GeMIC: gender, migration, and intercultural interactions

GEMIC / about the project

Ge.M.IC will study “Cultural Interactions in a European Perspective” through a tripartite conceptual and methodological approach, whose aim will be to identify links between migration, gender and intercultural interaction, as it is in the meeting place of these three dimensions that some of the most important cultural developments in Europe take place.

Ge.M.IC will approach these questions from a critical perspective emphasizing in particular the impact of migrant mobility and cultural diversity on gender relations in host, transit and sending societies. Research will be of an interdisciplinary nature in accordance with the broad range of expertise of the researchers collaborating in the project. The organization of work will reflect the inter-ethnic and interdisciplinary character of the consortium focusing both fieldwork and analysis on six thematic areas of study, rather than on national case studies: representations of national identity and the media, education, urban social spaces and movements, religion, violence, and the family. Ge.M.IC will generate new and important insights in these thematic areas, taking advantage of the diverse areas of expertise of different researchers and their mutual commitment to studying gender and addressing issues of gender equality as a central aspect of research.

objectives

• To produce a state-of-the-art contribution to the literature on gender, migration and intercultural relations, which will shed light on diverse cultural, historical, political, social, psychological, educational and economic factors, which facilitate or prohibit peaceful coexistence of different cultures.
• To contribute to the ongoing European debate and policy making efforts to construct effective policies and institutions, which would manage cultural diversity and mobility and promote intercultural dialogue and cooperation at the local, national and European level.
• To examine and evaluate differences and similarities in the practices of intercultural interaction between new, old and prospective European member states.
• To enhance European debate on mobility and diversity and on the prospects of intercultural dialogue and cooperation by using all the advantages of an intercultural, interdisciplinary consortium in order to explore the theoretical and policy implications of a broad range of social spaces commonly separated into distinct fields of expertise.