/library/oar/handle/123456789/20530 Previously known as Department of Gender Studies Thu, 11 Jun 2026 01:24:42 GMT 2026-06-11T01:24:42Z /library/oar/handle/123456789/147279 Title: Deconstructing gender and power : a feminist post-structuralist discourse analysis of "Il-Każin tal-Imqarbin" (misbehaved club) Abstract: This paper explores how Il-Każin tal-Imqarbin, a contemporary theatrical work set in 1980s Malta, constructs and challenges gendered and heteronormative discourses through the lens of Feminist Post-Structuralist Discourse Analysis (FPDA). By critically engaging with the play's language, character dynamics, and narrative structure, the research investigates how power, gender performativity, and marginalisation are communicated, contested, and reimagined within a historically queer-invisible Maltese context.; The study highlights the importance of examining cultural productions as sites where silenced LGBTQ+ narratives can be reclaimed and made visible, particularly in periods marked by institutionalised heteronormativity and social conservatism. The analysis focuses not only on the play's historical backdrop but also on its continuing relevance, demonstrating how Il-Każin tal- Imqarbin destabilises rigid binary gender roles. By adopting a feminist post-structuralist perspective, the paper examines how discourses surrounding gender and sexuality are both reflected and subverted within the script, offering alternative ways of understanding subjectivity and agency. Fri, 01 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT /library/oar/handle/123456789/147279 2026-05-01T00:00:00Z /library/oar/handle/123456789/147278 Title: Institutional contradictions and gendered realities : a feminist reworking of new institutional theory in higher education Abstract: This article investigates how formal institutional frameworks and family-friendly policies at the University of Malta intersect with gendered cultural norms to shape uneven outcomes for working mothers. Using an integrated analytical approach that draws on New Institutional Theory (NIT), Feminist Institutionalism, and Institutional Ethnography (IE), the study reveals how organisational structures that appear inclusive on the surface are often undermined by discretionary practices and informal expectations that reproduce gendered hierarchies.; The research combines textual analysis of institutional documents, survey data, and qualitative interviews with academic and support-staff mothers. The findings demonstrate a consistent implementation gap between policy and practice, highlighting the influence of managerial discretion, entrenched power asymmetries, and the persistence of invisible labour. By bringing feminist institutional insights into conversation with NIT and IE, the study offers a more nuanced framework for understanding the motherhood penalty in academia and underscores the need for stronger accountability and gender-sensitive institutional practices.; The argument builds on and extends existing feminist scholarship on institutional processes and inequalities (Cacace, Mellino, & Recio, 2023; Chappell & Waylen, 2020; Monro, 2021; O'Connor, 2022; Smith & Griffith, 2022). Fri, 01 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT /library/oar/handle/123456789/147278 2026-05-01T00:00:00Z /library/oar/handle/123456789/147259 Title: Beyond the anthropological machine : a biopolitical reading of the intersection between woman and animal Abstract: Historically, the construction of the normative subject has perpetuated Cartesian dualism, establishing a framework where the "Other" is subjected to structural oppression under anthropocentric, patriarchal, speciesist, and capitalist hegemony. Stripped of subjectivity and reduced to objecthood, marginalized bodies are rendered violable, exploitable, and "killable," revealing violence as a systematic form of governance. Women and animals serve as the primary sites of this biopolitical administration.; Sovereign power employs a discursive violence — specifically, a two-way metaphorical transitivity — to legitimize this control: the animalization of women and the feminization of animals. Through this transitivity, both groups are abstracted from "rights-bearing subject" and drawn into the "bare life" field of biopolitical power. The body is thus reduced to an object, valued strictly for its productive capacity. The convergence of medical and industrial practices forms a biopolitical nexus between fertility and productivity. Andro-anthropocentrism codes these bodies as 'reproductive machines,' defining femininity exclusively through motherhood. This discourse frames "infertile" or trans women as ontologically "deficient."; A similar situation occurs in the dairy and meat industry through the female animal body. Within this capitalist system, where animals' right to life is contingent upon productivity, cows that lose their fertility or milk yield ("infertile") and "breeding" bulls deemed "dysfunctional" because they cannot perform "masculinity" are reclassified as disposable and are discarded. The intersectional oppression of women's and animals' bodies represents the most naked manifestation of power's authority to make live and kill over bodies. While women's bodies are rendered socially invisible, animals' bodies are physically destroyed. To this end, employing an ecofeminist animal studies perspective and critical discourse analysis, this study examines the categorization practices of sovereign power, presenting a conceptual framework that deconstructs the anthropocentric hierarchy. Fri, 01 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT /library/oar/handle/123456789/147259 2026-05-01T00:00:00Z /library/oar/handle/123456789/147253 Title: The role of AI in beauty standards and the commodification of the female body in fashion Abstract: This presentation critically examines the pervasive role of Artificial Intelligence in shaping contemporary beauty standards and the resulting commodification of the female body within fashion and beauty industries. AI systems do not merely reflect existing beauty norms but actively codify and reinforce a narrow, often Eurocentric, ideal (young, thin, white, symmetrical).; Through an analysis of biased datasets, model training, platform outputs (filters, avatars, virtual tryons), and their psychosocial impacts, the presentation illustrates how AI transforms the female body into a measurable, optimizable, and commercially exchangeable digital asset. The presentation highlights the gendered feedback loops of the visibility economy, the intensification of bias, and the potential for coercive harms such as deepfakes.; Ultimately, the presentation proposes a framework for ethical AI governance, advocating for transparency, inclusive design, and critical digital literacy as essential feminist interventions to reclaim bodily autonomy and dignity in the algorithmic age. Fri, 01 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT /library/oar/handle/123456789/147253 2026-05-01T00:00:00Z