Women and Mediterranean Humanism

PhD Advisor: Prof. Joanna Partyka

In the 16th and 17th century, many eminent women writers who published their works in print lived in the Mediterranean Europe. Many of them expressed their feminine identity openly, and even dared to criticize the social order that was not favorable for them. They did it despite the persistence of the myth of the inferiority of women (the myth of Pandora/Eve). Hence the question that you will be invited to research as doctoral student, if you choose to work in this field of inquiry: to what extent Mediterranean humanism has fostered or hampered women’s participation in cultural life? To understand well this problem one should venture into various areas of cultural, sociological, and philosophical research, as well as cross disciplinary boundaries.

If you choose this field of doctoral research you will complete your fellowships abroad at the following Partner Institution:

Centre Dona i Literatura, Universitat de Barcelona
This powerhouse of research in women studies is the leading unit of the Interuniversity Institute for Women and Gender Studies (Institut Interuniversitari d’Estudis de Dones i Gènere, IIEDG) which includes all research centers in that field in Catalonia (19 universities with over 200 researchers). It is also the head office of the UNESCO Chair Women, Development, and Cultures, and the location of the editorial boards of several periodicals and series devoted to women studies: Lectora. Journal of Women & Textuality, Expressions maghrébines, as well as the series Mujeres y culturas /Women and Cultures. Moreover, the Center Dona i Literatura houses the research project Creación y Pensamiento de las Mujeres, which conducts interdisciplinary study of women issues in philology, philosophy and history. You will work under the supervision of Prof. Helena González Fernández. For more information, see:
http://www.ub.edu/cdona