Deadline: 20th Aug 2025
The year 2025 marks the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. Starting from the legacy of this conflict, we shall devote the tenth Issue of DIVE-IN to historical narratives, memories and literary representations of war and violence in a feminine perspective by taking as a focus East and South East Asia in the contemporary era. Countries in this part of the world have in various ways intercepted Western trajectories as sites of war involving Europe and US. They have also experienced (de-)colonization, both as objects and subjects of foreign domination. The Issue will, thus, present itself as an occasion to integrate the area perspective into a global reflection by extending to literary, cultural and historical studies.
https://dive-in.unibo.it/announcement/view/715
The present Issue aims to enrich the historical narratives of China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Indonesia and other countries, which are more often represented as dense with political and economic events, but not as equally rich in terms of social and cultural insights. In particular, the contribution will add more varied and articulate narratives to the understanding of a gendered history of the 20th century, thus filling a gap. At the same time, the Issue aspires to potentially re-dress the study of contemporary entanglements between the West and East/South-east Asia. By introducing and reinforcing the gender element within a thematic exploration of war, violence and trauma, and by highlighting transnational connections to European and American culture, the publication will potentially stimulate a collective re-thinking of intercultural perceptions of female trauma.
Editors invite submissions in the following (though not exclusive) areas of analysis
Narratives of war and trauma
War related biographical texts, diaries and memories written by women
Literary representations of violence and survival in East and Southeast Asia
Historical memory and genders of memory
Women and remembrance practices: intergenerational transmission of trauma
Analysis of “culturally situated memory” in a gender perspective
Trauma studies and gender perspectives
Feminist interpretations of trauma in the context of armed conflict
Collective trauma and feminine subjectivities
Social history and micro-history
The role of women in resistance movements and decolonization processes
War as a tool for the redefinition of gender roles
Micro-historical approaches to feminine experiences in XX-XXIst century conflicts
Postcolonial and transnational studies
Intersectional approaches: colonialism, patriarchy, violence
Connections and comparisons between Asian narratives and Western representations of trauma
Transculturality in feminine remembrances of war
Media, visual arts and cultural studies
Representations of trauma as experienced by women in cinema, theatre, photography, comics, graphic novel, contemporary art
Artistic re-interpretations of the ‘comfort women’ issue and of other traumatic historical events
Deadlines and Timeline:
Deadline for abstract submission (500 words): 20/08/2025
Please send abstracts to: scrolavezza@unibo.it and valeria.zanier@unibo.it, and clearly indicate: “DIVE-IN Proposal 2/2025” in the e-mail object.
Notifications of acceptance/not acceptance shall be sent within 20/09/2025
Deadline for the submission of the entire article is: 30/11/2025
The Issue is being published in ITA/ENG