The Department of Gender Studies will be hosting a public lecture entitled 'The 'other' side of the kitchen: the political liveliness of the domestic'. The speaker is Dr Rachael Scicluna.
The public lecture will be held on Wednesday 28 February in Gateway Building Hall D1, (GWHD1) University of Malta Msida Campus from 17:30 till 19:00.
Abstract
What can domestic space tell us about the changing dynamics of society? This paper will
What can domestic space tell us about the changing dynamics of society? This paper will
explore the issues of gender, agency and resistance that arise out of the ways in which older lesbians engage with the larger structures of institutional power. It aims to show, through various types of power relations, how older lesbians have resisted and transgressed social inequalities by politicising seemingly trivial domestic practices across their life course. Within this context, the kitchen transforms into a contested and subversive social space that challenges the hegemonic power of heteronormativity and the state and where a new consciousness is created from the fringes of society.
To address this complexity, Dr Scicluna will look at how contemporary politics, discourse and policy portray a ‘good family’ as one which is heterosexual and economically active within the labour market. This political and social context is core in unravelling how the dominant normative family constructs are inculcated in public consciousness by political discourse that corresponds to the ideal representation of the kitchen-as-hub.
In this paper, the kitchen emerges as a site of transition and transformation, where new social relations and rights are negotiated and an alternative notion of gender is being performed and constructed along the way.
To address this complexity, Dr Scicluna will look at how contemporary politics, discourse and policy portray a ‘good family’ as one which is heterosexual and economically active within the labour market. This political and social context is core in unravelling how the dominant normative family constructs are inculcated in public consciousness by political discourse that corresponds to the ideal representation of the kitchen-as-hub.
In this paper, the kitchen emerges as a site of transition and transformation, where new social relations and rights are negotiated and an alternative notion of gender is being performed and constructed along the way.
The general public is cordially invited to attend this public lecture.
To book a seat contact Ms Marica Galea on +356 2340 3956 or send an email.
Dr Rachael Scicluna is a social anthropologist and consultant at the Ministry for the Family, Children’s Rights and Social Solidarity. She is also a part-time lecturer at the University of Malta. Rachael is the author of: Home and Sexuality: The ‘Other’ Side of the Kitchen (Palgrave Macmillan, 2017) and co-editor of: Sexuality and Gender at Home: Experience, Politics,Transgression (Bloomsbury, 2017). Her research explores the relationship between the anthropology of alternative kinship and family formations, gender, sexuality, home and housing, and politics in England and South Europe.
