Women and Borders in the Mediterranean
20 March 2025. From 18:30 | Conference | English | IEMed
This lecture explores migration in the Mediterranean from the perspective of women, offering a nuanced view of their individual journeys. It challenges typical miserabilist or culturalist approaches by advocating for a socially aware, activist feminism that examines how border-focused policies affect women. First-person accounts show complex reasons for migration, blending persecution, autonomy, and changing gender roles. It also highlights women’s lives in reception centres, trapped in limbo as Europe rejects them, while showing their resistance, resilience, and efforts to reclaim control over their futures.
A lecture by Camille Schmoll, professor at the School for Advanced Studies in Social Sciences (EHESS) in Paris and a member of the Institut Convergences Migrations. Her research focuses on migration practices and policies in Europe and the Mediterranean region. Inspired by feminist geography, she examines the experiences of women in international migration and the related gendered dynamics related. As a geographer, she investigates the relationship between migration and the transformation of Mediterranean spaces and places, especially islands and cities. Some of her recent publications are: Women and Borders in the Mediterranean: The Wretched of the Sea (ed., Palgrave Macmillan, 2024) and “Les 100 dates de l’histoire de l’immigration” (with M. Poinsot, E. Blanchard, D. Diaz, Cahier du Palais de la Porte Dorée nº2, 2023).
Moderated by Rafik Arfaoui, Postdoctoral Researcher, GRITIM-UPF.A session within the Aula Mediterrània 2024-25 lecture series co-organised with the Master’s Degree in Migrations Studies, GRITIM-UPF.
Speakers
Camille Schmoll
Professor School for Advanced Studies in Social Sciences (EHESS)
Rafik Arfaoui
Postdoctoral Researcher GRITIM-UPFOrganised by
