Blindness and identity belongings in reflection in a Seminar on “Gender, Intersectionality and Communication”

The relevance of an approach that addresses the multiple forms of oppression and privilege that mark the daily lives of people, of communication and media has marked the seminar “Gender, Intersectionality and Communication”. The event, held on October 26th, promoted by the APEM – Portuguese Association of Studies on Women and with the institutional support of the CECS – Center for Communication and Society Studies of the University of Minho and CPUP – Center for Psychology Center of the University of Porto, gathered a room full of researchers and students at the University Lusophone of Porto.

The seminar began with welcoming words and the relevance of the theme in a society marked by multiple social inequalities and in which the media have a central role.

In the first part of the seminar, researcher Cristian Norocel of the Université Libre de Bruxelles was keynote with the conference “Intersectional Perspectives on Political Communication: The Case of Populist Radical Right Discourses in Europe”, exploring the cases of Romania and Sweden. The conference was moderated by, CECS researcher and lecturer at the University Lusophone of Porto, Rui Pereira. Researcher in the field of Political Science, he emphasized the choices that are made in the investigation, while noting the need not to ignore that the identities are multiple and is intersectional look at gender and communication research.

In the second part of the seminar, issue 35 thematic dossier of ex aequo journal, dedicated to intersectional crossings in the spheres of communication and culture – and coordinated by CECS researcher and postdoctoral fellow, Carla Cerqueira, and by Sara Magalhães, researcher and research postdoctoral fellowship of the Center for Psychology of the University of Porto – was presented. The session began with the intervention of the director of the ex aequo journal and president of APEM, Virgínia Ferreira, who explained the path of the association and journal in the scope of gender/women/feminists studies in Portugal. Conceição Nogueira, researcher at the Center for Psychology at the University of Porto and Professor at the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences at the same University, explained the pertinence of intersectionality, emphasizing the need not to ignore that it is an approach that emerges in the decade 1980s in the context of black and post-colonial feminisms. Rosa Cabecinhas, researcher at CECS and Professor at the University of Minho, pointed out the pertinence of this dossier, which allows us to reflect on the many “blindness” that continue to persist in the investigation, presenting some ways of making them visible.

The session ended with the call for more research and reflection in this field, which today is marked by enormous complexity, an aspect highlighted by the various stakeholders throughout the seminar.

Text: Carla Cerqueira & Sara I. Magalhães
Photos: Carla Cerqueira