Women and the Reinvention of the Political: Feminism in Italy, 1968-1983

by Maud Anne Bracke

This is the first in-depth study of the feminist movement that swept Italy during the "long 1970s" (1968-1983), and one of the first to use a combination of oral history interviews and newly-released archive sources to analyze the origins, themes, practices and impacts of "second-wave" feminism. While detailing the local and national contexts in which the movement operated, it sees this movement as transnationally connected.



Emerging in a society that was both characterized by traditional gender roles, and a microcosm of radical political projects in the wake of 1968, the feminist movement was able to transform the lives of thousands of women, shape gender identities and roles, and provoke political and legislative change. More strongly mass-based and socially diverse than its counterparts in other Western countries at the time, its agenda encompassed questions of work, unpaid care-work, sexuality, health, reproductive rights, sexual violence, social justice, and self-expression.

The case studies detailing feminist politics in three cities (Turin, Naples, and Rome) are framed in a wider analysis of the movement's emergence, its transnational links and local specificities, and its practices and discourses. The book concludes on a series of hypotheses regarding the movement's longer-term impacts and trajectories, taking it up to the Berlusconi era and the present day.

256 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2014

Reviews

[domi tilla · Rating 5 out of 5]

per sempre grata alla mia relatrice

[Alice Legrottaglie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interessante e coinvolgente questo saggio ricostruisce la storia del femminismo in Italia dal 68 circa agli anni 80. Dà una visione abbastanza completa ed esaustiva se si è interessate al femminismo italiano degli anni 70

[Francesco · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stelle