cayejera is an artist and activist in Ecuador. In her testimony, she communicates the strength of the transformative power of women. Hers is an invitation to hold each other and take the floor to resist patriarchy and gender-based violence, in favour of self-determination.
The German philosopher and historian of civilisations Heide Goettner-Abendroth shows us with irrefutable archaeological evidence that human societies have NOT always been patriarchal. An alternative is possible and patriarchy, war, domination, are by no means inherent to human beings nor ineradicable, but are a historical product
