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Webinar: FEMALE GENEALOGIES-FEMALE CREATIVITIES

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This seminar is part of a project that has received funding from University Of Macedonia Research Fund under the Basic Research 2023 funding programme

14/10/2024

16.00-18.00

Zoom:  https://zoom.us/j/8364531775?pwd=OVg3YVZlbmVCYWs3S0JYcEFGYlV1QT09
Meeting ID: 836 453 1775     Passcode: KB2JKa

Patriarchal structures have caused gender segregation and socio-political and economic inequalities for women for centuries. They also contributed to the formation of female intimacies, networks and solidarities which tried to overcome the impediment of being a woman in “a man’s world”. The webinar will explore how shifting our attention to female genealogies as narratives, histories and/or  practices of sharing, caring and support could help address the challenges that women in cultural industries, especially cinema, face. What kind of ingenuities do women conceive, develop in order to overcome social, economic or cultural obstacles? In what way, do they use their creativity to fight against structural and social handicaps? How do the successes or even failures of other women contribute to the production of female genealogies?

Programme:

  • 16.00-16.25. Networks of Care: Reflections on “Towards a Global Women’s Film Heritage” Project
    Ana Grgić, Associate Professor, Babeș-Bolyai University (Romania)
  • 16.25-16.50. Family Memories and Cultural heritage in Georgia: the Gogoberidze Family
    Eleni Sideri, Assistant Prof., Dept of Balkan Slavic and Oriental Studies- University of Macedonia
  • 16.50- 17.15. Film Practices in 1970s-1980s Greece: Insights and Connections Across the Balkans Feminist Publications and Independent
    Danai Anagnostou, Aalto University
  • 17.15-17.40. “Gender Bias in Film: How Female Lead Actors Affect Movie Ratings and Awards”
    Anastasia Litina, Associate Professor, Dept. of Economics- University of Macedonia
  • 17.40-18.00. Discussion

Abstracts:

  • Networks of Care: Reflections on “Towards a Global Women’s Film Heritage” Project
    Ana Grgić, Associate Professor, Babeș-Bolyai University (Romania)

This talk reflects on the aims, challenges and outcomes of the project “Global omen’s Film Heritage, on which I collaborated with my colleagues Stefanie van de Peer and Lizelle Bischoff. Our desire was to counter the dominant patriarchal attitude of “benign neglect” (Tucker 1983) to presences and absences in the archive, which diminishes and neglects women’s activities and labour in film history. This project brought together scholars, archivists and filmmakers, to address the gaps in our shared histories and knowledge, with a particular focus on women’s cultural memory and film heritage from the Global South. This reflection takes into account two years of networking, workshops and conferences, where women from across the globe met and shared passions, frustrations, knowledge and experiences on their encounters with or in film archives and restoration projects. At the intersection of feminist, anti-racist and anti-colonial studies, and through a self-reflexive and critical approach to our own work and activities, we sought to address questions surrounding the gaps in historical knowledge on women’s activities (especially non-White feminist film history), the unremembered, and the selectivity of cultural memory. I argue that our work and research as a women’s collective constitutes one example of the need and effort to decolonize film history in an active feminist way through “an ethics of care” (Thompson 2015).

  • Family Memories and Cultural heritage in Georgia: the Gogoberidze Family
    Eleni Sideri, Assistant Prof., Dept of Balkan Slavic and Oriental Studies- University of Macedonia

Three generations of women creators of Georgian cinema belonging to the same family, the Gogoberidze family, will form the basis for this research, which aims to explore the notion of female genealogy through a multimodal ethnography. What type of memories does this female genealogy shape and how is it shaped by them? Focusing on a specific example of (auto)biography-memory, I will try to explore the ways affective memory and emotions as well as creativity generate family and cultural heritage and shape a female genealogy.

  • Film Practices in 1970s-1980s Greece: Insights and Connections Across the Balkans Feminist Publications and Independent
    Danai Anagnostou, Aalto University

This contribution addresses persistent issues related to the documentation and accessibility of alternative film production histories and draws inspiration from the enduring legacies of historical film collectives. In my doctoral research, I delve into the historical facets of film collectives and group formations in cinema by examining archival materials, auto-theoretical texts, and publications related to film practice and production culture. I seek materials authored by filmmakers and film workers themselves. Employing Production Studies as a theoretical framework, I explore existing scholarly analyses of film production.  However, there is a notable absence of texts on film production histories and critical perspectives authored by practitioners actively involved in filmmaking. This realization led me to auto theory—the blending of theory, philosophy, and autobiography (Fournier, 2021)—which shifted my focus toward locating texts and communication artifacts created by filmmakers themselves. Early in my research, I encountered several Greek independent feminist publications, such as Skoupa (Broom, 1979–1982), Musidora (1984–1985), and Poli Gynaikon (Women’s City, 1982–1985). The authors of these publications address a wide range of topics and occasionally contain critiques, manifestos, and calls for action relating to film praxes. While these publications often seem influenced by Western perspectives, my research aims to explore how feminist discourse and initiatives shaped independent filmmaking in Greece and other Balkan regions. Specifically, I seek to identify discourse and dissemination practices of short and hybrid film formats within feminist circles during that era. The literature review centers on examining independent publications that address film production and culture from the perspective of feminist groups primarily from Greece, engaged in archival research and reviewing relevant materials. Furthermore, the study explores whether these groups have taken a step further in organizing independent and short film exhibitions and screenings. Writing and taking control of one's narrative, whether individually or collectively, is seen as a means of healing and bringing everyday working life into theoretical discourse. Positioned at the intersection of Production Studies, histories of film collectives, and auto theory, my research endeavors to bridge documentation gaps, foster cross-generational dialogues about diverse approaches to filmmaking, and ultimately preserve the histories of independent film production.

  • “Gender Bias in Film: How Female Lead Actors Affect Movie Ratings and Awards”
    Anastasia Litina, Associate Professor, Dept. of Economics- University of Macedonia

The study looks at how movies with female lead actors are rated and how many awards they win. It finds that when a movie has one or two female leads, it tends to get lower ratings from viewers but wins more awards. However, when all three leading roles are filled by women, this pattern fades, and the movie’s ratings and awards don’t change much.

The study suggests that men tend to give lower ratings to movies with female leads, which could hint at some bias. Interestingly, when female involvement is less obvious, like when a woman is a producer, the movie tends to get higher ratings. This points to the possibility that when female roles are less visible, people rate the movie more favorably, hinting at underlying gender bias. 

In conclusion, understanding gender diversity and its impact on film ratings and awards provides valuable insights into the broader dynamics of the movie industry. As representation continues to evolve, recognizing how gender perceptions influence both audience reception and critical acclaim is crucial for fostering a more inclusive and equitable film sector. This understanding is not only relevant for addressing bias but also for promoting diversity, which can lead to richer and more varied storytelling that resonates with diverse audiences.

Bios:

Danai Anagnostou is a researcher in production studies. She studies film collectives and their influence on contemporary conducts and strategies for producing films, and works on her doctoral thesis at Aalto University, funded by Kone Foundation. She has co-founded Kenno Filmi, a cooperative production company, invested in producing artist-led films and audiovisual works

Ana Grgić (PhD, University of St Andrews) is Associate Professor at Babeș-Bolyai University (Romania), specialising in Balkan and East European cinemas, women’s film heritage, visual culture and film history. She is author of Early Cinema, Modernity and Visual Culture: The Imaginary of the Balkans (Amsterdam University Press, 2022), and co-editor of Stretching the Archive – Global Women’s Film Heritage (Archive Books, 2024) and Contemporary Balkan Cinema: Transnational Exchanges and Global Circuits (Edinburgh University Press, 2020).

 Anastasia Litina is an Associate Professor at the University of Macedonia in Thessaloniki, Greece and an Extramural Research Fellow at the University of Luxembourg. She received her Ph.D. in Economics at the University of Macedonia, visited Brown University for a semester and worked at the University of Luxembourg as a post-doctoral researcher prior to her employment in Greece. Her research interests include a theoretical and empirical examination of the long-run determinants of growth, on the implications of various dimensions of culture (e.g., corruption, religiosity, environmental attitudes) for socio-economic outcomes, the social implications of population aging, as well as on the long-lasting effect of historical events on current socio-economic outcomes.

Eleni Sideri completed her PhD in Social Anthropology at SOAS/University of London. She did extensive field research in the Caucasus, the former Yugoslavia and Greece. She taught social anthropology in various departments and has published in several languages. Her academic interests include: ethnographies of the Black Sea and the Caucasus, transnational migration and diasporas, politics of culture in cinema. In 2023, she published the monograph of Coproducing Europe. An Ethnography of Film Markets, Identity and Creativity (Berghahn Publishers)

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The European Non-Territorial Network

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The European Non-Territorial Autonomy Network is a COST Action aimed at examining the concept of non-territorial autonomy (NTA). ENTAN particularly focuses on NTA arrangements for reducing inter-ethnic tensions within a state and on the accommodation of the needs of different communities while preventing calls to separate statehood.

The main objective is to investigate the existing NTA mechanisms and policies and to develop new modalities for the accommodation of differences in the context of growing challenges stemming from globalisation, regionalisation and European supranational integration. The network fosters interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary group work, and provides for training and empowerment of young researchers, academic conferences and publications, as well as for the dissemination of results to policy makers, civil society organisations and communities.

Website: http://www.entan.org

Sensory heritages & sensitive memories in the Balkans

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Participation of the Culture-Borders-Gender/Lab in the 3rd Summer School (June 30th – July 5th in Sofia and Plovdiv), on the topic: “Sensory Heritages & Sensitive Memories in the Balkans”. This is an interdisciplinary and interuniversity collaboration between universities from France (EHESS, Lyon II, Aix-Marseille), the University of Sofia, Zadar, Slovenia, and Plovdiv, with the support of the French School of Athens.

The international summer school Sensory heritages & sensitive memories in the Balkans (1-5 July, Sofia and Plovdiv) gathers lecturers and students in different disciplines, addressing heritage and memory issues in the Balkan societies through the senses, sensoriality, sensibility, sensitivity. It articulates methodological and theoretical proposals based on concrete case studies and mobilizing senses not only as an object of study, but also as a modality of knowledge (including the use of different media). It will enhance innovative working formats and activities favoring shared experiences, reflections and discussions, beyond disciplinary boundaries and specializations. In situ sensory proposals and non-conventional approaches are encouraged, as well as concrete outputs at individual and collective levels.

https://www.academia.edu/121586742/Sensory_heritages_sensitive_memories_in_the_Balkans_program?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR2hJMuOZ0CaOYO4OoBGMNJX1zCljkHdnTC-VbwhZWxJilG_CMP-vj4c3f4_aem_wNVzESJm3_HHyRQ4I8CysA

“Atelier anti-tour in the neighborhoods of Thessaloniki” (Non-funded research program of public anthropology and decolonial methodology 2022 -….)

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F. Tsibiridou (ed.)

Since 2022, at the Culture-Borders-Gender/Lab under the direction of F. Tsibiridou, a research team was formed, including: Areti Kondylidou, social anthropologist/theatrical, Ministry of Culture; Christina Gromballi, MA student, Department of Balkan, Slavic, and Oriental Studies, University of Macedonia; Georgia Rina, postdoctoral researcher, Department of Balkan, Slavic, and Oriental Studies, University of Macedonia; Nikos Manolas, PhD candidate in Anthropology, Department of Balkan, Slavic, and Oriental Studies, University of Macedonia; Themis Valasiadis, PhD candidate in History, Department of Balkan, Slavic, and Oriental Studies, University of Macedonia; Dimitris Kataiftsis, adjunct lecturer, Department of Balkan, Slavic, and Oriental Studies, University of Macedonia; Anastasia Mitropanou, PhD candidate in Anthropology, Department of Balkan, Slavic, and Oriental Studies, University of Macedonia; and Eftychia Karyda, MA student, Department of Balkan, Slavic, and Oriental Studies, University of Macedonia. Visual and acoustic supervision was provided by Loukas Efstratiou (undergraduate student, UoA) and Christina Grammatikopoulou (research and teaching fellow, University of Macedonia).

The research team initiated a non-funded research program of Public Anthropology in the city of Thessaloniki, aimed at teaching and research in the field, both within and outside the walls of the academic community. Anti-tours were organized based on ethnographic and archival research, collaboration within the context of the workshop, and the use of decolonial methodologies at a neighborhood scale.

The ‘neighborhood’, as a subset of urban space, has been a significant category of sociological analysis of migration and refuge since the early 20th century. In 1925, the classic work of Park and Burgess (The City. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2019), founders of the Chicago School, connected African-Americans and Hispanic migrants in Northern American cities with the creation of so-called ‘ethnic neighborhoods’. This perception also associated refugee neighborhoods with resistance to assimilation and integration policies, often conflating ethnic neighborhoods with ghettos. With the end of European colonialism, when Anthropology returned home, particularly in the Mediterranean environment of Europe, and cautiously included the study of urban space, it focused on neighborhoods, highlighting, despite the oxymoron of intentions, the place as a signifier of socialization and the formation of gendered self, citizenship, and management of individual and collective memory. This participatory field observation methodologically contributed to the multifaceted and dynamic dimension of the neighborhood for knowledge and policy production.

In Greece, the 1922 refugee crisis exacerbated ethnic divisions within the national model, not only due to linguistic or religious differences, as seen distinctly in Thessaloniki between Jews and refugees, but also due to class and regional conditions. Following the ‘Asia Minor catastrophe’ of 1922 and the forced population exchange based on the Treaty of Lausanne (1923), refugees settled broadly in the northern Greek countryside, Athens, Piraeus, and urban environments within and outside the walls of Thessaloniki, significantly influencing the country’s economic, social, and political life. The first ethnographic research on the “Heirs of the Asia Minor Catastrophe” was conducted in Kokkinia, a ‘refugee neighborhood’ in Piraeus, by anthropologist Renée Hirschon in the 1970s (Heirs of the Catastrophe: The Social Life of Asia Minor Refugees in Piraeus. MIET, Athens, 2004).

In Thessaloniki, our relationship with the Others/foreigners/disenfranchised has historically passed through interpersonal short stories, daily small things, materialities, wounds and pleasures, memories, and experiences that were not of interest to the grand narratives of national memory, and were not reflected in our city’s national historical and archaeological museums. Within the framework of the seminar and other activities of Public Anthropology by the Culture-Borders-Gender/Lab, the first Anti-Tour workshop took place and was visually and acoustically recorded in September 2023.

Anti-Tour: Pilgrimage to the neighborhoods of the absent…   https://youtu.be/xggSkMYXglI

Since then, different occasions within the project have facilitated consecutive presentations, reflections, and feedback from diverse audiences. With the goal of this serving as a methodological example for further anti-tour workshops in the neighborhoods of the city, we explore how pilgrimage routes function as a decolonial anti-tour methodology in Ano Poli and the possibilities for other counter-categories to serve as concepts/keys for additional areas. Focusing on performance, materialities, and subaltern bodies, we not only give visibility and voice to those who otherwise cannot speak but also highlight the potential for restoring narratives that do not reflect national dominance, and reversing/restoring wisdom and prudence from below, through everyday practices that address the past as the history of the present and anticipate the significance of lived experiences in a more inclusive future.

Specifically, within the framework of a Summer School in collaboration with foreign universities and the French School of Athens on “Religion and Politics: Between res publica and private practices” (September 2023), participation as a collaboration of the Culture-Borders-Gender/Lab (BSOS-PAMAK) included, among other activities, an anti-tour workshop inside and outside the Eastern Walls of the city.

In the anti-tour workshop, a group of researchers from the perspective of Anthropology, while attempting to open decolonial methodologies of research, narrative, writing, and interaction with/in the neighborhoods of the city, also brought to light a reflexive view of anti-tour as a form of collaboration within the group.

The anti-tour workshop that started from the neighborhoods of Ano Poli and culminated at the Jewish monument of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, bore the characteristics of a pilgrim procession in the neighborhoods of the excluded, the absent, and the forgotten from the dominant national narratives of the sovereign Greek state in the northern Greek public space since 1912. We followed the modality of the Epitaph that even today wanders around these neighbourhoods, including stops, narrations and performative testimonies in churches, mausoleums, baths, cemeteries, peculiar and marginal buildings. These sacred places that had been driven to collective oblivion were brought into visibility/life through narratives and performances about charismatic saints and dervishes, everyday women and subaltern bodies, blessed materialities, and other beings, from the world of the dead and the uncanny, inside/outside the walls. Employing decolonial methodologies that trace materialities, humble bodies and popular imagination on occasion, we attempted to subvert linear chronological narratives in the history of the city. As we explored religiosity beyond the boundaries of orthopraxy (intrareligious testimonies), we insisted on the co-articulation of materialities and subaltern bodies.

We joined the palimpsest of spatio-representative narratives in different spatio-temporal contexts through performative practices that highlighted aspects of pilgrimage at the pilgrimage sites/monuments. Utilizing a multi-sensory approach, we tried to produce knowledge through different experiences of corporeality and performances such as dramaturgical recitations, soundscapes, tactilities, and smells that recalled “what has been,” and tastes that gained new meaning in past occasions and spaces. Through this collage (assemblage/rasanblaj) of narrative practices, performed ritually, we sought not only a counter-narrative of the history of the city’s neighborhoods but also, by conversing with other creatures and worlds, we tried to fortuitously bring back enchantment to the everyday life of the neighborhood.

Call for applications for GlobalMed PhD workshop from November 18 to 22, 2024

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The Culture-Borders-Gender/Lab, of the Department of Balkan, Slavic and Oriental Studies of the University of Macedonia, as a member of the GlobalMed network, participates in the organization of the first doctoral workshop of the GlobalMed network “Did you say global? Objects, Methods and Limits of the Global Approach in Mediterranean Studies” to be held at the MMSH (Aix-en-Provence) and the Mucem (Marseille) from November 18 to 22, 2024.
This workshop, organized in collaboration with Mucem, is aimed at doctoral candidates and young postdoctoral researchers from the GlobalMed partner research teams.  Candidates from all disciplines should demonstrate an interest in the global approach as part of their doctoral or post-doctoral research topic.

The goals of the workshop are to provide participants with:

  • An in-depth look at the concept of “global”: history of the concept and issues of scale, epistemological issues, major publications/works, implementation of interdisciplinarity,
  • A reflection on the objects of study of the global approach and the methods and concepts mobilized in their respective fields of research and in other disciplines,
  • A reflection on the limits and critiques of the global approach.

Details of the call for proposals can be found in the attached document.

The deadline for applications is June 28, 2024, and applications should be sent to the e-mail address: maria-jose.jarrin-yanez@univ-amu.fr

20240528_GlobalMed_Atelier_Doctoral_AACDownload

SIMPOZIONUL INTERNAȚIONAL

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aniversar

ROMÂNA CA LIMBĂ STRĂINĂ
cu tema
Limbă şi cultură: entități în continuă rearmonizare
Thessaloniki, 31 mai – 1 iunie 2024
(format off-line – online)

Dedicat împlinirii
a 25 de ani de la înființarea Institutului Limbii Române, București (ILR)
& a 50 de ani de la înființarea Catedrei de Limba Română pentru Studenți Străini,
Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza” din Iași

Desfășurat în cadrul
Zilelor Limbii Române la Universitatea „Makedonía”, Thessaloniki
prin susținerea
Consulatului General al României la Salonic

Dragi Studenţi, Dragi Colegi,

Avem deosebita bucurie și onoare de a vă invita la Simpozionul Internațional aniversar Româna ca limbă străină,cu desfășurare între 31 mai – 01 iunie 2024, la Universitatea „Makedonía” din Thessaloniki, Grecia.

Tema din acest an, Limbă şi cultură: entități în continuă rearmonizare, oferăcrearea unui spațiu de cunoaștere și comunicare directă pentru studenții internaționali care învață limba română: în cadrul Lectoratelor de limbă, cultură și civilizație românească din diverse universități ale lumii, înființate de Institutul Limbii Române, București (ILR), în programele de An Pregătitor, în programele de licenţă, masterat, doctorat aleuniversităţilor din România sau din exterior. Acești studenți provin din spații culturale foarte diverse, dinEuropa, Asia, Africa. De asemenea, tema propuneun schimb util de experiență între specialiști, precum şi posibilitatea examinăriiprocesului de predare-însușire-evaluare a românei ca limbă străină, în raport cu nivelul european actual.

Odată cu liberalizarea frontierelor și a circulației, a posibilității de a intra în contact cu diferite culturi și mentalități, oamenii au devenit din ce în ce mai doritori să învețe cât mai multe limbi străine. Acestea își demonstrează din ce în ce mai mult rolul deconectori culturali,mijloace prolifice de comunicare interculturală și de căi de accesla patrimoniul cultural și lingvistic global.

Realitatea momentului se deschide spre cunoașterea reciprocă a atât de multor culturi, în dorința comună de a realiza un dialogtranscontinental, armonios și coerent. Plecând de aici,utilizarea limbii române apare ca unul dintre cele mai dezirabile și utile instrumente de mediere culturală și socială, ca factor eficient pentru soluționarea noilor cerințe ale mediului socio-uman. Dialogul interculturalcâștigă noi perspective, iar acest fapt solicită și stimulează perfecționarea modalităților de însușire a mecanismelor necesare comunicării lingvistice.

Organizatorii

Program-Simpozion-Thessaloniki-31-mai-1-iunie-2024-_-FINAL-Download

Ιnvitation

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On behalf of Culture, Borders, Gender/Lab and the course Ethnographies of Turkey and the Middle East, Department of Balkan, Slavic and Oriental Studies, you are invited to the screening of the film    ” The Wanted 18” ( 2014, 75′, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3946020/ ) on Tuesday, June 4, 2024, at 18.00, auditorium 9, University of Macedonia.

 The film is a Palestinian-Canadian documentary created by Amer Shomali, visual artist and director, and Paul Cowan, screenwriter and combines oral testimonies, archival material and animation to relate the story of the first independent cow breeding farm in Palestine. The film was the Palestinian nomination for Best Foreign Language Film at the 88th Academy Awards.

The screening is held in collaboration with the Palestinian Film Festival of Athens. A ZOOM discussion with Ms. Carol Sansour, poet, cultural producer and director of the Palestinian Film Festival of Athens will follow.

The event is coordinated by the students of the course Ethnographies of Turkey and the Middle East.

We sincerely thank the students of the course “Ethnographies of Turkey and the Middle East” – BSAS, Konstantinos Andriotakis and Konstantinos – Evangelos Hekimoglou, who designed the poster of the event.

You are all kindly invited!

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The_Wanted_18_PosterDownload

INVITATION TO CONFERENCE

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Τhe Culture-Borders-Gender/Lab co-organizes with the Association of Social Anthropologists of Greece, the Department of Modern and Contemporary History and Social Anthropology of the Department of History and Archaeology of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, the Athens Ethnographic Film Festival (Ethnofest), and TwixtLab, the 2nd Conference of Social Anthropologists of Greece, in Thessaloniki, May 24-26, 2024 and titled: “Anthropology, Ethnography in/for uncertain times“.

The proceedings of the Conference will take place at the University of Macedonia, the Old Faculty of Philosophy of AUTh, and Islahane. Alongside the Conference, there will be workshops, screenings of ethnographic films, and presentations of publications related to Social Anthropology.
Event languages: Greek & English

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