Working with words: Italian feminism and organization studies

Abstract

Searching for a writing about organizations that is more real, relevant, and respondent, we propose to engage with Italian feminism of difference and the wealth of practices elaborated by small feminist groups and collectives, associated with it in the seventies. Currently undergoing a phase of rising interest, in Europe and North America, this strand of feminism-philosophically varied and complex-is characterized by the act of grounding theory in practice and articulating practices of political and personal transformation deeply anchored in society, yet outside institutions. In this paper, we aim at presenting Italian feminism and more specifically introduce the main tenets of Italian feminism of difference (of the seventies) to organization studies. We focus on a specific practice of Italian feminism of difference, namely the partire da sé (departing from oneself), prepared by the earlier practice of autocoscienza (political consciousness-raising). Resting particularly on the thinking of the philosopher Luisa Muraro, we frame the potential contribution of her theorizing the partire da sè practice in relation to existing organization research that is grounded in feminist stands.

Researching and Writing Differently

“…As discussed before, Feminism has been classifi ed within diff erent waves, and diff erent strands of feminist theory have rather distinct foci of inquiry (see Cavarero and Reistano, 2002 ). Although the French feminist tradition has often been the taken-for-granted point of reference for writing diff erently, it is also important to fl ag that other types of feminist theory are at play, such as the Italian feminist tradition, which includes a strong focus on embodiment (see, for instance, Pierazzini, Bertelli, and Raviola, 2021 ). It is also politically important to engage with various feminist perspectives that decentralize Anglocentric notions, problematize dominant schools of thought and experience within the feminist tradition, and develop alternatives to researching and writing in diff erent languages and sociocultural contexts.…”