THE FINAL DATE FOR SUBMISSIONS IS FEBRUARY 19.
The Organizing Committee and the Department of Communication Sciences of the Autonomous University of Lisbon invite the academic community and the general public to submit intervention proposals. Interested parties are encouraged to send summaries of their proposals between December 20th and February 2nd, 2024.
The rupture that occurred on April 25, 1974, led by the Armed Forces Movement, put an end to the long 48 years in which Portugal lived under a corporatist, anti-liberal, anti-democratic, disciplinary and fascistic regime. This movement was a response, above all, to the pressure exerted both by the Independence struggles in colonized African countries and by internal resistance in the metropolis. The revolutionary period in the various spheres of the political and social field questioned multiple aspects of the country's social, cultural, political and economic life.
Several feminist organizations played a significant role in expanding the debate on the condition of Portuguese women and in preserving female memory. Among these organizations, the Women's Democratic Movement (MDM), the Women's Liberation Movement (MLM) and the Union of Alternative and Response Women (UMAR) stand out. Furthermore, the contemporary creation of scientific journals whose central objective is the study of women's history, as is the case of Faces of Eva Magazine and gives ex aequo, illustrates how this impulse towards the future of the relationship between women and society must be restructured and continually strengthened.
However, the historiography relating to the revolutionary period (both institutionally and socioculturally) still favors a “policy of exclusion and silencing” of women (Stevens, 2010). While we observe indispensable efforts to understand different objects of investigation, with women researchers who have become references, such as Varela (2014), Rezola (2007), Accornero (2013), Patriarca (1982), Oliveira (2004) and Abadia (2010 ), women continue not to be recognized as active agents in the construction of this narrative of the period, or even prioritized as objects of investigation. At most, in the writing of this story, they are considered from the perspective of female “participation”, defined based on what Kergoat (2018) pointed out as “particularisms, 'specificities' in relation to the general model”.
By being underestimated in the narrative that (re)constructs the period, especially in relation to their active role in the struggle processes, women, by extension, end up losing recognition of the achievements and impacts resulting from the revolutionary rupture. In this context, it becomes crucial to understand the disputes they waged and the strategies they employed, in order to identify their influences on the spheres of social reproduction and the dynamics of relationships between women and men. Many of these transformations, although not immediately recognized, ended up influencing unparalleled generational changes after the revolutionary period.
Having said this, it is essential to highlight that we are currently witnessing new efforts, especially by female researchers, to understand the period of April 25, 1974 as a space of disputes and contradictions, where they played strategic roles in leading this revolutionary process. In addition to this historiographical perspective, it is important to highlight the role of social communication as “an important part in the political struggles and transformations that take place” (Rezola & Gomes, 2014). Whether through newspapers linked to political groups, daily newspapers or the controversies that involved radio and television during disputes between the military, parties and popular organizations, these topics are fundamental as sources for understanding this revolutionary past.
In order to overcome Perrot's (2005) complaint that women are subjected to an “ocean of silence”, we seek contributions that aim to promote a public debate on the historical role of women, considering an intersectional approach that takes into account, mainly, class, gender and race. Although we have a particular interest in the areas of culture, customs, politics and social relations, we are open to other perspectives that prioritize women as an active and central object of investigation. In this way, we propose some central topics, through the following indicative thematic lines:
- Racialized women in revolution
- The woman and the PREC
- Sexualities
- Artistic and cultural expressions
- Work and women
- “Abortion is not a crime!” Women's body and health
- Education after April 25th
- Gender violence – systemically and structurally
- Women in the press/media
In addition to the classic presentation formats (communications and lectures), we invite you to send proposals in other forms of knowledge production, such as: artistic interventions; performances; installations; exhibitions; cinematographic or sound projects. We accept individual and collective contributions. We do not want to assign specific regional restrictions and are primarily interested in bringing transnational perspectives.
We are also interested in historical perspectives that explore the emergence and future of feminist perspectives post-25 April and in relation to the present. The analytical levels proposed here should serve as inspiration rather than a fixed definition and are an invitation to expand and complement them.
Our objective is to derive two editions from this Seminar: 1) volume of studies resulting from the event minutes in E-Book format; 2) an edition with a collection of articles developed and discussed at the Seminar, in paper edition. For this second objective, the Commissions will be responsible for evaluating and selecting the texts that could be included in the volume. For both editions, we also invite the submission of other literary genres, such as poems, short stories and reviews.
The authors will be informed in advance about the editorial rules to be adopted in the event of publication of their work, in both forms.
Timeline:
- Deadline for submitting abstracts: from December 20th to February 19th, 2024;
- Selection of abstracts: until March 18, 2024;
- Deadline for complete works (up to 8 pages) for those who want the communication to be published in the Meeting minutes: July 22, 2024
- Meeting Date: May 9th and 10th, 2024.
- Publication in event minutes: Forecast, December 2024.
Proposals must be sent to the email with the name of the proposer and the chosen thematic line, in the “subject” field: Mulheresseo25deabril@autonoma.pt.
The title must be centered and the summary text must be between 300 and 500 characters, in Times New Roman, size 12, 1.5 spacing and sent in Word format. We request identification of the person(s) involved in the contributions and their respective affiliation.
Our objective is to hold a face-to-face seminar. If the person proposing is not in mainland Portugal, we will enable their participation online.
The seminar languages are Portuguese and English.
Participation in the seminar is free.