Research

The Observatory belongs to the project: Social Representations of violence against women: the case of the femicide in Italy, financed with funds PRIN MIUR (call 2015).

National scientific coordinator of the research is Pina Lalli, Professor at the Department of Political and Social Sciences -  Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna.

 

The project involves 5 research unities on the national territory, from north to south Italy. They are: 

- Department of Philosophy, Pedagogy and Applied Psychology, University of Padua ( scientific referent Prof. Renato Stella) 

- Department of Culture and Society, University of Palermo (scientific referent Prof. Alessandra Dino)

- Department of History, Society and Studies on Humanity, University of Salento (scientific referent, Prof. Stefano Cristante) 

- Department of Culture, Politics and Society, University of Turin (scientific referent, Prof. Marinella Belluati)  

The objective of the research is to find the main discursive features used when we talk about femicide in the different public spaces with paricular reference to 3 arenas considered relevant for its social representation:

- media (including digital media)
- judicial speech (the judgment)
- policies (the institutions) 

The tools used are:

  1. Investigations of representations of femicide on the media coverage
  2. Investigations of representations of femicide on the citizen's comments left on the media online
  3. Investigations of representations of femicide in the judicial proceedings
  4. Investigations of judicial speech in the media and in the political-institutional interventions 
  5. Reconstruction through interviews and focus groups of the points of view of the main actors of public speeches on femicide (journalist, politicians, judges, referents of associations)


Why an Observatory  

Next to the scientific research objetcives, we consider the dissemination of knowledge on the phenomenon and the national and international discussion an integral part of our project. With the Observatory we would like: 

  • to share our research finding and results 
  • to provide useful elements and information to update the national and international debate on the subject
  • to build alliances between the various actors in order to promote a greater awareness and social action: scholars, policy-makers, media officers, jurists and judges, associations, citizens.